The Impurity chapter opens with an alarm bell: like a withered leaf you are now; death's messengers stand near, and you have no provisions for the journey (18.1) — so make an island (a lamp) of yourself, strive quickly, become wise (18.2). Its method verse is gradualist and kind: little by little, moment by moment, the wise remove their own impurities as a smith removes dross from silver (18.5). Its warning verse is the chapter's namesake image: as rust arising from iron eats the very iron it came from, so their own deeds consume those who live carelessly (18.6).
The chapter inventories the taints — non-recitation tarnishes chants, neglect tarnishes houses, sloth tarnishes beauty, heedlessness the watchman (18.7) — and crowns one worse than all of them: ignorance, the supreme taint (18.9). Its sharpest psychological observation concerns fault-finding: easy to see are others' faults, hard to see one's own; we winnow others' faults like chaff and hide our own like a cheating gambler hides a losing throw (18.18) — and the habitual fault-finder only grows their own corruptions (18.19). Even here the chapter keeps its bearings: there is no path in the sky, and no true renunciant outside the Dhamma (18.20–18.21).
Key verses
Gradually, little by little, moment by moment, the wise one should expel his own taints — just as a smith removes the dross from silver.
Just as rust arises from iron and then consumes the very iron from which it came, so the deeds of one beyond moderation lead him to a bad destination.
Easy to see are the faults of others, but one's own are hard to see. One winnows others' faults like chaff, but conceals one's own — as a crafty gambler hides a losing throw.
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