Kisāgotamī (SA-2.216)

Thus have I heard, once, the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī at the Jeta Grove in the Anāthapiṇḍika Park.

At that time the nun Kisāgotamī took her robes and her begging bowl and entered the town Sāvatthī to beg for food. Having finished her meal, she cleaned her bowl, gathered her seat for meditation, went into the Andhavana forest for the day’s abiding, and sat under a tree.

At that time King Māra the Bad thought: “The renunciant Gotama is staying at Sāvatthī at the Jeta Grove in the Anāthapiṇḍika Park, and here is this nun called Kisāgotamī. She took her robes and her begging bowl and entered Sāvatthī to beg for food. Having finished her meal, she cleaned her bowl, gathered her seat for meditation, and went into the Andhavana forest, now she has sat down under a tree for the day’s abiding.”

Having thought this, he changed into a young man, and with the intention of disturbing her, spoke this verse:

“What are you doing there now /
sitting sadly under a tree,
Sighing and sobbing; /
haven’t you lost a child?
Dwelling alone in the forest /
aren’t you looking for a man?”

Then the nun thought: “Who is this? What a deceiver! Is he, who wants to cause confusion in me, a human or a non-human being?” She entered concentration and recognized that it was King Māra. She spoke a verse:

“I have cut off craving, /
I am without desire, and do not think about children.
Sitting upright among the trees, /
no worries, no agitations trouble me.

I have cut off all craving, /
the darkness of ignorance destroyed.
Having reached complete cessation, /
I peacefully dwell in a state of purity.
Therefore understand: /
Bad One you are defeated.”

At that time the Bad One thought: “The nun Kisāgotamī knows my mind well!” Depressed, dispirited, and ashamed he returned to his palace.

Translation by Marcus Bingenheimer, 2005–8 (minor revisions 2009). First version published in Buddhist Studies Review vol. 23.1 (2006). The translations used here were revised by the translator and published in his Studies in Āgama Literature—with Special Reference to the Shorter Chinese Saṁyuktāgama, Dharma Drum Buddhist College, 2010.

Translated from the Taishō text of the CBETA-Database (Version Feb. 2006). All sutta titles added by the translator.

This series of translations were part of the project “A Digital Comparative Edition of the Bieyi za ahan jing” conducted at the Chung-hwa Institute for Buddhist Studies (中華佛學研究所) and the Dharma Drum Buddhist College (法鼓佛教研修學院), funded by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (蔣經國國際學術交流基金會). The full project, including parallel Chinese, Pali, and Sanskrit texts, is available online here.

Used with kind permission of the translator.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.