Dhammapada verse 124
Chapter 9, Wickedness (Pāpavagga) · verses 116–128
“You can carry poison in your hand if it has no wound, for poison does not infect without a wound; nothing bad happens unless you do bad.”
Pāṇimhi ce vaṇo nāssa, hareyya pāṇinā visaṁ; Nābbaṇaṁ visamanveti, natthi pāpaṁ akubbato.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 124 mean?
Verse 124 belongs to chapter 9, Wickedness (Pāpavagga), which gathers verses 116–128 on wickedness and its ripening. It is filed under happiness. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 123 and verse 125 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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