4.3. Beautiful (SN4.3)

While dwelling at Uruvela. Now on that occasion the Blessed One was sitting out in the open air in the thick darkness of the night while it was drizzling. Then Mara the Evil One, wishing to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the Blessed One, approached the Blessed One and, not far from him, displayed diverse lustrous shapes, both beautiful and hideous. Then the Blessed One, having understood, “This is Mara the Evil One,” addressed him in verses:

“You’ve wandered on through the long course
Creating beautiful and hideous shapes.
Enough, Evil One, with that trick of yours:
You’re defeated, End-maker!

“Those who are well restrained
In body, speech, and mind,
Do not come under Mara’s control
Nor become Mara’s henchmen.”

Then Mara the Evil One … disappeared right there.

© Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publications, 2000)

This excerpt from The Connected Discourses of the Buddha by Bhikkhu Bodhi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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