SN4:6 Serpent
- DG BB TBW © Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. (More copyright information)
1Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrel Sanctuary. Now on that occasion the Blessed One was sitting out in the open in the thick darkness of the night while it was drizzling.
2Then Māra the Evil One … manifested himself in the form of a giant king serpent and approached the Blessed One. Its body was like a huge boat made from a single tree trunk; its hood, like a large brewer's sieve; its eyes, like the large bronze dishes of Kosala; its tongue darting out from its mouth, like flashes of lightning emitted when the sky thunders; the sound of its breathing in and out, like the sound of a smith's bellows filling with air.
3Then the Blessed One, having understood, "This is Māra the Evil One," addressed Māra the Evil One in verses:
4v.456 "He who resorts to empty huts for lodging—
He is the sage, self-controlled.
He should live there, having relinquished all:
That is proper for one like him.
[n.276] I follow Spk in dividing seyya and so and in taking seyya to be dative in sense (Spk = seyyatthaya), and so a pronoun used in apposition to muni (Spk: so buddhamuni). I also follow Spk in taking seyya to mean "lodging," though both C.Rh.D and Geiger interpret it as well-being. Spk explains vossajja careyya tattha so thus: "He should live having relinquished —that is, having abandoned— desire for and attachment to his individual existence (i.e., his body and life)."
5v.457 "Though many creatures crawl about,
Many terrors, flies, serpents, sn.i.107
The great sage gone to his empty hut
Stirs not a hair because of them.
6v.458 "Though the sky might split, the earth quake,
And all creatures be stricken with terror,
Though men brandish a dart at their breast,
The enlightened take no shelter in acquisitions."
[n.276] Spk: Upadhi here is khandhūpadhi, "acquisitions as the aggregates"; see n. 21. In the last line the change of the subject from the singular to the plural is in the text. Spk: The enlightened do not resort to such a shelter because they have eradicated all fear.
7Then Māra the Evil One … disappeared 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.