Vīrā (SA-2.219)

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

At that time there was a nun called Vīrā staying in the Rājakārāma Vihāra near Sāvatthī. In the morning she took her robes and her begging bowl and entered the town to beg for food. Having finished her meal, she cleaned her bowl, gathered her seat for meditation and went to the Andhavana forest to meditate. At that time King Māra thought: “The renunciant Gotama is staying at Sāvatthī at the Jeta Grove in the Anāthapiṇḍika Park. And there is the nun Vīrā who took her robes and her begging bowl and entered the town to beg for food. Having finished her meal, she cleaned her bowl, gathered her seat and has gone into the Andhavana forest. I shall disturb her!” Having thought this, he changed into a young man, and, standing by the wayside, addressed her with a verse:

“Who creates this shape, /
who is its creator?
From where did this shape appear, /
whither will it go?”

At that time Vīrā thought: “Who is this, who wants to disturb me? What a deceiver! Is he a human or a non-human being?” She entered concentration and using her insight, recognized that it was King Māra. She answered him with a verse:

“Shapes are neither self-created /
nor created by others.
When various conditions meet, they come into being; /
parted from these conditions they dissolve and vanish,

Just as planted seeds /
grow in dependence on earth,
so the aggregates ( khandhas), elements (dhātus) and spheres (āyatanas) /
together form shapes.
Dependent on suffering they grow; /
dependent on suffering they dissolve and vanish.

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

At that time King Māra thought: “This nun 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.