Minor Collection

Sayings of the Dhamma 157–166

12. The Self

dhp157:1 If you knew your self as beloved,

dhp157:2 you’d look after it so well.

dhp157:3 In one of the night’s three watches,

dhp157:4 an astute person would remain alert.

dhp158:1 The astute would avoid being corrupted

dhp158:2 by first grounding themselves

dhp158:3 in what is suitable,

dhp158:4 and then instructing others.

dhp159:1 If one were to treat oneself

dhp159:2 as one instructs another,

dhp159:3 the well-tamed indeed would tame:

dhp159:4 for the self, it seems, is hard to tame.

dhp160:1 One is indeed answerable for oneself,

dhp160:2 for who else would answer for one?

dhp160:3 By means of a well-tamed self,

dhp160:4 one gains a lord that’s rare indeed.

dhp161:1 For the evil that is done by oneself,

dhp161:2 born and produced in oneself,

dhp161:3 grinds down a simpleton,

dhp161:4 as diamond grinds a lesser gem.

dhp162:1 One choked by immorality,

dhp162:2 as a sal tree by a creeper,

dhp162:3 does to themselves

dhp162:4 what a foe only wishes.

dhp163:1 It’s easy to do bad things

dhp163:2 harmful to oneself,

dhp163:3 but good things that are helpful

dhp163:4 are the hardest things to do.

dhp164:1 On account of wicked views—

dhp164:2 scorning the guidance

dhp164:3 of the perfected ones,

dhp164:4 the noble ones living righteously—

dhp164:5 the idiot begets their own self’s demise,

dhp164:6 like the bamboo bearing fruit.

dhp165:1 For it is by oneself that evil’s done,

dhp165:2 one is corrupted by oneself.

dhp165:3 It’s by oneself that evil’s not done,

dhp165:4 one is purified by oneself.

dhp165:5 Purity and impurity are personal matters,

dhp165:6 no one can purify another.

dhp166:1 Never neglect what is good for yourself

dhp166:2 for the sake of another, however great.

dhp166:3 Knowing well what is good for yourself,

dhp166:4 be intent upon your heart’s goal.