Dhammapada 128

Not in the sky, not in the middle of the sea, not by entering a cleft in the mountains: there is no…

Not in the sky, not in the middle of the sea, not by entering a cleft in the mountains: there is no place on earth where death would not overcome you.

Translated from the Pāli by Banya

In plain words

No location can put a living person beyond death's reach. The verse names remote hiding places to make the limit unmistakable.

Key words

maccu

death — A universal limit, not a punishment for an individual.

The story behind the verse

Suppabuddha insults the Teacher

In the commentary, Suppabuddha resented the Buddha over events involving his daughter and son. He became drunk and blocked the Buddha’s passage through the street, and the Buddha predicted that the earth would swallow him at the foot of a stairway. Suppabuddha heard the prediction and stayed on an upper floor behind barriers, and when his horse caused a disturbance, he moved toward the exit. The commentary describes doors opening, stairs returning, and guards throwing him down, and the earth swallowed him, and the commentary says he was reborn in a hell realm.

Retold by Banya from the traditional commentary, after E. W. Burlingame, Buddhist Legends (1921).

Explanation by Banya. Traditional readings vary.