When the Buddha was dying,Ananda asked who would be their teacher after death.

Buddha replied to his disciple:

Be lamps unto yourselves.

Be refuges unto yourselves.

Take yourself no external refuge.

Hold fast to the truth as a lamp.

Hold fast to the truth as a refuge.

Look not for a refuge in anyone besides yourselves.

And those, Ananda, who either now or after I am dead,

Shall be a lamp unto themselves,

Shall betake themselves as no external refuge,

But holding fast to the truth as their lamp,

Holding fast to the truth as their refuge,

Shall not look for refuge to anyone else besides themselves,

It is they who shall reach to the very topmost height;

But they must be anxious to learn.

Quoted in Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight