SN5.10 — The Discourse of Vajirā

At Sāvatthī. Then, in the morning, the nun Vajirā, after dressing and taking her bowl and robe, entered Sāvatthī for alms. Having walked for alms in Sāvatthī and returned after the meal, she approached the Blind Man's Grove for the day's abiding. Having entered the Blind Man's Grove, she sat down at the root of a certain tree for the day's abiding.

Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the nun Vajirā, and desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:

By whom has this being been created? Where is the being's maker? Where has the being arisen? Where does the being cease?

Then it occurred to the nun Vajirā, Who is this, a human or a non-human, speaking this verse? Then it occurred to her, This is Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in me, and desiring to make me fall away from concentration, speaking this verse.

Then the nun Vajirā, having understood, This is Māra the Evil One, replied to Māra the Evil One in verses:

Why now do you assume a being? Māra, is that your speculative view? This is merely a heap of formations; here no being is found. Just as, with an assemblage of parts, the word chariot is used, so, when the aggregates exist, there is the convention a being. Only suffering arises, suffering persists, and suffering ceases; nothing other than suffering arises, nothing other than suffering ceases.

Then Māra the Evil One, realizing, The nun Vajirā knows me, sad and disappointed, vanished right there.

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