If one holds oneself dear,
One should protect oneself well.
During any of the three watches (of life)
The wise should keep vigil.

One should first establish oneself
In what is proper,
And then instruct others.
A wise man who acts in this way
Shall never get defiled.

As he instructs others
He should himself act.
Himself fully controlled,
He should control others.
Difficult indeed is to control oneself.

Oneself ideeed is master of oneself,
Who else could other master be?
With oneself perfectedly trained,
One obtains a refuge hard to gain.

The evil, done by oneself,
Self-begotten and self-produced,
Crushes the witless one,
As the diamond grinds a hard gem.

An exceedingly corrupted man is like
A creeper strangling a tree.
Surely, he does unto himself
What his enemy would wish for him.

Easy to do are those karmas
Which are bad and not benefitting oneself.
But those which are good and beneficial
Are dificult indeed to be performed.

Whoso on account of false views
Scorns the teaching of the Noble Ones,
The Worhty and Righteous Ones.
He, the foolish man, destroys himself
Like the bamboo, seeding, finds its end.

By oneself is evil done,
By oneself does one get defiled.
By oneself is evil left undone,
By oneself is one purified.
Purity or impurity depends on oneself,
No one can purify anther.

Fall not away from one's own purpose
For the sake of another, however great,
When once one has seen one's own goal,
One should hold to it fast and firm.