Whoever insults a person without fault, pure and spotless, evil returns to that fool like fine dust thrown against the wind.

Yo appaduṭṭhassa narassa dussati — whoever insults a person without fault: appaduṭṭha is without malice, without impurity. The pure person, without rancor or harmful intent. Attempting to harm such a person is an especially counterproductive act.

Suddhassa posassa anaṅgaṇassa — pure and spotless: three adjectives that accumulate the description of purity. Suddha (pure), anaṅgaṇa (spotless, without defect). This triple qualification underscores the impotence of evil to harm one who genuinely has no “wounds”.

Sukhumo rajo paṭivātaṃva khitto — like fine dust thrown against the wind: the image is perfect. Dust thrown against the wind returns upon the thrower. The insult or aggression directed at the pure one returns to the aggressor.

This verse is not a promise of magical protection for the virtuous but the description of a real psychological dynamic: one who attacks without genuine reason does so from their own perturbations, and those perturbations belong to them.