Selāsutta

Sāvatthinidānaṁ. Atha kho selā bhikkhunī pubbaṇhasamayaṁ nivāsetvā …pe… aññatarasmiṁ rukkhamūle divāvihāraṁ nisīdi. Atha kho māro pāpimā selāya bhikkhuniyā bhayaṁ chambhitattaṁ lomahaṁsaṁ uppādetukāmo …pe… selaṁ bhikkhuniṁ gāthāya ajjhabhāsi:

At Sāvatthī. Then the nun Selā robed up in the morning … and sat at the root of a tree for the day’s meditation. Then Māra the Wicked, wanting to make the nun Selā feel fear, terror, and goosebumps … addressed her in verse:

“Kenidaṁ pakataṁ bimbaṁ, kvanu bimbassa kārako; Kvanu bimbaṁ samuppannaṁ, kvanu bimbaṁ nirujjhatī”ti.

“Who created this puppet? Where is its maker? Where has the puppet arisen? And where does it cease?”

Atha kho selāya bhikkhuniyā etadahosi: “ko nu khvāyaṁ manusso vā amanusso vā gāthaṁ bhāsatī”ti? Atha kho selāya bhikkhuniyā etadahosi: “māro kho ayaṁ pāpimā mama bhayaṁ chambhitattaṁ lomahaṁsaṁ uppādetukāmo samādhimhā cāvetukāmo gāthaṁ bhāsatī”ti. Atha kho selā bhikkhunī “māro ayaṁ pāpimā” iti viditvā māraṁ pāpimantaṁ gāthāhi paccabhāsi:

Then the nun Selā thought, “Who’s speaking this verse, a human or a non-human?” Then she thought, “This is Māra the Wicked, wanting to make me feel fear, terror, and goosebumps, wanting to make me fall away from immersion!” Then Selā, knowing that this was Māra the Wicked, replied to him in verse:

“Nayidaṁ attakataṁ bimbaṁ, nayidaṁ parakataṁ aghaṁ; Hetuṁ paṭicca sambhūtaṁ, hetubhaṅgā nirujjhati.

“This puppet isn’t self-made, nor is this gloom made by another. It comes to be because of a cause, and ceases when the cause breaks up.

Yathā aññataraṁ bījaṁ, khette vuttaṁ virūhati; Pathavīrasañcāgamma, sinehañca tadūbhayaṁ.

It’s like a seed that’s sown in a field; it grows relying on both the soil’s nutrients as well as moisture.

Evaṁ khandhā ca dhātuyo, cha ca āyatanā ime; Hetuṁ paṭicca sambhūtā, hetubhaṅgā nirujjhare”ti.

In the same way the aggregates and elements and these six sense fields come to be because of a cause, and cease when the cause breaks up.”

Atha kho māro pāpimā “jānāti maṁ selā bhikkhunī”ti dukkhī dummano tatthevantaradhāyīti.

Then Māra the Wicked, thinking, “The nun Selā knows me!” miserable and sad, vanished right there.