Māra disturbs the Buddha’s rest (SA-2.26)

Thus have I heard, once, the Buddha was staying in Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove of Kalanda. At that time the World-honored One had been practicing while sitting, lying and walking, since the end of the first watch of the night. At dawn he washed his feet, entered his abode, and lay down on his right side, one leg resting on the other. He focused his mind on clarity and, practicing mindfulness, directed his thoughts towards rising after the rest.

There King Māra the Bad had this thought: “The renunciant Gotama is in Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove of Kalanda. He had been practicing while walking, sitting and lying down. At dawn he washed his feet, entered his abode, and lay down on his right side, one leg resting on the other. He focused his mind on clarity and, practicing mindfulness, directed his thoughts towards rising after the rest. I should now go and disturb him.”

Having thought thus he transformed himself into a young man, stood in front of the Buddha and spoke a verse:

“Why are you sleeping? /
Why are you sleeping?
Is falling asleep /
‘entering Nirvāṇa?’
Is this ‘ having done what had to be done?’ /
And falling quietly asleep,
even with the sun rising /
you go back to sleep.”

The Buddha knew that Deva Māra had come to disturb him and he spoke this verse:

“All living beings are caught in the web of desire /
which pervades everywhere.
I now have torn it apart /
the desires are forever ended.
When all things arisen have ended /
I calmly abide in nirvāṇic joy.
You Bad One /
what can you do to me?”

When King Māra heard this verse he became depressed and dispirited. He made himself invisible, left and returned to his heavenly 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.