1At Sāvatthī. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Sisupacala dressed … she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.

Then Māra the Evil One approached the bhikkhuni Sisupacala and said to her: "Whose creed do you approve of, bhikkhuni?"

"I don’t approve of anyone's creed, friend."

2v.544 "Under whom have you shaved your head?
You do appear to be an ascetic,
Yet you don’t approve of any creed,
So why wander as if bewildered?" [n.355] Pāsaṇḍa, in pāda c, refers to the "heretical" systems outside the Buddha’s dispensation. I render it, inadequately, as "creed." Spk explains the word derivation by way of "folk etymology": "They are called pāsaṇḍas because they lay out a snare (Be: pasam ḍenti; Se: pasam oḍḍenti); the meaning is that they throw out the snare of views among the minds of beings. But the Buddha’s dispensation frees one from the snare, so it is not called a pāsaṇḍa; the pasaṇḍas are found only outside the dispensation." MW defines pāsaṇḍa as "a heretic … anyone who falsely assumes the characteristics of an orthodox Hindu, a Jaina, a Buddhist, etc.; a false doctrine, heresy."

The bhikkhuni Sisupacala:

3v.545 "Outside here the followers of creeds
Place their confidence in views.
I don’t approve of their teachings;
They are not skilled in the Dhamma. sn.i.134

4v.546 "But there's one born in the Sakyan clan,
The Enlightened One, without an equal,
Conqueror of all, Māra's subduer,
Who everywhere is undefeated,
Everywhere freed and unattached,
The One with Vision who sees all.

5v.547 "Attained to the end of all kamma,
Liberated in the extinction of acquisitions,
That Blessed One is my Teacher:
His is the teaching I approve." [n.356] Spk explains vimutto upadhisaṅkhaye in pāda d thus: "He is liberated into Nibbāna, known as the extinction of acquisitions, as object." The expression is also at MN I 454,3–4 and II 260,22–23. Spk-pṭ defines "the end of all kamma" (sabbakammakkhaya) as arahantship and "the extinction of acquisitions" as Nibbāna. See too SN4.25 and n. 324.

6Then Māra the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Sisupacala knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.

1Sāvatthinidānaṁ. Atha kho sīsupacālā bhikkhunī pubbaṇhasamayaṁ nivāsetvā … pe … aññatarasmiṁ rukkhamūle divāvihāraṁ nisīdi.

Atha kho māro pāpimā yena sīsupacālā bhikkhunī tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā sīsupacālaṁ bhikkhuniṁ etadavoca: "kassa nu tvaṁ, bhikkhuni, pāsaṇḍaṁ rocesī"ti?

"Na khvāhaṁ, āvuso, kassaci pāsaṇḍaṁ rocemī"ti.

2"Kaṁ nu uddissa muṇḍāsi,
Samaṇī viya dissasi;
Na ca rocesi pāsaṇḍaṁ,
Kimiva carasi momūhā"ti.

3"Ito bahiddhā pāsaṇḍā,
diṭṭhīsu pasīdanti te;
Na tesaṁ dhammaṁ rocemi,
te dhammassa akovidā.

4Atthi sakyakule jāto,
buddho appaṭipuggalo;
Sabbābhibhū māranudo,
sabbatthamaparājito.

5Sabbattha mutto asito,
sabbaṁ passati cakkhumā;
Sabbakammakkhayaṁ patto,
vimutto upadhisaṅkhaye;
So mayhaṁ bhagavā satthā,
tassa rocemi sāsanan"ti.

6Atha kho māro pāpimā "jānāti maṁ sīsupacālā bhikkhunī"ti dukkhī dummano tatthevantaradhāyīti.