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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

5. Bhikkhunīsaṁyutta: With Nuns

I. Nuns — SN5.9: With Selā

1At Sāvatthī.

Then the nun Selā robed up in the morning … and sat at the root of a tree for the day’s meditation.

Then Māra the Wicked, wanting to make the nun Selā feel fear, terror, and goosebumps … addressed her in verse:

2“Who created this puppet?
Where is its maker?
Where has the puppet arisen?
And where does it cease?”

3Then the nun Selā thought: “Who’s speaking this verse, a human or a non-human?”

Then she thought: “This is Māra the Wicked, wanting to make me feel fear, terror, and goosebumps, wanting to make me fall away from immersion!”


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

4“This puppet isn’t self-made,
nor is this misery made by another.
It comes to be because of a cause,
and ceases when the cause breaks up.

5It’s like a seed that’s sown
in a field; it grows
relying on both the soil’s nutrients
as well as moisture.

6In the same way the aggregates and elements
and these six sense fields
come to be because of a cause,
and cease when the cause breaks up.”

7Then Māra the Wicked, thinking: “The nun Selā knows me!” miserable and sad, vanished right there.

1Sāvatthinidānaṁ.

Atha kho selā bhikkhunī pubbaṇhasamayaṁ nivāsetvā … pe … aññatarasmiṁ rukkhamūle divāvihāraṁ nisīdi.

Atha kho māro pāpimā selāya bhikkhuniyā bhayaṁ chambhitattaṁ lomahaṁsaṁ uppādetukāmo … pe … selaṁ bhikkhuniṁ gāthāya ajjhabhāsi: 

2"Kenidaṁ pakataṁ bimbaṁ,
kvanu bimbassa kārako;
Kvanu bimbaṁ samuppannaṁ,
kvanu bimbaṁ nirujjhatī"ti.

3Atha kho selāya bhikkhuniyā etadahosi: "ko nu khvāyaṁ manusso vā amanusso vā gāthaṁ bhāsatī"ti?

Atha kho selāya bhikkhuniyā etadahosi: "māro kho ayaṁ pāpimā mama bhayaṁ chambhitattaṁ lomahaṁsaṁ uppādetukāmo samādhimhā cāvetukāmo gāthaṁ bhāsatī"ti.


Atha kho selā bhikkhunī "māro ayaṁ pāpimā" iti viditvā māraṁ pāpimantaṁ gāthāhi paccabhāsi: 

4"Nayidaṁ attakataṁ bimbaṁ,
nayidaṁ parakataṁ aghaṁ;
Hetuṁ paṭicca sambhūtaṁ,
hetubhaṅgā nirujjhati.

5Yathā aññataraṁ bījaṁ,
khette vuttaṁ virūhati;
Pathavīrasañcāgamma,
sinehañca tadūbhayaṁ.

6Evaṁ khandhā ca dhātuyo,
cha ca āyatanā ime;
Hetuṁ paṭicca sambhūtā,
hetubhaṅgā nirujjhare"ti.

7Atha kho māro pāpimā "jānāti maṁ selā bhikkhunī"ti dukkhī dummano tatthevantaradhāyīti.