Dhammapada verse 125
Chapter 9, Wickedness (Pāpavagga) · verses 116–128
“Whoever wrongs a man who has done no wrong, a pure man who has not a blemish, the evil backfires on the fool, like fine dust thrown upwind.”
Yo appaduṭṭhassa narassa dussati, Suddhassa posassa anaṅgaṇassa; Tameva bālaṁ pacceti pāpaṁ, Sukhumo rajo paṭivātaṁva khitto.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 125 mean?
Verse 125 belongs to chapter 9, Wickedness (Pāpavagga), which gathers verses 116–128 on wickedness and its ripening. It is filed under wisdom & folly, good & evil, purity & stains. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 124 and verse 126 are part of the same passage.
Thirteen verses on wickedness and its ripening. The chapter’s repeated claim is that an evil deed is not done in one motion — it is done, then repeated, then made a habit — and that the person who does it grieves in both places, here and after. It is one of the chapters most explicitly concerned with consequence rather than intention.
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