Do not look for the faults of others, nor what they have done or left undone. Look only at what you yourself have done and left undone.

Na paresaṃ vilomāni — not the faults of others. Vilomāni means what goes against the current, what is incorrect, errors. This verse establishes one of the most practical and difficult principles of Buddhist ethics: attention to one’s own behavior instead of vigilance over others’.

Na paresaṃ katākataṃ — not what others have done or left undone. The ordinary tendency of the mind is precisely the opposite: cataloging others’ faults with precision while ignoring one’s own. This tendency has evolutionary roots in social vigilance, but in the context of spiritual practice it becomes an obstacle.

Attanova avekkheyya — look only at one’s own. Avekka is “to look with care, to examine.” The practice of self-examination (svadhyāya in the yogic tradition) is here the proposed path. Not introspection as paralyzing self-criticism, but honest attention to what one has done and left undone.

This verse is medicine against projection. When the mind is uncomfortable with itself, the automatic tendency is to project outward, seeing faults in others. The practice of honest self-examination is perhaps the most difficult on the spiritual path precisely because it goes against this automatism.