SN4:16 Almsbowls
- DG BB TBW © Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. (More copyright information)
1At Sāvatthī. Now on that occasion the Blessed One was instructing, exhorting, inspiring, and gladdening the bhikkhus with a Dhamma talk concerning the five aggregates subject to clinging. And those bhikkhus were listening to the Dhamma with eager ears, attending to it as a matter of vital concern, applying their whole minds to it.
2Then it occurred to Māra the Evil One: "This ascetic Gotama is instructing, exhorting, inspiring, and gladdening the bhikkhus … who are applying their whole minds to it. Let me approach the ascetic Gotama in order to confound them."
3Now on that occasion a number of almsbowls had been put out in the open. Then Māra the Evil One manifested himself in the form of an ox and approached those almsbowls. Then one bhikkhu said to another: "Bhikkhu, bhikkhu! That ox may break the almsbowls." When this was said, the Blessed One said to that bhikkhu: "That is not an ox, bhikkhu. That is Māra the Evil One, who has come here in order to confound you."
Then the Blessed One, having understood, "This is Māra the Evil One," addressed Māra the Evil One in verses:
4v.478 "Form, feeling, and perception,
Consciousness, and formations—
‘I am not this, this isn’t mine,’
Thus one is detached from it.
[n.289] Vedayitaṁ in pāda a and saṅkhataṁ in pāda b are merely metrical adaptations of vedanā and saṅkhāra, the second and fourth aggregates.
5v.479 "Though they seek him everywhere,
Māra and his army do not find him:
The one thus detached, secure,
Who has gone beyond all ʹfetters."
[n.290] Spk: Though they seek him everywhere—in all realms of existence, modes of origin, destinations, stations of consciousness, and abodes of beings—they do not find him, do not see him. See v. 49 (= v. 105), SN4.23 (I 122,1–13), SN22.87 (III 124,1–13), and MN I 140,3–7. It seems that both the living arahant and the arahant after his parinibbāna are intended.
6Then Māra the Evil One … disappeared right there.
1Sāvatthinidānaṁ. Tena kho pana samayena bhagavā pañcannaṁ upādānakkhandhānaṁ upādāya bhikkhūnaṁ dhammiyā kathāya sandasseti samādapeti samuttejeti sampahaṁseti. Te ca bhikkhū aṭṭhiṁ katvā manasi katvā sabbacetasā samannāharitvā ohitasotā dhammaṁ suṇanti.
2Atha kho mārassa pāpimato etadahosi: "Ayaṁ kho samaṇo gotamo pañcannaṁ upādānakkhandhānaṁ upādāya bhikkhūnaṁ dhammiyā kathāya sandasseti samādapeti samuttejeti sampahaṁseti. Te ca bhikkhū aṭṭhiṁ katvā manasi katvā sabbacetasā samannāharitvā ohitasotā dhammaṁ suṇanti. Yannūnāhaṁ yena samaṇo gotamo tenupasaṅkameyyaṁ vicakkhukammāyā"ti.
3Tena kho pana samayena sambahulā pattā abbhokāse nikkhittā honti. Atha kho māro pāpimā balībaddavaṇṇaṁ abhinimminitvā yena te pattā tenupasaṅkami. Atha kho aññataro bhikkhu aññataraṁ bhikkhuṁ etadavoca: "bhikkhu bhikkhu, eso balībaddo patte bhindeyyā"ti. Evaṁ vutte, bhagavā taṁ bhikkhuṁ etadavoca: "na so, bhikkhu, balībaddo. Māro eso pāpimā tumhākaṁ vicakkhukammāya āgato"ti.
Atha kho bhagavā "māro ayaṁ pāpimā" iti viditvā māraṁ pāpimantaṁ gāthāya ajjhabhāsi:
4"Rūpaṁ vedayitaṁ saññā,
viññāṇaṁ yañca saṅkhataṁ;
Nesohamasmi netaṁ me,
evaṁ tattha virajjati.
5Evaṁ virattaṁ khemattaṁ,
sabbasaṁyojanātigaṁ;
Anvesaṁ sabbaṭṭhānesu,
mārasenāpi nājjhagā"ti.
6Atha kho māro pāpimā … pe … tatthevantaradhāyīti.