Dhammapada verse 127
Chapter 9, Wickedness (Pāpavagga) · verses 116–128
“Not in midair, nor mid-ocean, nor hiding in a mountain cleft; you’ll find no place on the planet to escape your wicked deeds.”
Na antalikkhe na samuddamajjhe, Na pabbatānaṁ vivaraṁ pavissa; Na vijjatī so jagatippadeso, Yatthaṭṭhito mucceyya pāpakammā.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 127 mean?
Verse 127 belongs to chapter 9, Wickedness (Pāpavagga), which gathers verses 116–128 on wickedness and its ripening. It is filed under good & evil. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 126 and verse 128 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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