Q0371

Dhammapada

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

You yourselves must strive; the Buddhas only point the way.
Thinker Dhammapada
School Early Buddhism
Source Dhammapada 276
Theme Self
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Dhammapada 276, 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.). You yourselves must strive; the Buddhas only point the way. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0371

MLA: Dhammapada. “You yourselves must strive; the Buddhas only point….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0371.

Chicago: Dhammapada. “You yourselves must strive; the Buddhas only point….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0371.

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. One is one's own refuge; who else could be the refuge?
  4. 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.
  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