Dhammapada 173

One whose wrong action is covered by what is good lights up this world like the moon released from a…

One whose wrong action is covered by what is good lights up this world like the moon released from a cloud.

Translated from the Pāli by Banya

In plain words

Someone whose earlier wrongdoing is covered by goodness illuminates the world like the moon freed from clouds. The image does not itself say that earlier actions or their consequences are erased.

Key words

pidhīyati

is covered, obscured — The image does not itself say that past action is erased.

The story behind the verse

Conversion of the robber Finger-garland

In the commentary, Aṅgulimāla was a robber who killed people and wore a garland of their fingers, and the Buddha walked along the road where he was known to attack travelers. Aṅgulimāla pursued him, but the commentary says the Buddha’s power prevented him from catching up, and the Buddha explained that he had stopped harming beings, while the robber had not. Aṅgulimāla discarded his weapons and became a monk, and he later attained liberation. While on an alms round he was struck by objects thrown at him, and the Buddha explained that consequences of his earlier wrongdoing remained despite his changed life.

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

Explanation by Banya. Traditional readings vary.