Padana Sutta - Kuddaka Nikaya

Lord Buddha :


To me —

resolute in exertion

near the river Nerañjara,

making a great effort,

doing  jhana

to attain rest from the yoke —


Namuci[1] came,

speaking words of compassion:

"You are ashen, thin.

Death is in

your presence.

Death

has 1,000 parts of you.

Only one part

is your life.

Live, good sir!

Life is better.

Alive,

you can do

acts of merit.

Your living the holy life,

performing the fire sacrifice,

will heap up much merit.

What use is exertion to you?

Hard to follow

— the path of exertion —

hard to do, hard

to sustain."


Saying these verses,

Mara stood in the Awakened One's presence.

And to that Mara, speaking thus,

the Blessed One said this:



"Kinsman of the heedless,

Evil One,

come here for whatever purpose:

I haven't, for merit,

even the least bit of need.

Those who have need of merit:

those are the ones

Mara's fit to address.



In me are conviction,

austerity,

persistence,

discernment.

Why, when I'm so resolute

do you petition me

to live?

This wind could burn up

even river currents.

Why, when I'm resolute

shouldn't my blood dry away?

As my blood dries up

gall & phlegm dry up.

As muscles waste away,

the mind grows clearer;

mindfulness, discernment,

concentration stand

more firm.

Staying in this way,

attaining the ultimate feeling,[2]

the mind has no interest

in sensual passions.

See:

a being's

purity!



Sensual passions are your first army.

Your second is called Discontent.

Your third is Hunger & Thirst.

Your fourth is called Craving.

Fifth is Sloth & Drowsiness.

Sixth is called Terror.

Your seventh is Uncertainty.

Hypocrisy & Stubbornness, your eighth.

Gains, Offerings, Fame, & Status

wrongly gained,

and whoever would praise self

& disparage others.



That, Namuci, is your army,

the Dark One's commando force.

A coward can't defeat it,

but one having defeated it

gains bliss.

Do I carry muñja grass?[3]

I spit on my life.

Death in battle woud be better for me

than that I, defeated,

survive.



Sinking here, they don't appear,

some priests & contemplatives.

They don't know the path

by which those with good practices

go.



Seeing the bannered force

on all sides —

the troops, Mara

along with his mount —

I go into battle.

May they not budge me

from

my spot.

That army of yours,

that the world with its devas

can't overcome,

I will smash with discernment —

as an unfired pot with a stone.



Making my resolve mastered,

mindfulness well-established,

I will go about, from kingdom to kingdom,

training many disciples.

They — heedful, resolute

doing my bidding —

despite your wishes, will go

where, having gone,

there's no grief."

Mara:



"For seven years, I've dogged

the Blessed One's steps,

but haven't gained an opening

in the One Self-awakened

& glorious.

A crow circled a stone

the color of fat

— 'Maybe I've found

something tender here.

Maybe there's something delicious' —

but not getting anything delicious there,

the crow went away.

Like the crow attacking the rock,

I weary myself with Gotama."



As he was overcome with sorrow,

his lute fell from under his arm.

Then he, the despondent spirit,

right there

disappeared.



Adapted from Bhikkhu Thanissara's translation of the Padana sutta from Pali.