Saṃyutta Nikaya
I. Sagatha Vagga
IV. Māra Saṃyutta
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
Kindred Sayings with Verses
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by Sūriyagoḍa Sumangala Thera
Copyright The Pali Text Society. Public Domain
IV. The Māra Suttas[1]
Suttas 1-25
I
Sutta 1[2]
Penance and Work
[1.1][bodh][olds][upal] THUS HAVE I HEARD:
The Exalted One was once staying at Uruvelā, on the banks of the Nerañjara river, beneath the Goatherds' Banyan, and he had just won full enlightenment.
Now he was meditating in solitude, and there arose in his mind this train of thought:
"Ah! free am I indeed from that toil so hard to achieve!
Ah! well freed am I indeed from that toil so hard to achieve, linked to naught that could bring me good!
Steadfast, mindful, well have I arrived at enlightenment."
Now Māra the evil one, conscious in his mind of the Exalted One's thought, drew nigh and addressed him in this verse: —
"Those penitential tasks abandoning,
Whereby the sons of men are purified,
The impure fancieth that he is pure,
When he hath strayed from path of purity."
Then the Exalted One, discerning that this was Māra the evil one, made rejoinder with verses: —
[129] "I understood full well how auy rites
Austere,[3] aimed at the overthrow of death,
Belong to matter's useless for our good.
Yea, nothing good they bring along with them,
Like oar and rudder in a ship on land[4]
But morals, concentration and insight[5]:—
The Path to Enlightenment — these were my task;
That Path creating and developing,
Have I attained the purity supreme.[6]
Thou thing of ends,[7] confess thyself laid low!"
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me!
The Blessed One knows me!"
and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 2
The Wonder-Elephant
[2.1][bodh][olds][upal] At the same place and on the same occasion, the Exalted One was seated beneath the open sky in the darkness of the night, and the rain was falling drop by drop.[8]
Now Māra the evil one, desirous of making the Exalted One feel dread and horror and creeping of the flesh, turned himself into the likeness of a king-elephant and drew near.
And [130] his head was like a shaped block of steatite,[9] his tusks were as polished silver, his trunk was like a huge ploughshare.
Then the Exalted One, understanding that this was Māra the evil one, addressed him in a verse: —
"Long, long hast thou been wandering to and fro[10]
Taking on shapes comely or foul to see.
Enough of these for thee, thou evil one!
Thou thing of ends! confess thyself laid low."
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me!
The Blessed One knows me!"
and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 3
Comely
[3.1][bodh][olds][upal] At the same season, in the same place, the Exalted One was seated beneath the open sky, in the darkness of the night, and the rain was falling drop by drop.
Now Māra the evil one, desirous of making the Exalted One feel dread and horror and creeping of the flesh, mew near to the Exalted One and waxed wondrous in divers visible shapes, beautiful and ugly.
Then the Exalted One, understanding that this was Māra the evil one, addressed him in a verse: —
"Long, long hast thou been wandering to and fro,
Taking on shapes comely or foul to see;
Enough of these for thee, thou evil one!
Thou thing of ends, confess thyself laid low!"
They that in deed, word, thought are well controlled,
O Māra, they no subjects are of thine!
O Māra, they no pupils[11] are of thee!"
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me!
The Blessed One knows me!"
and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 4
The Snare (1)
[4.1][bodh][upal] THUS HAVE I HEARD:
The Exalted One was once staying near Benares, at Isipatana in the Deer Park.[12]
And he there addressed the Brethren, saying:[13]:
"Bhikkhus!"
"Yes, lord," they responded.
And he said:
"It is by systematic[14] thought, by systematic right effort,[15] bhikkhus, that I have won supreme emancipation,[16] that I have realized supreme emancipation.
Do ye also, bhikkhus, by systematic thought, by systematic right effort, win supreme emancipation, realize supreme emancipation."
Then Māra the evil one came into the presence of the Exalted One and spoke to him in a verse: —
"Bound art thou in the snares by Māra laid:
Snares [of delights][17] terrestrial or divine —
In Māra's bondage liest thou, recluse!
Thou hast not won to freedom yet from me."
[The Exalted One: —]
"Freed am I from the snares by Māra laid —
Snares of delights terrestrial or divine.
From Māra's bondage have I freedom won.
Thou thing of ends, confess thyself laid low."
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me!
The Blessed One knows me!"
and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 5
The Snare (2)
[5.1][bodh][upal] On another occasion at the same place, the Exalted One thus addressed the brethren[18]:
— "I am freed, bhikkhus, from all snares both celestial and human.
Ye also, bhikkhus, are [132] freed from all snares both celestial and human.
Fare ye, bhikkhus, in a round[19] that may be for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, for love[20] toward the world, for the advantage, the good, the happiness of gods and men.
Let not two take the same course.[21]
Teach ye, bhikkhus, the Norm
that is beneficent at the beginning,
in the middle,
at the end.
Reveal ye the holy life,
entirely perfected and purified
both in its spirit and in its form.
There are beings whose eyes are scarcely dimmed by dust of defilement.
They perish because they hear not the Norm.
They will become such as know[22] the Norm.
I too, bhikkhus, will go hence,
even to Uruvelā
to the township of Senā."[23]
Then Māra the evil one came into the presence of the Exalted One and spoke to him by a verse: —
"Thou'rt bound by every snare that doth beset, —
Snares of delights terrestrial or divine.
In mighty bondage art thou bound, recluse!
Thou hast not won to freedom yet from me."
[The Exalted One: —]
"Freed am I from all snares that do beset, —
Snares of delights terrestrial or divine.
[133]From mighty bondage have I freedom won.
Thou thing of ends, confess thyself laid low."
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me!
The Blessed One knows me!"
and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 6
The Cobra
[6.1][bodh][upal] THUS HAVE I HEARD:
The Exalted One was once staying at Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove at the Squirrels' Feeding-ground.
Now the Exalted One at that time was seated beneath the open sky,
in the darkness of the night,
and the rain was falling drop by drop.[24]
Then Māra the evil one, desirous of making him feel dread and horror and creeping of the flesh,
assumed the mighty appearance of a king of the snakes and came into the presence of the Exalted One.
His body was like a boat [hewn out] of one tree-trunk;
his hood was like a distiller's woven tray[25];
his eyes became like brazen dishes of Kosala[26];
his tongue darted from his mouth like the forked lightnings' dart when god is thundering;
the sound of his breathing in and out was as the sound of the puffing of a smith's bellows.
But the Exalted One, understanding that this was Māra the evil one, addressed him in verses: —
"O well is him,[27] the self-restrained sage,
Whose haunts are homes of empty loneliness!
There let him fare who hath relinquished all.
Men of his stamp such life in sooth beseems.
Many the creatures roaming in the wild,[28]
Many the things begetting fear and dread,[29]
[134]Yea, many gadflies, many deadly snakes.
Yet never there the calm and mighty sage,
Resting in lodge of loneliness remote,
Shall move a [muscle, lift a] hair from dread.
Yea, [winds] may crack the sky and shake the earth,
Yea, all that lives may strive to terrify,
Yea, they may brandish dart against his breast —
For springs of life[30] Buddhas no shelter make."
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me!
The Blessed One knows me!"
and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 7
He Sleeps
[7.1][bodh][upal] On another occasion, at the same place, when the Exalted One had walked about for a great part of the night,
he washed his feet,[31] entered his cell,
and took the lion's lying posture on his right side,
placing one foot above the other,[32]
considering, mindful and deliberate,
the idea of rising up again.
Then Māra the evil one approached and came into his presence,
addressing him in this verse: —
"What! dost thou sleep? Now wherefore sleepest thou?[33]
What! would'st thou like a worthless hireling[34] sleep?
Deeming the house is empty dost thou sleep?
What! when the sun is risen would'st thou sleep?"
[The Exalted One: —]
"When craving with her nets and venom-drugs
No-whither can seduce,[35] when every base
[135]Of rebilth is abolished utterly,
The man of intellect thus wakened[36] sleeps —
With him, 0 Māra, what hast thou to do?"[37]
§
Sutta 8
Gladness
[8.1][than][bodh][upal] THUS HAVE I HEARD:
The Exalted One was once staying at Sāvatthī, in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇṃika's Park.
Now Māra the evil one came into his presence and pronounced this verse before him: —
"Parent[38] of sons in his sons is glad,
and glad is the swain in his herds of kine.
Gladness ariseth through life renewed,[39] and no man is gladdened at life's decline."
[The Exalted One: —]
"Parent of many sons doth mourn,
and mourneth the swain through his herds of kine.
Mourning ariseth through life renewed,
and saddened is no man at life's decline."
§
Sutta 9
Man's Life (1)
[9.1][bodh][upal] THUS HAVE I HEARD:
The Exalted One was once staying at Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove at the Squirrels' Feeding-ground.
And there he exorted the brethren:
"Bhikkhus!"
"Yes, lord," they responded, and the Exalted One said: —
"Brief, bhikkhus, is the life of men — a matter of flitting hence, having its sequel elsewhere.
To be wrought is the good; to be lived is the holy life.
To him that is born there is no not-dying.
He bhikkhus, who lives long, lives but a hundred years or but a little longer."[40]
Then Māra the evil one drew nigh to the Exalted One and addressed him in verse: —
[136] "Long time have sons of men on earth to live.
Let the good man herein no trouble take.[41]
As babe with milk replete,[42] so let him act.
There is no present coming on of death."
[The Exalted One: —]
"Brief time have sons of men on earth to live.
Let the good man herein much trouble take.
Acting as were his turban all a-blaze.[43]
There is no man to whom death cometh not."[44]
§
Sutta 10
Man's Life (2)
[10.1][bodh][upal] On another occasion, at the same place, when the Exalted One had addressed the brethren in the same words, Māra.
the evil one approabhed again and pronounced this verse before him: —
"The days, the nights pass on unceasingly;
Nor doth our life break up and come to naught.
Around us whirls our mortals' term of years,
As round the axle whirls the tyre of wheel."
[The Exalted One: —]
"The days, the nights pass on until they cease.
So doth our life break up and come to naught.
Withers our mortals' term of years and dries,
As water of the rains in little rills."
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me! The Blessed One knows me!"
and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
II
Sutta 11
The Rock
[11.1][bodh][upal]The Exalted One was once staying at Rājagaha, on the hill of Vulture's Peak.
And on that occasion he was seated in the darkness of the night under the open sky, while god rained drop by drop.
Now Māra the evil one, ddesirous of making him feel dread and terror and creeping of the flesh, drew nigh to him, and there, not far from the Exalted One, he sent many huge rocks crashing down.[45]
Then the Exalted One, understanding that this was Māra, addressed him in a verse: —
"Thou there! could'st slake the whole of Vulture's Peak
from top to base, no movement would there be
In Buddhas whose is perfect liberty."
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me! The Blessed One knows me!"
and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 12
The Lion
[12.1][bodh][upal] The Exalted One was once staying at Sāvatthī, in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇṃika's Park.
And he was teaching the Norm surrounded by a great congregation.
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"This recluse, Gotama, is teaching the Norm surrounded by a great congregation.
What if I were now to draw near to darken their understanding?"[46]
Then he drew near to the Exalted One and addressed him by a verse: —
[138] "How now! why like a lion dost thou roar,[47]
So confident before thine audience?[48]
Lo! here for thee a rival wrestler stands.
Dost deem that thou hast overthrown us all?"
[The Exalted One: —]
"Nay then, great heroes take delight to feel
Just confidence before their audience.
Tathāgatas have won the [tenfold] power,[49]
And crossed the flood where all the world sticks fast."[50]
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me! The Blessed One knows me!"
and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 13
The Splinter
[13.1][than][upal] The Exalted One was once starying at Rājagaha, in the Maddakucchi, at the Deer-preserve.
Now at that time his foot was injured by a splinter.[51]
Sorely indeed did the Exalted One feel it, grievous the pains he suffered in the body, keen and sharp, acute, distressing and unwelcome.
Them in sooth he bore, mindful and deliberate, nor was he cast down.
Now Māra the evil one drew nigh to the Exalted One and addressed him in a verse: —
"What? liest thou mentally dull and vacuous?
Or art thou mazed over thy coming discourse?[52]
Do not affairs divers and many await thee?[53]
Biding aloof here in a resting-place lonely,
With sleepy face why on this wise dost slumber?"
[139] [The Exalted One: —]
"Here lie I not mentally dull and vacuous,
Nor am I mazed brooding on future discourse.
My aim is won, nor have I any troubles.
I lie at rest filled with love for all things.
E'en when, by dart pierced in the breast, men suffer
Throbbing, throbbing heart-pulse, they wounded win sleep.
Why should not I sleep who am no more wounded?
In vigil care-free, without fear I slumber.
Nor nights nor days stir up regrets within me.
Nor harm I see in the whole world impending,
Hence may I sleep fillèd with love for all things."
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me! The Blessed One knows me!"
and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 14
Suitable
[14.1][bodh][upal] The Exalted One was once staying among the Kosalese at the brahmin village of Ekasālā.[54] And on that occasion he was teaching the Norm, surrounded by a great congregation of the laity.
Now Māra the evil one thought:
"That recluse, Gotama, is teaching the Norm surrounded by a great congregation of the laity.
What if I were to draw near and act so as to darken their intelligence?"
So he drew nigh to the presence of theExalted One and addressed him in a verse: —
"Not suitable for thee is this, that thou
Should'st teach another. Have a care, lest thou
In such a practice art not left to hang
Strung 'twixt supporters' zeal, opposer's ire."[55]
[The Exalted One: — ]
"Love and compassion doth th'enlightened feel
Towards another when he teacheth him.
[140]From zeal of partisan, opposers' ire
Unloosed and freed is a Tathāgata."
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me! The Blessed One knows me!"
and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 15
Sense-experience[56]
[15.1][bodh][upal] THUS HAVE I HEARD:
The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī,
[57] in the Jeta Grove,
Anāthapiṇṃika's Park.
Then Māra the evil one drew nigh to the Exalted One and addressed him in a verse: —
"The tale of sense-impressions is a snare
That weaves its fetters to and fro in air.
Here have I chains wherewith to fetter thee.
Recluse, thou shalt' not yet escape from me."
[The Exalted One: —]
"Sights, sounds and tastes, odours,[58] and things to touch,
Bringing delights to mind of man — for such
All wish, all will, for me, is past and gone.
Thou thing of ends, confess thyself o'erthrown!"
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me! The Blessed One knows me! and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 16
The Bowl
[16.1][bodh][upal] On one occasion, at Sāvatthī,
the Exalted One was instructing,
enlightening,
inciting
and inspiring[59] the brethren
by a [141] sermon on the five aggregates
whereby we grasp at the things of life.[60]
And the brethren
with their whole mind applied,
attentive
and intent,
listened with rapt hearing to the Norm.[61]
Then it occaned to Māra the evil one:
"This recluse, Gotama, is instructing,
enlightening,
inciting
and inspiring the brethren
by a sermon on the five aggregates
wherby we grasp at the things of life.
And the brethren
with their whole mind applied,
attentive
intent,
are listening with rapt hearing to the Norm.
What if I were now to draw near
and act so as to darken their intelligence?"
Now on that occasion
a great many bowls had been placed
in the open air [to dry].[62]
And Māra the evil one,
assuming the shape of a bullock,
went towards these bowls.
Then one brother called to another:
"Brother, brother,
that bullock may break the bowls!"
And when he had so said,
the Exalted One said to him:
"That is no bullock, bhikkhu.
It is Māra the evil one,
who has come to try to darken your understanding."
And the Exalted One, having understood that this was Māra, addressed the evil one in a verse: —
The body's shape, all that we feel, perceive,
And know by sense:, and whatso will hath planned[63]: —
This congeries — whoso doth know it well;
That 't is not I, that 't is not Mine — he thus
Breaks from its charm. Him thus dispassionate,
The self at peace,[64] all fetters left behind,
Him, though they hunting seek in every sphere
Of life, the hosts of Māra ne'er will find[65]
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me! The Blessed One knows me!" and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 17
The Sphere of Sense
[17.1][bodh][upal] The Exalted One was once staying at Vesālī,
in the Great Grove,
at the Gabled Hall.
Now on that occasion he was instructing,
enlightening,
inciting,
and inspiring the brethren
by a sermon on the six spheres of contact.[66]
And the brethren
with their whole mind applied,
attentive
and intent,
listened with rapt hearing to the Norm.
Then it occurred to Māra the evil one:
"This recluse Gotama is instructing,
enlightening,
inciting,
and inspiring the brethren
by a sermon on the six spheres of contact.
And the brethren
with their whole mind applied,
attentive and intent,
are listening with rapt hearing to the Norm.
What if I were now to draw near
and act so as to darken their intelligence?"
So Māra the evil one drew near,
and when he was not far from the Exalted One,
he made a mighty, fearful, terrible noise,
so that men would think the very earth was splitting open.[67]
Then one brother called to another:
"Brother, brother,
I do think the earth is splitting open beneath us!"
And when he had so said,
the Exalted One said to him:
"Nay, bhikkhu, this is not the earth splitting open.
This is Māra the evil one
come to act so as to darken your understanding."
And knowing it was so,
the Exalted One addressed Māra the evil one by a verse: —
"Sights, sounds, and tastes[68] and smells and tangibles,
Yea, all impressions and ideas[69] thereof: —
These are the direful bait that draws the world;
Herein the world infatuated lies.
All this if he get past and leave behind,
The Buddha's follower, with heedful mind,
Passing beyond the range of Māra's might,
Like the high sun, doth fill the world with light."
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me! The Blessed One knows me!" and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 18
Alms
[18.1][bodh][upal][than] The Exalted One was once staying among the Magadhese
at the brahmin village of Pañca-sālā (Five Sāl-trees[70]).
Now on that occasion
the young folks' festival
of sending gifts to each other
was taking place.
And the Exalted One
dressing himself in the early morning
and taking his robe and bowl
went into Pañca-sālā for alms.
Then Māra the evil one entered into[71] the brahmin householders of Pañca-sālā,
inspiring them:
"Suffer not Gotama the recluse to receive alms."
Then the Exalted One
even as with washen bowl he entered Pañca-sālā for alms,
so with washen bowl came he hack again.
And Māra the evil one drew nigh
and said to the Exalted One:
— "Hast thou too, recluse,
gotten alms?"
"Hast thou, evil one,
so done that I should get none?"
"Wherefore let, lord, the Exalted One enter Pañca-sālā village a second time,
and I will so do
that he shall get alms."[72].
[The Exalted One: — ]
"Māra hath generated evil force,
In seeking the Tathāgata to assail.
What! dost thou fancy, O thou evil one,
That evil wrought 'gainst me beareth no fruit?[73]
[144]But we, behold! in very bliss we live,
To whom belongeth not a single thing.
Eaters of rapture shall we now become,
Like gods self-luminous in Radiant sphere."[74]
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me! The Blessed One knows me!" and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 19
The Ploughman
[19.1][bit][than][bodh][upal] On one occasion, while he was staying at Sāvatthī,
the Exalted One was instructing,
enlightening,
inciting,
and inspiring the brethren
by a sermon relating to Nibbāna.
And the brethren,
with their whole mind applied,
attentive
and intent,
listened with rapt hearing
to the Exalted One.
Then it occurred to Māra the evil one:
"This recluse Gotama is instructing,
enlightening,
inciting,
and inspiring the brethren
by a sermon relating to Nibbāna.
What if I were now to draw near
and act so as to darken their intelligence?"
So Māra the evil one,
taking the shape of a peasant,
bearing a mighty plough on his shoulder,
and holding an ox-goad in his hand,
his hair dishevelled,[75]
his raiment hempen,
his feet spattered with mud,
drew near to the Exalted One and said: —
"And thou, recluse,
hast thou seen my oxen?"
"But what hast thou, evil one,
to do with oxen?"
"Mine only, recluse,
is the eye and its objects,
mine is the field of consciousness
of the eye's contact: —
whither, recluse, wilt thou go
to escape from me?
"Mine only, recluse,
is the ear and its sounds,
mine is the field of consciousness
of the ear's contact: —
whither, recluse, wilt thou go
to escape from me?
"Mine only, recluse,
is the nose and its odours,
mine is the field of consciousness
of the nose's contact: —
whither, recluse, wilt thou go
to escape from me?
"Mine only, recluse,
is the tongue and its tastes,
mine is the field of consciousness
of the tongue's contact: —
whither, recluse, wilt thou go
to escape from me?
"Mine only, recluse,
is the body and its touched things,
mine is the field of consciousness
of the body's contact: —
whither, recluse, wilt thou go
to escape from me?
Mine only, recluse,
is the mind and its impressions,
mine is the field of consciousness
of mental contact[76] —
whither, recluse, wilt thou go
to escape from me?"
■
[145] 'Thine only, O evil one,
is the eye and its objects
and the filed of consciousness
of the eye's contact.
"But where, O evil one,
eye is not,
nor object,
nor field of consciousness
of the eye's contact,
there, O evil one,
is no waygate for thee.
Thine only, O evil one,
is the ear and its sounds
and the filed of consciousness
of the ear's contact.
"But where, O evil one,
ear is not,
nor sounds,
nor field of consciousness
of the ear's contact,
there, O evil one,
is no waygate for thee.
Thine only, O evil one,
is the nose and its odours
and the filed of consciousness
of the nose's contact.
"But where, O evil one,
nose is not,
nor odours,
nor field of consciousness
of the nose's contact,
there, O evil one,
is no waygate for thee.
Thine only, O evil one,
is the tongue and its tastes
and the filed of consciousness
of the tongue's contact.
"But where, O evil one,
tongue is not,
nor tastes,
nor field of consciousness
of the tongue's contact,
there, O evil one,
is no waygate for thee.
Thine only, O evil one,
is the body and its touched things
and the filed of consciousness
of the body's contact.
"But where, O evil one,
body is not,
nor touched things,
nor field of consciousness
of the body's contact,
there, O evil one,
is no waygate for thee.
Thine only, O evil one,
is the mind[77] and its impressions
and the filed of consciousness
of the mind's contact.
"But where, O evil one,
mind is not,
nor impressions,
nor field of consciousness
of the mind's contact,
there, O evil one,
is no waygate for thee."
[Māra: —]
"Things about which men say: this, that, is mine! —
The folk who tell you: this or that is mine! —
If thou'st a mind to care for those and these,
Thou wilt not, O recluse, escape from me."
[The Exalted One: — ]
"Those things whereof they speak: they're not for me.
The folk who speak: one of them am not I
Do thou learn this, O evil one, and know:
Thou wilt not see even the way I go!"[78]
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me! The Blessed One knows me!" and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 20
Governance
[20.1][bodh][upal] The Exalted One was once staying among the Kosalese
in the Himālaya regions,
dwelling in a leaf-hut.
Now as the Exalted One was meditating in privacy,
this thought arose in his heart: —
"Is it possible to exercise governance
without smiting
nor letting other slay,
without [146] conquering
nor causing others to conquer,
without sorrowing
nor making others sorrow —
righteously?"
Then Māra the evil one,
discerning what was in the mind of the Exalted One,
drew near to him, and said:
"Let the Exalted One, lord,
exercise governance,
let the Blessed One rule without smiting
nor letting others slay,
without conquering
nor causing others to conquer,
without sorrowing
nor making others sorrow,
and therewithal ruling righteously."[79]
"Now what, 0 evil one, hast thou in view,
that thou speakest thus to me:
'Let the Exalted One exercise governance!
Let the Blessed One rule righteously?'"
"Lord, the four stages to potency
have by the Exalted One been developed,
repeatedly practised,
made a vehicle,
established,
persevered in,
persisted in,
well applied.
Thus if the Exalted One were to wish
the Himālaya, king of the mountains,
to be gold,
he might determine it to be so,
and the mountain would become a mass of gold."
[The Exalted One: —]
"And were the mountain all of shimmering gold,
Not e'en twice reckoned would it be enough
For one man's wants. This let us learn
To know, and shape our lives accordingly.
He that hath suffering seen, and whence its source, —
How should that man to sense-desires incline?
If he but understand rebirth's substrate[80]
And know: here hangs the world bound fast alway,[81]
He fain must work the bonds to eliminate."
Then Māra the evil one thought:
"The Exalted One knows me! The Blessed One knows me!"
and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
III
The Supplementary Five
Sutta 21
Very many
[21.1][bodh][upal] THUS HAVE I HEARD:
The Exalted One was once staying among the Sākyans, at Silāvatī.
Now on that occasion
very many of the brethren were living near the Exalted One
in zealous,
ardent
and strenuous study.
Then Māra the evil one,
assuming the shape of a brahmin,
with a great matted topknot,[82]
clad in a whole antelope skin,[83]
aged and bent like the rafters of a roof,
with wheezing[84] breath
and holding a staff of udumbara-wood,
drew near to those brethren
and said to them:
"Your reverences are young
to have left the world,
blackhaired lads that ye are,[85]
blessed with the luck of youth,
without in your early prime
having had the fun
that belongs to natural desires.
Enjoy, gentlemen,
the pleasures of your kind.
Do not, abandoning the things of this life,
run after matters involving time!"
"Nay, brahmin, we have not abandoned the things of this life
to run after matters involving time.
It is matters of time, brahmin,
that we have abandoned,
who are running after things of this life.
Yea, brahmin, matters of time
are natural desires,
hath the Exalted One said,
full of sorrow and despair;
that way lies abundant disaster.
But this doctrine is concerned with things of this life,
and is not a matter of time;
it bids a man to come and behold,
it guides him on and away,
and should be known by the wise,
as a personal experience."
When they had thus spoken
Māra the evil one departed,
[148] wagging his sunken head[86]
his tongue lolling about,[87]
a three-branched frown
standing out on his brow,
and he leaning upon his staff.
Then those brethren sought the Exalted One,
and entering his presence,
saluted,
sat down at one side
and told him what had happened
and what had been said.
"Bhikkhus, that was no brahmin;
that was Māra the evil one
come to act so as to darken your understanding."
Then the Exalted One, understanding the matter, in that hour uttered this verse[88]: —
He that hath suffering seen and whence its source —
How should that man to sense-desires incline?
If he but understand rebirth's substrate
And know: here hangs the world bound fast always,
He fain must work the bonds to eliminate.
§
Sutta 22
Samiddhi
[22.1][bodh][upal] The Exalted One was once among the Sakyas at Silāvatī.[89]
Now on that occasion
the venerable Samiddhi was living near the Exalted One
in zealous,
ardent,
and strenuous study,
and as he was meditating in privacy,
this thought arose in his heart:
"0 what a gain is mine!
0 what a great gain is mine
in having for my Master
an Arahant who is a Buddha Supreme!
0 what a gain is mine,
0 what a great gain is mine
in having taken orders
in a religious discipline
that is so well prescribed!
0 what a gain is mine,
0 what a great gain is mine
in having fellow-disciples
who are virtaous and noble."[90]
[149] Then Māra the evil one,
discerning the thoughts
that were in the mind of the venerable Samiddhi,
drew near,
and when he was close to him
made a tremendous noise,
appalling and terrible,
so that you would think the very earth were splitting open.[91]
And the venerable Samiddhi sought the Exalted One,
and entering his presence
saluted him
and sat down at one side.
And he told the Exalted One
of what he had been thinking
and what had befallen him.
"That was no splitting of earth, Samiddhi.
That was Māra the evil one
come to try to darken your understanding.
Do you go, Samiddhi,
to that same place
and abide in zealous,
ardent
and strenuous study."
"Yea, lord!" replied Samiddhi,
and rising he saluted the Exalted One,
passing round by the right,
and departed.
And in that same place
he abode in zealous,
ardent
and strenuous study,
and the same thoughts arose in him.
And Māra, discerning his thoughts,
came a second time
and made a noise
so that you would think the very earth was splitting open.
But the venerable Samiddhi
understanding that this was Māra the evil one,
addressed him in a verse: —
"In trust and hope forth from my home I came
Into the homeless life. And there have I
Learnt[92] mindfulness and insight, and my mind
Is tempered well. Make thou whatever shows
Thou wilt, me canst thou never terrify."
Then Māra the evil one thought, "He knows me, the brother Samiddhi!" and sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
§
Sutta 23
Godhika
[23.1][bodh][upal] The Exalted One was once staying at Rājagaha,
in the Bamboo Grove,
at the Squirrels' Feeding-ground.
And on that occasion the venerable Godhika was staying at Black [150] Rock,
on the slopes of Seers' Hill.[93]
And he, abiding in zealous, ardent and strenuous study,
touched[94] temporary[95] emancipation of mind,
and then fell away therefrom.
And this befel him a second,
and yet a third time,
yea, even six times.[96]
Then he thought:
"Up to six times have I fallen away from temporary emancipation of mind.
What if I were now to use the knife?"[97]
Now Māra the evil one,
discerning in thought the thoughts of the venerable Godhika's mind,
sought out the Exalted One
and in his presence addressed him in verse:—[98]
"O mighty hero, 0 thou passing wise,
Radiant in fame and mystic potency,
[151] Who hast transcended all we hate and fear:
Lo! at thy feet, 0 seer, I worship thee.
Behold, 0 mighty hero, how thy follower
Is fain to die and thinketh upon death,
O thou that art the conqueror of death.
Him do thou, seat of glory![99] hold in check.
For how, Exalted Lord, may one among
Thy followers, devoted to the Rule,
As undergraduate set term to life,
With mind, 0 thou renowned[100] throughout the land,
That hath not yet attained [the final goal]?"
But just then the venerable Godkika laid hands upon the knife.
Then the Exalted One discerning that this was Māra the evil one who spoke, addressed him in a verse: —
"Ay, thus the strong in mind do go to work.
No longing have they after living on,
Craving and root of craving tearing out,[101]
Hath Godhika passed utterly away."
And the Exalted One addressed the brethren:
"Let us go, bhikkhus, to Black Rock on the slope of Seers' Hill, where Godhika of the clansmen hath taken his own life."[102]
"Yea, lord," said the brethren assenting.
So they went thither.
And the Exalted One saw the venerable Godhika afar lying [supine] on his couch with his shoulders twisted round.[103]
[152] But just then a smokiness,
a murkiness[104] was going toward the east,
was going toward the west,
was going toward the north,
was going toward the south,
was going aloft,
was going downward,
was going toward intervening points.
Then the Exalted One admonished the brethren:
"Do ye not see, bhikkhus, that smokiness,
that murkiness
going east, west, north, south, aloft, downward and in between?"
"Yes, lord."
"That, bhikkhus, is Māra the evil one,
who is seeking everywhere for the consciousness[105] of Godhika of the clansmen.[106]
'Where,' he is thinking,
'hath Godhika's consciousness been reinstated?'
But Godhika of the clansmen, bhikkhus,
with a consciousness not reinstated
hath utterly ceased to live."
Then Māra the evil one
holding a vilva-wood lyre of golden colour
drew nigh to the Exalted One and addressed him in verses: —
"Aloft, below, and back and forth I seek
The quarters four and in between in vain.
I find not. Whither gone is Godhika?"
[The Exalted One: — ]
"He strong in purpose and in steadfastness,
In contemplation rapt, to rapture given,
In loving self-devotion day and night,
Void of all hankering after life itself:
Now hath he overthrown the hosts of death,
Now cometh he no more again to birth;
Craving and root of craving tearing out,
Hath Godhika passed utterly away."
[153] But he, grief-smitten, let the lyre slide down
From hollow of his arm, and there and then
The gloomy demon vanished quite away.
§
Sutta 24
Seven Years
[24.1][bodh][upal] THUS HAVE I HEARD:
The Exalted One was once staying at Uruvelā,[107] on the banks of the Nerañjara river,
beneath the Goatherds' Banyan.
Now on that occasion Māra the evil one,
who had been dogging the Exalted One for seven years[108]
watching for access,
but without obtaining it,
drew near to him
and addressed him in verse: —
"Is't sunk in grief thou art, that in the wood
Thou meditatest? Art downcast at loss
Of wealth,[109] or art thou wishing it [were thine]?
Hast some misdeed within the village wrought?
Why makest thou no friends[110] among the folk?
Is there no one with whom thou canst be frlends?"
[The Exalted One: — ]
"Dug out[111] of me is every root of grief.
Blameless I meditate, grieving at naught.
All lust and longing for new life cut off,
O thou that art to all the careless kin!
So do I meditate, sane and immune."[112]
[154][Māra: —]
"Things[113] about which men say: this, that is mine! —
The folk who tell you: this or that is mine! —
For those and these if thou'st a mind to care,
Thou wilt not, O recluse, escape from me."
[The Exalted One: —]
"Those things whereof they speak: — they're not for me.
The folk who speak: — one of them am not I.
Do thou learn this, O evil one, and know
Thou wilt not see even the way I go."
{Māra : —]
"Hast thou bethought thee of[114] a Path that's safe,
By which thou mayest reach th'Ambrosial,
Depart,[115] go thou that way, but go alone.
Why give thy guidance to another man?"
[The Exalted One: —]
"The people as they seek to cross beyond
Ask for a land of immortality.[116]
And when they ask me, I declare to them
The end of all, where is no birth-substrate."[117]
[Māra[118]: —]
"It is as if, lord, there were not far from a village or township a lotus-pond, and a crab therein.
And as if many boys or girls[119] coming out from the village or township were to [155] draw near to that pond,
and lifting the crab from the water were to place it on dry land.
And whenever the crab bent out a claw,
those boys or girls were to be hacking and breaking and smashing it with sticks or potsherds,
so that the crab with all his claws hacked and broken and smashed
was not capable of descending again into the pool.
As in what has been said, lord, so here,
whatever disorders,[120] disagreements,[121] distortions[122] there have been,
they have all been hacked, broken, smashed by the Exalted One,
and I now, lord, who seek ingress,
am unable to draw nigh to him."
And Māra the evil one, in the presence of the Exalted One, spoke these verses in his disappointment: —
"Round and about a stone that looked like fat
Circled a crow: 'Shall we find something soft,
Something that's nice?' But finding nothing nice
He'd thence take his departure. As that crow
Pecked at what proved to be a rock, so we
Disgusted take our leave of Gotama."[123]
Then Māra the evil one, when he had spoken these verses before the Exalted One,
depated from that place,
and seated himself cross-legged upon the earth
not far from the Exalted One,
silent, discontented, with drooping shoulders,[124] and countenance downcast,
brooding and at a loss,
scratching the earth with a stick.[125]
§
Sutta 25
The Daughters[126]
[25.1][bodh][upal] Now Craving and Discontent and Passion,
the daughters of
Māra,
drew nigh and addressed him in verse: —
"Whereat, 0 dear one, art thou so depressed?
What man is it that thou dost grieve about?
We'll catch him by the snare of passion's lust,
As forest elephant,[127] and him we'll bring
Hither and he shall vassal be to thee."
[Māra: —]
"Not easy is't by passion's lust to bring
The Arahant, the Blessed of the earth,
Transcending as he doth the realm that's mine.
Hence is it that I grieve abundantly."
Then Māra's daughters, Craving, Discontent, and Passion,
drew near to the Exalted One, and said to him: —
["0 recluse, we would be thy devoted slaves."[ed-1]]
But the Exalted One heeded them not,
inasmuch as he was emancipated
in the uttermost destruction of the rebirth substrate.[128]
Then Māra's daughters went aside and considered together thus:
"Divers are the tastes of men.
What if we were now each of us to assume the form of a hundred maidens?"
And they did so, and as such they again drew near to the Exalted [157] One and said:
"0 recluse, we would be thy devoted slaves."[129]
But the Exalted One heeded them not,
inasmuch as he was emancipated
in the uttermost destruction of the rebirth-substrate.
Then Māra's daughters went aside and considered together thus:
"Men's tastes differ.
Let us each assume the shapes of a hundred young women who have borne a child once ...
Then Māra's daughters went aside and considered together thus:
"Men's tastes differ.
"Let us each assume the shapes of a hundred young women who have borne a child twice.'
And they did so, and as such they again drew near to the Exalted One and said:
"0 recluse, we would be thy devoted slaves."
But the Exalted One heeded them not,
inasmuch as he was emancipated
in the uttermost destruction of the rebirth-substrate.
Then Māra's daughters went aside and considered together thus:
"Men's tastes differ.
"Let us each assume the shape of a hundred women of mature age'
And they did so, and as such they again drew near to the Exalted One and said:
"0 recluse, we would be thy devoted slaves."
But the Exalted One heeded them not,
inasmuch as he was emancipated
in the uttermost destruction of the rebirth-substrate.
Then Māra's daughters went aside and considered together thus:
"Men's tastes differ.
"Let us each assume the shape of a hundred senior women.'[130]
And they did so, and as such they again drew near to the Exalted One and said:
"0 recluse, we would be thy devoted slaves."
But the Exalted One heeded them not,
inasmuch as he was emancipated
in the uttermost destruction of the rebirth-substrate.
Then Māra's daughter drew aside and said:
"True it was what father said to us: —
'Not eaay is't by paasion's lust to bring
The Arahant, the Blessed of the earth,
Transcending aa he doth the realm that's mine.
Henee is it that I grieve abundantly.'
For if we had approached after this fashion
any recluse or brahmin who had not extirpated lust,
either his heart would have cleft asunder,
or hot blood had flowed from his mouth,
or he had become crazy,
or have lost his mental balance.
As a green reed that has been reaped
dries up and wilts away and withers,
even so would he dry up and wilt away and wither."
So they drew nigh to the Exalted One
and stood at one side,
and so standing Craving addressed him in verse: —[131]
"Is't sunk in grief thou art, that in the wood
Thou meditatest? Art downocast at loss
Of wealth, or art than wishing it were thine?
[158]Hast some misdeed within the village wrought?
Why makest thou no friends among the folk?
Is there no one with whom thou canst be friends?"
[The Exalted One: —]
"Now[132] that the host of sweet and pleasant shapes
Hath been repulsed, I'm seated here alone
And meditate upon the good I've won,
The peace of heart, the bliss experienced.[133]
Therefore I make no friendship 'mong the folk;
Friendship with anyone is not for me."
Then Discontent, Māra's daughter, addressed the Exalted One in verse: —
"How must a brother mainly shape his life,
Who having crossed five floods would cross the sixth?[134]
How may impressions of the world of sense
Be kept outside of him and catch him not
Who mainly in rapt meditation bides!"
[The Exalted One: —]
"With body tranquillized and mind set free,
Weaving no plans of deed or word or thought,[135]
Mindful and with no home where heart may cleave,
Who's learnt to know the Norm, who meditates
Rapt without restlessness of mind, he lets
No anger rise, nor [perilous] memories,
Yea, and no creeping torpor of the wits: —
[159]Thus must a brother mainly shape his life,
Who having crossed five floods would cross the sixth.
Thus may impressions of the worlds of sense
Be kept outside of him and catch him not
Who mainly in rapt meditation bides."
Then Passion too, Māra's daughter, in the presence of the Exalted One, spoke these verses: —
"All craving having severed now he goes
Attended by his bands[136] and companies.
Yea, surely many souls will go. Ah me!
This homeless man will cut out multitudes
From death king's clutches, leading them beyond.
Yea, the great heroes, yea, Tathāgatas
Lead onward by the holy Norm. 'Gainst them
Who by that Norm are led, who understand,
What boots our jealous spleen? ..."
Then the three daughters sought out Māra the evil one.
And Māra saw them coming from afar,
and seeing them he addressed them in verses: —
"Ye fools! ye seek to cleave a mountain crest
With lily-stalks, to dig into a cliff
With finger-nails, to chew iron with teeth.[137]
Ye've knocked, as't were, your heads against a rock,
Ye seek to find a footing in the abyss,[138]
Ye 've thrust as't were your breast against a stake.[139]
Disgusted, come ye hence from Gotama!
In[140] glittering array they came:
Craving and Discontent and Lust.
Forthwith the Master swept them thence
As down or leaf by wind-god blown."
[1] This group of Suttas has been translated into German by Dr. Windisch in his Māra und Buddha, Leipzig, 1895, a notable monograph on the Māra legend.
[2] Other references to the Buddha's choice of the shade of this tree with its great ramifications occur in Vinaya Texts i,79 (see n. 1); 84; Dialogues ii, 120; Majjhima i, 166; Udāna i, 4; and below, iv, 3, § 4; VI, 1, § 1. Cf. Rhys Davids's Buddhist Birth stories, 106. The Majjhima includes a full account of the preceding five years of extreme ascetic practices undergone by the Buddha.
[3] Reading with the Comy. amaraṇ for aparaṇ: — 'Self-tormenting exercises done to win immortality, the immortality-penance."
[4] B. reads the locative dhammani and gives as equivalent a meaning not met with elsewhere: — 'in a forest on dry land' (araññe thale). So placed, he says, a vessel might be laden and manned, and the oar pulled and lifted, yet would the effort of the crew not avail to move the boat forward a finger's length. Piyārittaṇ, 'oar-rudder,' may mean collective machinery, or he stern-oar which can be used both to propel and to steer.
[5] These are the divisions adopted by B. for his Visuddhi-Magga.
[6] I.e. Arahantship. Comy. In A. v, 218 f. the Eightfold Path is called the Ariyan Purging and Catharsis.
[7] See III, 1, §4. Lit. 'end-er'; whose seductions lead to ever more dying [and rebirth].
[8] Cf. the same idiom in Ud. I, 7; S. iv, 289 f. Lit. the phrase is, 'god makes to touch one by one,' raining being usually alluded to as the [rain] god raining or dropping. Ekam-ekaṇ, in Boethlingk and Roth's Dicty,. is 'continuously,'
[9] On this term cf. Rhys Davids, JRAS, 1895, p. 893 f. and L. Feer's response, ib. 1896, 199. Steatite is near enough to the vague kāḷako dark-ish' of the Comy., to fit, that stone being greyish green, or brown.
[10] Saṇsāraṇ=saṇsaranto. B. gives alternative explanations of the interval: either from Māra's own sphere to Uruvelā, or during the six years of the Buddha's lonely struggles for light.
[11] Paccagū.
[12] On this park surviving today, see Vin. Texts, i, 90, n. 3.
[13] This address occurs in Vin. Texts. i, 1l6.
[14] Yoniso.
[15] The 'fourfold right (i.e. supreme or perfect: sammā) effort' is the systematic prevention and suppression of evil thoughts, the conjuring up and development of goood thoughts. Bud. Psy. Eth., p. 358.
[16] The fruition which is Arahantship. Comy.
[17] Kāmaguṇa-sankhātā. Comy.
[18] See Vin. Texts, i,112 f.
[19] A tour of systematic progress, walking at most one yojana a day. Comy.
[20] On the interesting applications of this word: anukampati, lit. 'vibrating after or toward,' and usually rendered 'compsssion,' see Encyc. Religion and Ethics, art: 'LOVE' (Buddhist).
[21] Lit. 'let not two by one.' B. explains this elliptical phrase as ekamaggena dve janā mā agamattha, evaṃ hi gatesu ekasmiṃ dhammaṃ desente, ekena tuṇhibhūtena thātabbaṃ hoti: 'Let not two persons adopt the same procedure, thus, in their goings, one teaching while the other keeps silence is to be instituted' — reminding us of the first mission of SS. Paul and Barnabas.
[22] Cf. Dialogues, ii, 32.
[23] B. does not hold (cf. Vin. Texts, loc. cit.) that this place should read Senāni-nigama. He gives alternative explanations: either it was paṭhamakappikānaṃ senāya niviṭṭhokāse patiṭṭhitagāmo, or it was a township belonging to Senā, father of Sujātā (see Bud. Birth Stories, p.91). There, however, as in the text of the Jātaka Comy. the only reading given for the father's name is Senāni.
[24] See above, § 2. n. 1.
[25] The mat for spreading meal (crushed grain) used by distillers.' Comy. Cf. M. i, 228. The meal (piṭṭhaṃ) would be malt or, for arrack, rice. Shallow baskets or trays similar in shape to the cobra's hood were still in use in the 19th century in Ceylon.
[26] 'Like the banqueting dishes used by the kings of Kosala.' Comy. The phrase suggests rather a special Kosalan handicraft.
[27] The Comy. paraphrases seyyo by seyyatthāya.
[28] Roving creatures such as lions, tigers, etc.' Comy.
[29] Intelligent sources of dread, as the foregoing, or unintelligent (inanimate) objects, such as tree-stumps, or white ant-heaps suggesting, in the dusk, goblins, or festooned, serpent-like creepers.' Comy.
[30] Upadhi, here paraphrased by B. as the five khandhas (factors of the living person). Cf. p. 9, n. 6, and below, § 8.
[31] The body of a Buddha needs no cleansing; dirt slips off it as water off a bird's feathers. But he did not neglect human duties, lest it should be said he was not a man.' Comy.
[32] Cf. I, 4, § 8.
[33] Kasmā nu suppasi? Comy.
[34] The Comy. reads dubbhago: 'met with ill hap, as though dead or senseless.' We follow Windisch in reading dubbhato, which is so congruous with the context.
[35] = Dhp. 180; cf. Pss. of the Brethren, 213, n. 3. Netave.*
[36] Buddho (i.e. enlightened, but lit. awakened).
[37] 'Who art as unable to find footing here as a little fly on hot gruel.' Comy.
[38] First occurs in I, 2, § 2.
[41] Hīḷe, -yya. Cf. JPTS, 1906-7, p. 167; in popular idiom: 'not fash himself.'
[42] Lit. 'as a milk-drunk one.' Comy.: 'Just as a baby lying on its back, after drinking milk, in soft blankets, falls asleep as if seaseless, so let the good man not think whether life be short or long.'
[43] Cf. I, 3, § 1.
[44] Lit. 'There is no not coming on of death.'
[45] Comy.: 'Standing on the crest of the hill, he hurled. The rocks fell incessantly, crashing against each other.' The Burm. authority in the JPTS ed. (Bib. Nat. MS.) omits the doubled mahante — probably a genuine old double, referring either to size or to repetition.
[46] Lit. 'for work of blinding.' Comy.: 'from desire to destroy the congregation's eye of insight, i.e. among those who had attained any of the Paths of Fruitions.' Cf. Ssk. vicak.su, perplexed.'
[47] On this figure see Pss. (Sisters), pp. 136, 140.
[48] Cf. Jātaka, iii, 342 (mistranslated); Milinda, 21, 105.
[49] These ten are enumerated, M. i, 69 f.; Points of Controversy, 140, §§ 3-12, and elsewhere, e.g., A. v, 33 f.
[50] Cf. I. 1, § 1.
[51] See 1. 4, § 8.
[52] Kaveyya-matto. On this curious term see Pss. (Brethren), p. 406, n. 4. Comy.:' or thinking on that on which thou hast to discourse, and mazed (dazed, drunken, crazy: matto can be any of these) because of what thou hast to do? Thus we have the alternative of a mind inert and empty, and a mind congested with matter and exercise.
[54] A village not mentioned elsewhere.
[55] Lit. "do not sink (Comy.: hang, laggi) down between supports and oppositions, i.e. between the passion and the antipathy of opponents,' adds B.
[56] Mānasaṃ is not pleasure, as Windisch has it (die Lust), but mind, as the sixth, or co-ordinaiing 'sense,' sensus communis. Mānaso, in the verse, is adjectival — Comy.: 'conjoined with mind ' — qualifying pāso, 'snare' — Comy.: namely, of lust (rāga). The first three lines are a free rendering of 'the snare that wanders about in the air, this mind that wanders about: therewith will I bind thee.'
[57] Presumably inadvertently omitted in PTS. ed.
[58] It is exceptional to find tastes put before odours in the strict procedure of Buddhist psychology. The Burm. MS. corrects it here, but not in IV. 2, § 7.
[59] In this recurrent group of verbs (e.g. Dialogues, ii, 36, 105, etc.) the Comy. parallels the second by gaṇhāpeti, the third by samādānamhi ussāhaṃ janeti, the fourth by paṭividdha-guṇena vodāpeti, jotāpeti. Thus B. does not connect the last, etymologically or otherwise, with sampraharsayati, to gladden, as Childers does (Dicty. s.v.), but with purifying and illuminating.
[60] Upādāya, lit. having grasped: ādiyitvā ... dassento. Comy.
[61] Another Sutta-formula. Cf. D. ii, 204; A. ii, 116.
[62] So Vin. Texts, iii, 84 (Cv., v, 9, 3)
[63] 'The fourth aggregate' (sankhārā). Comy. Thus it adds, the two lines give all the five factors of the 'person.'
[64] Khemībhūtaṇ attabhāvaṇ. Comy.
[65] Cf. M. i, 140. Anvesaṇ = pariyesamānā. Comy.
[66] Namely, by way of sensations.
[67] A phrase repeated below, IV, 3, § 2.
[68] Cf. above, IV, 2, § 5, n. 3.
[69] Dhammā, the mental percepts and images constructed out of different sensations, cover this line's meaning.
[70] This village and episode, the latter more briefly told than in our Comy., occur in Dhp. Comy., iii, 257. This festival, to judge by both accounts, was a kind of St. Valentine's Day. Clansmen's daughters, arrayed in their best, held a parade, the youths having also foregathered, and presents, or at least flowers, were presented. Festival-cakes were also handed about, and Māra foreseeing much offering of these to the Buddha, and much profit accruing to the '500 maidens' at the sports, should he discourse, thwarted this. The Buddha, adds B., could have foreseen the fruitlessness of his quest, had it not been unbecoming for a Buddha to have considered beforehand the chances of his obtaining food on a given round.
[71] Anvāviṭṭha.
[72] A ruse to inspire insult and injury on the top of neglect. The Buddha, knowing that he lied, and that he would suffer the penalty of a split head (cf. Dialogues, i, 116, n. 3), out of mercy did not consent. Comy.
[73] The fruit was purgatory immediately after death. Points of Controversy, 340, 343. 'Evil force,' lit. 'demerit.' Māra was not immortal, though some one was always Māra. One is tempted to see B. smiling over this, so obvious is it that the villagers would have sorely needed the mercy, had the ruse succeeded. Yet as instigated, they might have come off lightly. Cf. op. cit. 274 f. The second stanza occurs Dhp. 200; Jātaka, vi, 54.
[74] Compendium, 138, n. 4.
[75] Windisch here seems needlessly diffident. The dishevelment is described in amusing detail by B.
[76] The sudden conversion of the peasant, so graphically portrayed as such, into an exponent of religious psychology gives a piquant interest. The point lies in the antithesis between the irruption of the cares of this life — the result of worldly desires, possessions, ownership — and the calm and supramundane atmosphere of the discourse on Nibbāna the extinction of all such cares and desires. Māra's exordium had failed before it was uttered. The Buddha had no eyes for things owned, else Māra had retained some hold on him.
[77] Mano....
[78] 'The way for me in relation to rebirth ordestiny and so forth.' Comy. Cf. Pss. of the Brrethren, ver. 92, n.1
Luke iv, 5-8. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
— p.p.
[79] The Exalted One was thinking compassionately of those suffering from the cruelty of rulers. Māra's plan was to make him absorbed in the fascination of exercising power. Comy. Cf. S. Luke iv, 5-8.
[80] See I. 2, § 2, n. 6.
[81] Lit. 'this is the world's bond' (sango). Lagganan etaṇ. Comy.
[82] Jaṭaṇḍuva.
[83] Sa-khuraṇ: 'the hoofs left on.' Comy. Cf. Windisch in loco; Vin. Texts, ii, 247.
[84] Translated 'snoring' in Jātaka, i, 160; stertorous breathing.
[85] Cf. the brahmin injunction, Laws of Manu, SBE. 198: 'When a man sees himself wrinkled and white, ... then let him resort to the forest ... the dialogue verbatim occurs above, I, 2, § 10. In the text supply kāmā before vuttā.
[86] Comy.: 'knocking his chin on his chest.'
[87] Comy.: 'up and down and from side to side.'
[88] See preceding Sutta.
[89] The disturbing of Samiddhi is also narrated in the Theragātha Comy. (Pss. of the Brethren, p. 51) on verse 46. But by a commentarial confusion, the locality in that work is called the Tapodā Park, the scene of another disturbing of this young friar. See above, I, 2, § 10.
[90] The text should read kalyāṇadhammā. Sabrahmacaāriyo May be an oversight for sabrahmacārino — so the Comy.: sabmhmacārīnañ ca laddhattā. But for anomalous forms of this word see Ed. Müller, Pali Grammar, p. 81.
[91] Cf. above, IV, 2, § 7.
[92] The Theragāthā version reads vuḍḍhā, 'grown,' not buddhā, as here. B. paraphrases the latter by ñātā, i.e. the French connus, come-to-be-known, or learnt.
[93] Isi-gili-passa, one of the group of hills above Rājagaha, whence the other crests could be seen: Vulture's Peak, Vebhāra, Paṇḍava, Vepulla (M. iii, 68 f.). A resort of the Order (Vin. Tezts, iii, 7; below, VIII, 9, § 10; Dialogues, ii, 123).
[94] Comy.: paṭilabhi.
[95] The text has samādhikañ, the Comy. sāmāyikaṇ, and defines it thus: [emancipation in which] one is emancipated from opposing things in one intense moment (appitappitakkhaṇe), and is intent on (adhimuccati) the mental object, is a mundane accomplishment (lokiyasamāpatti), called sāmāyika cetovimutti. No other passage has been found as yet, where sāmādhika occurs as unmistakably referring to samādhi, but in the Dhp. Comy. account of the legend (i, 431), the form is samādhikā, and this term, in the Jātaka Comy., ii, 383, is analysed as sama-adhikāni. Cf. D. ii, 151; Jāt. iv, 31; Watters: 'On Yuan Chwâng,' ii, 33. In the Kathā-vatthu Comy., 35 (Points of Controversy, 64, n. 3), the Mandein Pitaka Press ed. reads, for sāmādhikāya, sāmayikāya. The context there connects the word with the a-samaya-vimutta of A. v, 336, and P.P., p. 11.
[96] Comy.: 'Why did he fall away six times? Because of an internal ailment affecting wind, bile, and phlegm. Hereby he was unable to attain the requisite conditions for samādhi, and fell away after the momentary ecstasy.' (In one Burmese MS. he attains seven times.)
[97] The idiom for this form of suicide. Cf. Pss. of the Brethren, p. 214. B. states that Godhika cut his 'throat-tube,' but so checked the final agony as to attain Arahantship, and so, becoming samasīsī (cf. PP. Comy., JPTS., 1913-14, 186), ended life.
[98] He discerned that Godhika, careless as to body and life, would swiftly become Amhant. Comy.
[99] Paraphrased by ānubhāva-dhara.
[100] Suta=vissuta. Comy.
[101] See I, 3, § 9; and Pss. of the Sisters, ver. 15, 18. Abbuyha= uppāṭetvā. Comy.
[102] This Black-rock suicide legend has undergone bifurcation. In S. iii, 123 f., Vakkali is the suicide, his act being directly due to incurable disease.
[103] Windisch's rendering of khandha not by shoulder but by 'aggregate,' is strained. The Commentaries do good service in revealing the simplicity of those older narratives, e.g. 'though lying on his back to kill himself, he died with at least his head in the orthodox: posture [for repose].'
[104] Comy.: 'There arose as it were smoky, murky clouds.'
[105] Comy.: 'for the paṭisandhi-citta, or consciousness [as it emerges afresh] at re-conception or new birth. The reason (kāraṇa) or conditions for its becoming reinstated in a new embryo were, in Godhika's case, absent.' It is a subtle touch, in this delightful legend, that, to be able to discern a transmission, from body to germ, of that which was not a substance, material or immaterial, but a resultant of forces, Māra, fertile in shape-transformation, should sublimate himself into vapour. Is it possibly associated with ātman (pneuma) myths?
[106] Kulaputla, an unusual way of referring to a bhikkhu.
[107] See above, IV, 1, § 1.
[108] Comy.: 'six before the Enlightenment, and one after.'
[109] Most of the sources of the Feer edition here, and all of them below (p. 157), where this passage recurs, have cittaṇ: thought, mind. The Comy.., with Feer, reads vittaṇ: property, money, and explains: vittaṇ nu jinno (sic)? (jino iti katthaci) sataṇ vā sahassaṇ vā jito si nu? Are you beaten [to the tune of] a hundred or a thousand [coins]? At the repetition there is no further comment. C and v in Singhalese letters are almost the same. I have compromised; 'downcast' implicates cittaṇ but 'wealth' gives the cause of the mood imputed.
[110] Sakkhi.
[111] Palikhāya.
[112] Anāsavo, rid of the delusions and vicious tendencies likened to poisonous liquids or drugs. The term is ever in use in Pss. of the Brethren, cf. ver. 47, etc.
[113] = IV, 2, § 9.
[114] Cf. Jātaka iii, 387, on the meaning of *anubuddhaṇ.
[115] Windisch is of opinion that, by pehi, 'die!' is meant, and he draws a parallel between these lines and the Māra episode in the Suttanta of the Great Decease. Dialogues, ii, 112.
[116] Amaccu-dheyyaṇ, the negative form of the term rendered the 'Deathrealm,' I, 1, § 9, etc.
[117] Sabbantaṇ nirupadhiṇ. B. is silent.
[118] This parable is told in M. i, 234, by one of the Licchavis at the defeat, in debate with the Buddha, of the Jain Saccaka.
[119] A rare instance in Buddhist literature of the male sex being placed first.
[120] B. has visūkāyikānīti Māra-*visūkāni. We take this in the sense B. gives it in Atthasālinī and the Commentator in the Sutta-Nipāta Comy.
[121] Visevitāni. Contradictory statements are instanced by B.
[122] Vipphanditāni. Referring to Māra's transformations. Comy.
[124] This description is a formula, or nearly so. Windisch distorts its simplicity by making pattakkhandho refer to the philosophical notion of the five khandhas mental and bodily. Khandha means here the upper part of the trunk or torso. Cf. Vin. Texts, iii, 13, with, above, IV, 3, § 3, also A. iii, 57, and Milinda i, 9.
[125] The simplicity of this early narrative is in the Jātaka Comy.. (Bud. Birth Stories, p. 106) elaborated into Māra's marking a tally of sixteen lines, one for each of his abortive attacks on the Buddha.
[126] With this version cf. that in the Jātaka Comy. loco cit. It is referred to in A. v, 46, as 'the Maidens' Questions,' and in Sn., ver. 835. In ibid., ver. 436 (Fausböll, 435), two of Māra's 'armies' are called by the name of the first two daughters: Taṇhā, Arati. The third daughter's name: Ragā or Rati (Dhp. Comy., i, 202 n.), is tantamount more or less to that of Māra's other army: Kāmā. Windisch holds this Sutta is a later addition (op. cit. 202 f.)
[127] The simile implies the decoying of a wild elephant by tame cow-elephants. Comy.
[ed-1 Pāde te samaṇa paricāremā ti.|| || Omitted in PTS ed. See note 129 below.
[128] Upadhi: i.e. of those feelings and desires, the resurgence of wnich indicates the presence of forces making for rebirth.
[129] Lit. we would cherish (or minister at) thy feet. A wife is called a 'foot-minister' in Abhidhānappadīpika-sūcī.
[130] Lit. great women (mah'itthiyo). It is not usual to express advanced age by this term, and the Comy. is silent. But even if the context did not point to this meaning, there is the Jātaka Comy.. (Bud. Birth Stories, 108), in which these last temptresses are described as broken-toothed and grey-haired!
[131] See IV. 3, § 4.
[133] Anubodhaṇ for anubuddhaṇ. Cf. p. 154, n. 2.
[134] B. gives as alternative interpretations (a) the perils by way of the five senses and those of the 'mind-door'; (b) the five 'nearer' and five 'further fetters.' See Rhys Davids: American Lectures on Buddhism, p. 141 f.
[135] Asankhārāno: not devising worldly activities of the three kinds specified. I have so far not traced in Theravāda Buddhism any Vedānta theory of sankhārā as predispositions (vāsana), as adopted and applied by some Indologists.
[136] Gaṇa.
[137] = Jāt. iv, 383.
[138] Cf. S. iv, 207.
[139] Lit. 'hit (*āsajja) a stake with your breast.
[140] This verse, says B., was added by the Recensionists.
