SELF
If a man hold himself dear, let him watch himself carefully; during one
at least out of the three watches a wise man should be watchful.
Let each man direct himself first to what is proper, then let him teach
others; thus a wise man will not suffer.
If a man make himself as he teaches others to be, then, being himself
well subdued, he may subdue others; for one's own self is difficult to
subdue.
Self is the lord of self, who else could be the lord? With self well
subdued, a man finds a lord such as few can find.
The evil done by one's self, self-forgotten, self-bred, crushes the
foolish, as a diamond breaks even a precious stone.
He whose wickedness is very great brings himself down to that state
where his enemy wishes him to be, as a creeper does with the tree which
it surrounds.
Bad deeds, and deeds hurtful to ourselves, are easy to do; what is
beneficial and good, that is very difficult to do.
The foolish man who scorns the rule of the venerable (Arhat), of the
elect (Ariya), of the virtuous, and follows a false doctrine, he bears
fruit to his own destruction, like the fruits of the Katthaka reed.
By one's self the evil is done, by one's self one suffers; by one's self
evil is left undone, by one's self one is purified. The pure and the
impure stand and fall by themselves, no one can purify another.
Let no one forget his own duty for the sake of another's, however great;
let a man, after he has discerned his own duty, be always attentive to
his duty.