5.8. Sisupacàlà

Sāvatthinidānaṁ.

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.

“Kaṁ nu uddissa muṇḍāsi,

Samaṇī viya dissasi;

Na ca rocesi pāsaṇḍaṁ,

Kimiva carasi momūhā”ti.

“Ito bahiddhā pāsaṇḍā,

diṭṭhīsu pasīdanti te;

Na tesaṁ dhammaṁ rocemi,

te dhammassa akovidā.

Atthi sakyakule jāto,

buddho appaṭipuggalo;

Sabbābhibhū māranudo,

sabbatthamaparājito.

Sabbattha mutto asito,

sabbaṁ passati cakkhumā;

Sabbakammakkhayaṁ patto,

vimutto upadhisaṅkhaye;

So mayhaṁ bhagavā satthā,

tassa rocemi sāsanan”ti.

Atha kho māro pāpimā “jānāti maṁ sīsupacālā bhikkhunī”ti dukkhī dummano tatthevantaradhāyīti.

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

SC 2Then Mara 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.”

SC 3 “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?”

The bhikkhuni Sisupacala:

SC 4 “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

SC 5 “But there’s one born in the Sakyan clan,
The Enlightened One, without an equal,
Conqueror of all, Mara’s subduer,
Who everywhere is undefeated,
Everywhere freed and unattached,
The One with Vision who sees all.

SC 6 “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.”

SC 7Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, “The bhikkhuni Sisupacala knows me,” sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.