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

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

2Then Māra the Wicked, wanting to make the Buddha feel fear, terror, and goosebumps, manifested in the form of a huge serpent king and approached him. Its body was like a huge canoe carved from a single tree. Its hood was like a large brewer’s sieve. Its eyes were like those big bronze dishes from Kosala. Its tongue flickered from its mouth like lightning flashes in a thunderstorm. The sound of its breathing was like the puffing of a blacksmith’s bellows.

3Then the Buddha, knowing that this was Māra the Wicked, replied to him in verse:

4“A self-controlled sage frequents
empty buildings for lodging.
It’s appropriate for such a person
to live there after relinquishing.

5Though there are lots of creepy crawlies,
and lots of flies and snakes,
they wouldn’t stir a hair
of a great sage in that empty hut.

6Though the sky may split and the earth may quake,
and all creatures be stricken with fear;
and even if an arrow’s aimed at their breast,
the Buddhas take no shelter in attachments.”

7Then 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.

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

2Atha kho māro pāpimā bhagavato bhayaṁ chambhitattaṁ lomahaṁsaṁ uppādetukāmo mahantaṁ sapparājavaṇṇaṁ abhinimminitvā yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami. Seyyathāpi nāma mahatī ekarukkhikā nāvā; evamassa kāyo hoti. Seyyathāpi nāma mahantaṁ soṇḍikākiḷañjaṁ; evamassa phaṇo hoti. Seyyathāpi nāma mahatī kosalikā kaṁsapāti; evamassa akkhīni bhavanti. Seyyathāpi nāma deve gaḷagaḷāyante vijjullatā niccharanti; evamassa mukhato jivhā niccharati. Seyyathāpi nāma kammāragaggariyā dhamamānāya saddo hoti; evamassa assāsapassāsānaṁ saddo hoti.

3Atha kho bhagavā "māro ayaṁ pāpimā" iti viditvā māraṁ pāpimantaṁ gāthāhi ajjhabhāsi: 

4"Yo suññagehāni sevati,
Seyyā so muni attasaññato;
Vossajja careyya tattha so,
Patirūpañhi tathāvidhassa taṁ.

5Carakā bahū bheravā bahū,
Atho ḍaṁsasarīsapā bahū;
Lomampi na tattha iñjaye,
Suññāgāragato mahāmuni.

6Nabhaṁ phaleyya pathavī caleyya,
Sabbepi pāṇā uda santaseyyuṁ;
Sallampi ce urasi pakappayeyyuṁ,
Upadhīsu tāṇaṁ na karonti buddhā"ti.

7Atha kho māro pāpimā "jānāti maṁ bhagavā, jānāti maṁ sugato"ti dukkhī dummano tatthevantaradhāyīti.