Dhammapada 12

Minor Collection

Sayings of the Dhamma 157–166

12. The Self

157 If you knew your self as beloved,

you’d look after it so well.

In one of the night’s three watches,

an astute person would remain alert.

158 The astute would avoid being corrupted

by first grounding themselves

in what is suitable,

and then instructing others.

159 If one were to treat oneself

as one instructs another,

the well-tamed indeed would tame:

for the self, it seems, is hard to tame.

160 One is indeed the lord of oneself,

for who else would be one’s lord?

By means of a well-tamed self,

one gains a lord that’s rare indeed.

161 For the evil that is done by oneself,

born and produced in oneself,

grinds down a simpleton,

as diamond grinds a lesser gem.

162 One choked by immorality,

as a sal tree by a creeper,

does to themselves

what a foe only wishes.

163 It’s easy to do bad things

harmful to oneself,

but good things that are helpful

are the hardest things to do.

164 On account of wicked views—

scorning the guidance

of the perfected ones,

the noble ones living righteously—

the idiot begets their own self’s demise,

like the bamboo bearing fruit.

165 For it is by oneself that evil’s done,

one is corrupted by oneself.

It’s by oneself that evil’s not done,

one is purified by oneself.

Purity and impurity are personal matters,

no one can purify another.

166 Never neglect what is good for yourself

for the sake of another, however great.

Knowing well what is good for yourself,

be intent upon your heart’s goal.