Pluck out self-love as you would a faded lotus flower.
— The Dhammapada
In the West, we spend alot of time encouraging people to love and cherish themselves. Presumably we are trying to combat the seeming epidemic of low self-esteem and self-hate.. . . But the Dhammapada, a scared Buddhist text, is not referring to people who lack self-acceptance but to the other side of the coin of human frailty — unhealthy self-absorption. "Self-love," as the Buddha calls it, is an obstacle to true awareness, another impediment along the spiritual journey.
— Wayne Teasdale, The Mystic Hours