The Samyutta Nikaya
The Grouped Discourses
Samyutta Nikaya V.9
Sela Sutta
Sela
Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi.
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the
bhikkhuni Sela dressed ... she sat down at the foot of a tree for the
day's abiding.
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear,
trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Sela, desiring to make her fall
away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
"By whom has this puppet been created?
Where is the maker of the puppet?
Where has the puppet arisen?
Where does the puppet cease?"
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Sela: "Now who
is this...? This is Mara the Evil One ... desiring to make me fall away
from concentration."
Then the bhikkhuni Sela, having understood, "This
is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
"This puppet is not made by itself,
Nor is this misery made by another.
It has come to be dependent on a cause,
When the cause dissolves then it will cease.
As when a seed is sown in a field
It grows depending on a pair of factors:
It requires both the soil's nutrients
And a steady supply of moisture.
Just so the aggregates and elements,
And these six bases of sensory contact,
Have come to be dependent on a cause;
When the cause dissolves they will cease."
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni
Sela knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
Read an alternate translation by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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