Dhammapada verse 128
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 where you won’t be vanquished by death.”
Na antalikkhe na samuddamajjhe, Na pabbatānaṁ vivaraṁ pavissa; Na vijjatī so jagatippadeso, Yatthaṭṭhitaṁ nappasaheyya maccu. Pāpavaggo navamo.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 128 mean?
Verse 128 belongs to chapter 9, Wickedness (Pāpavagga), which gathers verses 116–128 on wickedness and its ripening. It is filed under impermanence & death. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 127 and verse 129 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.
More verses on this