1So I have heard. At one time, when he was first awakened, the Buddha was staying near Uruvelā at the root of the goatherd’s banyan tree on the bank of the Nerañjarā River.

Now at that time the Buddha was meditating in the open during the dark of night, while a gentle rain drizzled down.

Then Māra the Wicked, wanting to make the Buddha feel fear, terror, and goosebumps, approached him, and while not far away generated a rainbow of bright colors, both beautiful and ugly.

Then the Buddha, knowing that this was Māra the Wicked, replied to him in verse:

2“Transmigrating for such a long time,
you’ve made forms beautiful and ugly.
Enough of this, Wicked One!
You’re beaten, terminator.

3Those who are well restrained
in body, speech, and mind
don’t fall under Māra’s sway,
they don’t become your footmen.”

4Then Māra … vanished right there.

1Evaṁ me sutaṁ — ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā uruvelāyaṁ vihārati najjā nerañjarāya tīre ajapālanigrodhamūle paṭhamābhisambuddho.

Tena kho pana samayena bhagavā rattandhakāratimisāyaṁ abbhokāse nisinno hoti, devo ca ekamekaṁ phusāyati.

Atha kho māro pāpimā, bhagavato bhayaṁ chambhitattaṁ lomahaṁsaṁ uppādetukāmo, yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavato avidūre uccāvacā vaṇṇanibhā upadaṁseti, subhā ceva asubhā ca.

Atha kho bhagavā "māro ayaṁ pāpimā" iti viditvā māraṁ pāpimantaṁ gāthāhi ajjhabhāsi: 

2"Saṁsaraṁ dīghamaddhānaṁ,
vaṇṇaṁ katvā subhāsubhaṁ;
Alaṁ te tena pāpima,
nihato tvamasi antaka.

3Ye ca kāyena vācāya,
manasā ca susaṁvutā;
Na te māravasānugā,
na te mārassa baddhagū"ti.

4Atha kho māro … pe … tatthevantaradhāyīti.