1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.

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

2“There’s a mental snare
wandering the sky.
I’ll bind you with it —
you won’t escape me, ascetic!”

3“Sights, sounds, tastes, smells,
and touches so delightful:
desire for these is gone from me.
You’re beaten, terminator!”

4Then 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 sāvatthiyaṁ vihārati jetavane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme.

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

2"Antalikkhacaro pāso,
yvāyaṁ carati mānaso;
Tena taṁ bādhayissāmi,
na me samaṇa mokkhasī"ti.

3"Rūpā saddā rasā gandhā,
Phoṭṭhabbā ca manoramā;
Ettha me vigato chando,
Nihato tvamasi antakā"ti.

4Atha kho māro pāpimā "jānāti maṁ bhagavā, jānāti maṁ sugato"ti dukkhī dummano tatthevantaradhāyīti.