dhp157:0.1Minor Collection
dhp157:0.2Sayings of the Dhamma 157–166
dhp157:0.312. The Self
dhp157:1If you knew your self as beloved,
dhp157:2you’d look after it so well.
dhp157:3In one of the night’s three watches,
dhp157:4an astute person would remain alert.
dhp158:1The astute would avoid being corrupted
dhp158:2by first grounding themselves
dhp158:3in what is suitable,
dhp158:4and then instructing others.
dhp159:1If one were to treat oneself
dhp159:2as one instructs another,
dhp159:3the well-tamed indeed would tame:
dhp159:4for the self, it seems, is hard to tame.
dhp160:1One is indeed the lord of oneself,
dhp160:2for who else would be one’s lord?
dhp160:3By means of a well-tamed self,
dhp160:4one gains a lord that’s rare indeed.
dhp161:1For the evil that is done by oneself,
dhp161:2born and produced in oneself,
dhp161:3grinds down a simpleton,
dhp161:4as diamond grinds a lesser gem.
dhp162:1One choked by immorality,
dhp162:2as a sal tree by a creeper,
dhp162:3does to themselves
dhp162:4what a foe only wishes.
dhp163:1It’s easy to do bad things
dhp163:2harmful to oneself,
dhp163:3but good things that are helpful
dhp163:4are the hardest things to do.
dhp164:1On account of wicked views—
dhp164:2scorning the guidance
dhp164:3of the perfected ones,
dhp164:4the noble ones living righteously—
dhp164:5the idiot begets their own self’s demise,
dhp164:6like the bamboo bearing fruit.
dhp165:1For it is by oneself that evil’s done,
dhp165:2one is corrupted by oneself.
dhp165:3It’s by oneself that evil’s not done,
dhp165:4one is purified by oneself.
dhp165:5Purity and impurity are personal matters,
dhp165:6no one can purify another.
dhp166:1Never neglect what is good for yourself
dhp166:2for the sake of another, however great.
dhp166:3Knowing well what is good for yourself,
dhp166:4be intent upon your heart’s goal.