SN 5:8 · Sister Sīsupacālā (Sīsupacālā Sutta)
Near Sāvatthī. Then, early in the morning, Sīsupacālā the nun adjusted her robes and, taking her bowl & outer robe, went into Sāvatthī for alms. When she had gone for alms in Sāvatthī and had returned from her alms round, after her meal she went to the Grove of the Blind to spend the day. Having gone deep into the Grove of the Blind, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day’s abiding.
Then Māra the Evil One approached her & said, “Whose philosophy do you approve of, nun?”
“I don’t approve of anyone’s philosophy, my friend.”
Māra:
“For whose sake
have you shaved your head?
You look like a contemplative
but don’t approve of a philosophy,
so why are you wandering here
confused?”
Sister Sīsupacālā:
“Outside philosophers place
their confidence in views.
I don’t approve
of their teaching.
They’re not adept
in the Dhamma.
But there is
the Awakened One,
born in the Sakyan clan,
a person without peer:
all-conquering,
Māra’s subduer,
everywhere undefeated,
everywhere freed, independent;
endowed with an Eye
all-seeing, reaching the end of
all kamma—
with the ending of acquisitions,
released.
He, that Blessed One,
is my teacher.
It’s in his Dhamma
that I delight.”
Then Māra the Evil One—sad & dejected at realizing, “Sīsupacālā the nun knows me”—vanished right there.
Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 licence, for free distribution only. Source: dhammatalks.org (Metta Forest Monastery).
