sn.4.10 Saṁyutta Nikāya (Linked Discourses)

Life Span (2)

Opening as in preceding sutta:

Then Mara the Evil One approached the Blessed One and addressed him in verse:

“The days and nights do not fly by,
Life does not come to a stop.
The life span of mortals rolls along
Like the chariot’s felly round the hub.”

The Blessed One:

“The days and nights go flying by,
Life comes to a stop.
The life span of mortals is depleted
Like the water in rivulets.”

Then Mara the Evil One … disappeared right there.

- Translator: Bhikkhu Bodhi

- Editor: Blake Walsh

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Life Span (2nd)

So I have heard.
At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground.
There the Buddha … said:
“Mendicants, the life span of humans is short.
You must go to the next life. So you should do what is skillful, you should practice the spiritual life.
No-one born is immortal.
A long life is a hundred years or a little more.”
Then Māra the Wicked went up to the Buddha and addressed him in verse:
“The days and nights don’t rush by,
and life isn’t cut short.
The life of mortals keeps rolling on,
like a chariot’s rim around the hub.”
“The days and nights rush by,
and then life is cut short.
The life of mortals wastes away,
like the water in tiny streams.”
Then Māra the Wicked, thinking, “The Buddha knows me! The Holy One knows me!” miserable and sad, vanished right there.