Dhammapada is not "a teaching of the Buddha himself"?
None of the teachings were from the Buddha &quot;himself&quot;.
Although, that is the &quot;truth&quot; I cannot explain why; and neither can anyone else that knows.
Experience for oneself the teachings as real... that's all to be grasped at, until &quot;beyond teaching&quot; occurs. Living Dhamma is basically the same thing Christians call the living word. However, expecting anyone else to &quot;save you&quot; is delusion the concept of Christ is the same as the Buddhist concept of: Anagamin (once returner) To hell with all that waiting and suffering those those poor people are bringing and doing to the world!
Arhat same thing as a Buddha. A Buddha is said to arise once every hundred years from any and all traditions from all walks of life...
Get to know the skandhas... that's my advice; those are the bridges built between the three poisons. See Jealousy trying to be a bridge between greed and hate; without jealousy greed and hate can't even form can't even link up... the entire mass known as house builder falls apart.