sn.4.17 Saṁyutta Nikāya (Linked Discourses)

Six Bases for Contact

On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Vesali in the Great Wood in the Hall with the Peaked Roof. Now on that occasion the Blessed One was instructing, exhorting, inspiring, and gladdening the bhikkhus with a Dhamma talk concerning the six bases for contact. 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.

Then it occurred to Mara 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.”

Then Mara the Evil One approached the Blessed One and, not far from him, made a loud noise, frightful and terrifying, as though the earth were splitting open. Then one bhikkhu said to another: “Bhikkhu, bhikkhu! It seems as though the earth is splitting open.” When this was said, the Blessed One said to that bhikkhu: “The earth is not splitting open, bhikkhu. That is Mara the Evil One, who has come here in order to confound you.”

Then the Blessed One, having understood, “This is Mara the Evil One,” addressed Mara the Evil One in verses:

“Forms, sounds, tastes, odours,
Tactiles, and all mental objects:
This is the terrible bait of the world
With which the world is infatuated.

“But when he has transcended this,
The mindful disciple of the Buddha
Shines radiantly like the sun,
Having surmounted Mara’s realm.”

Then Mara the Evil One … disappeared right there.

- Translator: Bhikkhu Bodhi

- Editor: Blake Walsh

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The Six Fields of Contact

At one time the Buddha was staying near Vesālī, at the Great Wood, in the hall with the peaked roof.
Now at that time the Buddha was educating, encouraging, firing up, and inspiring the mendicants with a Dhamma talk on the topic of the six fields of contact.
And those mendicants were paying heed, paying attention, engaging wholeheartedly, and lending an ear.
Then Māra thought,
“This ascetic Gotama is educating, encouraging, firing up, and inspiring the mendicants with a Dhamma talk on the topic of the six fields of contact.
And those mendicants are paying heed, paying attention, engaging wholeheartedly, and lending an ear.
Why don’t I go and pull the wool over their eyes?”
Then Māra the Wicked went up to the Buddha and made a terrifyingly loud noise close by him. It seemed as if the earth were shattering, so that one of the mendicants said to another,
“Mendicant, mendicant, it seems like the earth is shattering!”
When this was said, the Buddha said to that mendicant,
“Mendicant, that’s not the earth shattering.
That’s Māra the Wicked come to pull the wool over your eyes!”
Then the Buddha, knowing that this was Māra the Wicked, addressed him in verse:
“Sights, sounds, tastes, smells,
touches, and thoughts, the lot of them—
this is the dreadful bait
that the world’s infatuated by.
But a mindful disciple of the Buddha
has transcended all that.
Having slipped free of Māra’s sway,
they shine like the sun.”
Then Māra … vanished right there.