Dhammapada 160

You are your own protector

You are your own protector; who else could be your protector? With yourself well tamed, you find a protector hard to find.

Translated from the Pāli by Banya

In plain words

You are your own protector; the verse asks what other protector there could be. Through training yourself well, you gain a protector that is hard to find. Here self is reflexive language and does not itself assert an eternal soul.

Key words

nātha

protector — Protection is linked here with one's own training.

The story behind the verse

“And hate not his father and mother”

In the commentary, a woman entered the nuns’ community without knowing she was already pregnant. When her pregnancy became visible, Devadatta directed that she be expelled, and she appealed to the Buddha, and Visākhā’s examination established her innocence. Her child was raised under the king’s care and later became the monk Kumāra Kassapa, and he attained liberation, while his mother remained distressed by separation from him. When they met, his severe reply prompted her to release her attachment, and the commentary says she too attained liberation, and the Buddha taught about being one’s own protector.

Retold by Banya from the traditional commentary, after E. W. Burlingame, Buddhist Legends (1921).

Explanation by Banya. Traditional readings vary.