Dhammapada 166

166

Attadatthaṃ paratthena,
bahunāpi na hāpaye;
Attadatthamabhiññāya,
sadatthapasuto siyā.

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.
[164. The reed either dies after it has borne fruit, or is cut down for the sake of its fruit.
Ditthi, literally 'view,' is used even by itself like the Greek 'hairesis,' in the sense of heresy (see Burnouf, Lotus, p. 444). In other places a distinction is made between mikkhâditthi (vv. 167, 316) and sammâditthi (v. 319). If arahatam ariyânam are used in their technical sense, we should translate 'the reverend Arhats,'--Arhat being the highest degree of the four orders of Ariras, viz. Srotaâpanna, Sakadâgâmin, Anâgâmin, and Arhat. See note to verse 178.