SN 4.17

Chaphassāyatanasutta

Ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā vesāliyaṁ viharati mahāvane kūṭāgārasālāyaṁ. Tena kho pana samayena bhagavā channaṁ phassāyatanānaṁ upādāya bhikkhūnaṁ dhammiyā kathāya sandasseti samādapeti samuttejeti sampahaṁseti. Te ca bhikkhū aṭṭhiṁ katvā manasi katvā sabbacetasā samannāharitvā ohitasotā dhammaṁ suṇanti.

The Six Fields of Contact

At one time the Buddha was staying near Vesālī, at the Great Wood, in the hall with the peaked roof. Now at that time the Buddha was educating, encouraging, firing up, and inspiring the mendicants with a Dhamma talk on the topic of the six fields of contact. And those mendicants were paying attention, applying the mind, concentrating wholeheartedly, and actively listening.

Atha kho mārassa pāpimato etadahosi: “ayaṁ kho samaṇo gotamo channaṁ phassāyatanānaṁ upādāya bhikkhūnaṁ dhammiyā kathāya sandasseti samādapeti samuttejeti sappahaṁseti. Te ca bhikkhū aṭṭhiṁ katvā manasi katvā sabbacetasā samannāharitvā ohitasotā dhammaṁ suṇanti. Yannūnāhaṁ yena samaṇo gotamo tenupasaṅkameyyaṁ vicakkhukammāyā”ti. Atha kho māro pāpimā yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavato avidūre mahantaṁ bhayabheravaṁ saddamakāsi, apissudaṁ pathavī maññe undrīyati. Atha kho aññataro bhikkhu aññataraṁ bhikkhuṁ etadavoca: “bhikkhu bhikkhu, esā pathavī maññe undrīyatī”ti. Evaṁ vutte, bhagavā taṁ bhikkhuṁ etadavoca: “nesā, bhikkhu, pathavī undrīyati. Māro eso pāpimā tumhākaṁ vicakkhukammāya āgato”ti. Atha kho bhagavā “māro ayaṁ pāpimā” iti viditvā māraṁ pāpimantaṁ gāthāya ajjhabhāsi:

Then Māra thought, “This ascetic Gotama is educating, encouraging, firing up, and inspiring the mendicants with a Dhamma talk on the topic of the six fields of contact. And those mendicants are paying attention, applying the mind, concentrating wholeheartedly, and actively listening. Why don’t I go and pull the wool over their eyes?” Then Māra the Wicked went up to the Buddha and made a terrifyingly loud noise close by him. It seemed as if the earth were shattering, so that one of the mendicants said to another, “Mendicant, mendicant, it seems like the earth is shattering!” When this was said, the Buddha said to that mendicant, “Mendicant, that’s not the earth shattering. That’s Māra the Wicked come to pull the wool over your eyes!” Then the Buddha, knowing that this was Māra the Wicked, addressed him in verse:

“Rūpā saddā rasā gandhā, phassā dhammā ca kevalā; Etaṁ lokāmisaṁ ghoraṁ, ettha loko vimucchito.

“Sights, sounds, tastes, smells, touches, and ideas, the lot of them— this is the terrible bait that the world’s infatuated by.

Etañca samatikkamma, sato buddhassa sāvako; Māradheyyaṁ atikkamma, ādiccova virocatī”ti.

But a mindful disciple of the Buddha has transcended all that. Having slipped free of Māra’s dominion, they dazzle like the sun.”

Atha kho māro pāpimā …pe… tatthevantaradhāyīti.

Then Māra … vanished right there.