Dhp 157-166 - Chapter on Self
Translated by Bhante Suddhāso
Source: https://suttacentral.net/dhp157-166/en/suddhaso
License: CC0-1.0
Source note: 11 Pali headings, colophons, or recitation-summary segments have no English translation in the source. All English source segments are retained; no body passages are omitted.

Collection of Minor Texts
Verses of Dhamma
Chapter on Self
If one values oneself,
then one should guard oneself well;
during any of the three phases of the night,
a wise person should remain alert.
First one should settles oneself
in what is proper,
then one may instruct others;
a wise person should not become defiled.
One should act the same way
that one instructs others to act;
one who is well-trained can train others -
for it is truly hard to train oneself.
One is one’s own protector -
how could another protect you?
One who has trained oneself well
has acquired a protector that is truly hard to acquire.
Evil is done by oneself,
born from oneself, produced by oneself;
in this way a fool self-destructs,
like a diamond cutting through stone.
One who is excessively immoral,
like a tree overgrown by vines,
does to oneself
what an enemy wants.
It is easy to do things that are worthless
and of no benefit to oneself;
but to do what is beneficial and worthwhile
is extremely difficult.
A foolish person who,
based on a harmful perspective,
reviles the teachings
of the Worthy One,
brings about their own destruction
like a monocarpic plant.
By oneself evil is done,
by oneself one becomes defiled;
by oneself evil is not done,
by oneself one becomes purified;
purity and impurity depend on oneself -
no one can purify another.
One should not abandon one’s own welfare
for the sake of others, no matter how many;
having understood one’s own welfare,
one should be intent upon it.