Q0301

Dhammapada

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

One is one's own refuge; who else could be the refuge?
Thinker Dhammapada
School Early Buddhism
Source Dhammapada 160
Theme Self
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Dhammapada 160, within the tradition of Early Buddhism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of self, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Dhammapada's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Dhammapada. (n.d.). One is one's own refuge; who else could be the refuge? In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0301

MLA: Dhammapada. “One is one's own refuge; who else could….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0301.

Chicago: Dhammapada. “One is one's own refuge; who else could….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0301.

Same thinker

More from Dhammapada

  1. Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is an eternal law.
  2. To avoid all evil, to cultivate the good, and to cleanse one's mind—this is the teaching of the Buddhas.
  3. Let one not regard the faults of others, nor what others have done or left undone; let one regard rather one's own deeds, done and undone.
  4. You yourselves must strive; the Buddhas only point the way.
  5. Hatreds never cease through hatred in this world.

All quotations by Dhammapada

Same theme

More on self

  1. A friend is another self.
  2. A person's character is their destiny.
  3. I searched for myself.
  4. It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
  5. Claim yourself for yourself.

Browse the self theme