If there were no wound on the hand, one could carry poison with it; poison does not affect one who has no wound; there is no evil for one who does no evil.

Pāṇimhi ce vaṇo nāssa hareyya pāṇinā visaṃ — if there were no wound on the hand, one could carry poison: the image comes from the spice or medicine trade in ancient India. Poison does not penetrate intact skin.

Nābbaṇaṃ visam anveti — poison does not follow one who has no wound: the wound is the metaphor for greed, aversion and ignorance. The poison of the world — provocations, difficult situations — only “poisons” through the wounds of attachment and reactivity.

Natthi pāpaṃ akubbato — there is no evil for one who does not do it: evil is not something that “happens to” the person but something generated through intention and action. Without the wound of reactivity, the poison of circumstances does not penetrate.

This teaching is relevant for practice in daily life: difficult situations do not produce suffering in themselves — only through the “wounds” of our unexamined attachments.