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Saṁyutta Nikāya — The Linked Discourses

Vol 1:
Verses
SN1-11
Vol 2:
Causation
SN12-21
Vol 3:
Aggregates
SN22-34
Vol 4:
Sense Bases
SN35-44
Vol 5:
Great Book
SN45-56

SN4: 4. Mārasaṁyutta: With Māra

I. Life Span — SN4.10: Life Span (2nd)

1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground.

There the Buddha … said:

2“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.”


3Then Māra the Wicked went up to the Buddha and addressed him in verse:


4“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.”

5“The days and nights rush by,
and then life is cut short.
The life of mortals wastes away,
like the water in tiny streams.”

6Then Māra the Wicked, thinking: “The Buddha knows me! The Holy One knows me!” miserable and sad, vanished right there.


1Evaṁ me sutaṁ— ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā rājagahe vihārati veḷuvane kalandakanivāpe.

Tatra kho bhagavā … pe … etadavoca: 

2"Appamidaṁ, bhikkhave, manussānaṁ āyu. Gamanīyo samparāyo, kattabbaṁ kusalaṁ, caritabbaṁ brahmacariyaṁ. Natthi jātassa amaraṇaṁ. Yo, bhikkhave, ciraṁ jīvati, so vassasataṁ appaṁ vā bhiyyo"ti.


3Atha kho māro pāpimā yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavantaṁ gāthāya ajjhabhāsi: 


4"Nāccayanti ahorattā,
Jīvitaṁ nūparujjhati;
Āyu anupariyāyati maccānaṁ,
Nemīva rathakubbaran"ti.

5"Accayanti ahorattā,
jīvitaṁ uparujjhati;
Āyu khīyati maccānaṁ,
kunnadīnaṁva odakan"ti.

6Atha kho māro pāpimā "jānāti maṁ bhagavā, jānāti maṁ sugato"ti dukkhī dummano tatthevantaradhāyīti.


Paṭhamo vaggo.

7Tapokammañca nāgo ca,
subhaṁ pāsena te duve;
Sappo supati nandanaṁ,
āyunā apare duveti.