sn.5.3 Saṁyutta Nikāya (Linked Discourses)

Gotami

At Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Kisagotami dressed and, taking bowl and robe, entered Savatthi for alms. When she had walked for alms in Savatthi and had returned from her alms round, after her meal she went to the Blind Men’s Grove for the day’s abiding. Having plunged into the Blind Men’s Grove, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day’s abiding.

Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Kisagotami, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:

“Why now, when your son is dead,
Do you sit alone with tearful face?
Having entered the woods all alone,
Are you on the lookout for a man?”

Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Kisagotami: “Now who is this that recited the verse—a human being or a nonhuman being?” Then it occurred to her: “This is Mara the Evil One, who has recited the verse desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in me, desiring to make me fall away from concentration.”

Then the bhikkhuni Kisagotami, having understood, “This is Mara the Evil One,” replied to him in verses:

“I’ve gotten past the death of sons;
With this, the search for men has ended.
I do not sorrow, I do not weep,
Nor do I fear you, friend .

“Delight everywhere has been destroyed,
The mass of darkness has been sundered.
Having conquered the army of Death,
I dwell without defiling taints.”

Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, “The bhikkhuni Kisagotami knows me,” sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.

- Translator: Bhikkhu Bodhi

- Editor: Blake Walsh

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With Kisāgotamī

At Sāvatthī.
Then the nun Kisāgotamī robed up in the morning and, taking her bowl and robe, entered Sāvatthī for alms.
She wandered for alms in Sāvatthī. After the meal, on her return from almsround, she went to the Dark Forest,
plunged deep into it, and sat at the root of a tree for the day’s meditation.
Then Māra the Wicked, wanting to make the nun Kisāgotamī feel fear, terror, and goosebumps, wanting to make her fall away from immersion, went up to her and addressed her in verse:
“Why do you sit alone and cry
as if your children have died?
You’ve come to the woods all alone—
you must be looking for a man!”
Then the nun Kisāgotamī thought,
“Who’s speaking this verse, a human or a non-human?”
Then she thought,
“This is Māra the Wicked, wanting to make me feel fear, terror, and goosebumps, wanting to make me fall away from immersion!”
Then Kisāgotamī, knowing that this was Māra the Wicked, replied to him in verse:
“I’ve got over the death of children,
and I’m finished with men.
I don’t grieve or lament,
and I’m not afraid of you, sir!
Relishing is destroyed in every respect,
and the mass of darkness is shattered.
I’ve defeated the army of death,
and live without defilements.”
Then Māra the Wicked, thinking, “The nun Kisāgotamī knows me!” miserable and sad, vanished right there.