Māratajjanīyasutta

Majjhima Nikāya 50

The Rebuke of Māra · Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral

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Atha kho, pāpima, dūsissa mārassa etadahosi:
‘evampi kho ahaṁ karonto imesaṁ bhikkhūnaṁ sīlavantānaṁ kalyāṇadhammānaṁ neva jānāmi āgatiṁ vā gatiṁ vā, yannūnāhaṁ brāhmaṇagahapatike anvāviseyyaṁ:
“etha, tumhe bhikkhū sīlavante kalyāṇadhamme sakkarotha garuṁ karotha mānetha pūjetha,
appeva nāma tumhehi sakkariyamānānaṁ garukariyamānānaṁ māniyamānānaṁ pūjiyamānānaṁ siyā cittassa aññathattaṁ, yathā taṁ dūsī māro labhetha otāran”’ti.

Then it occurred to Māra Dūsī, ‘Even when I do this I don’t know the course of rebirth of these ethical mendicants of good character. Why don’t I take possession of these brahmins and householders and say, “Come, all of you, honor, respect, esteem, and venerate the ethical mendicants of good character. Hopefully by doing this we can upset their minds so that Māra Dūsī can find a vulnerability.”’

Atha kho te, pāpima, dūsī māro brāhmaṇagahapatike anvāvisi:
‘etha, tumhe bhikkhū sīlavante kalyāṇadhamme sakkarotha garuṁ karotha mānetha pūjetha,
appeva nāma tumhehi sakkariyamānānaṁ garukariyamānānaṁ māniyamānānaṁ pūjiyamānānaṁ siyā cittassa aññathattaṁ, yathā taṁ dūsī māro labhetha otāran’ti.
Atha kho te, pāpima, brāhmaṇagahapatikā anvāviṭṭhā dūsinā mārena bhikkhū sīlavante kalyāṇadhamme sakkaronti garuṁ karonti mānenti pūjenti.
Ye kho pana, pāpima, tena samayena manussā kālaṁ karonti yebhuyyena kāyassa bhedā paraṁ maraṇā sugatiṁ saggaṁ lokaṁ upapajjanti.

And that’s exactly what he did. Then those brahmins and householders honored, respected, esteemed, and venerated the ethical mendicants of good character. Most of the people who died at that time—when their body broke up, after death—were reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.

Atha kho, pāpima, kakusandho bhagavā arahaṁ sammāsambuddho bhikkhū āmantesi:
‘anvāviṭṭhā kho, bhikkhave, brāhmaṇagahapatikā dūsinā mārena:
“etha, tumhe bhikkhū sīlavante kalyāṇadhamme sakkarotha garuṁ karotha mānetha pūjetha,
appeva nāma tumhehi sakkariyamānānaṁ garukariyamānānaṁ māniyamānānaṁ pūjiyamānānaṁ siyā cittassa aññathattaṁ, yathā taṁ dūsī māro labhetha otāran”ti.
Etha, tumhe, bhikkhave, asubhānupassino kāye viharatha, āhāre paṭikūlasaññino, sabbaloke anabhiratisaññino, sabbasaṅkhāresu aniccānupassino’ti.

Then Kakusandha the Blessed One, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha, addressed the mendicants: ‘Mendicants, the brahmins and householders have been possessed by Māra Dūsī. He told them to venerate you in the hope of upsetting your minds so that he can find a vulnerability. Come, all you mendicants, meditate observing the ugliness of the body, perceiving the repulsiveness of food, perceiving dissatisfaction with the whole world, and observing the impermanence of all conditions.’

Atha kho te, pāpima, bhikkhū kakusandhena bhagavatā arahatā sammāsambuddhena evaṁ ovadiyamānā evaṁ anusāsiyamānā araññagatāpi rukkhamūlagatāpi suññāgāragatāpi asubhānupassino kāye vihariṁsu, āhāre paṭikūlasaññino, sabbaloke anabhiratisaññino, sabbasaṅkhāresu aniccānupassino.

When those mendicants were instructed and advised by the Buddha Kakusandha in this way, they went to a wilderness, or to the root of a tree, or to an empty hut, where they meditated observing the ugliness of the body, perceiving the repulsiveness of food, perceiving dissatisfaction with the whole world, and observing the impermanence of all conditions.

Atha kho, pāpima, kakusandho bhagavā arahaṁ sammāsambuddho pubbaṇhasamayaṁ nivāsetvā pattacīvaramādāya āyasmatā vidhurena pacchāsamaṇena gāmaṁ piṇḍāya pāvisi.

Then the Buddha Kakusandha robed up in the morning and, taking this bowl and robe, entered the village for alms with Venerable Vidhura as his second monk.

Atha kho, pāpima, dūsī māro aññataraṁ kumārakaṁ anvāvisitvā sakkharaṁ gahetvā āyasmato vidhurassa sīse pahāramadāsi; sīsaṁ vobhindi.
Atha kho, pāpima, āyasmā vidhuro bhinnena sīsena lohitena gaḷantena kakusandhaṁyeva bhagavantaṁ arahantaṁ sammāsambuddhaṁ piṭṭhito piṭṭhito anubandhi.
Atha kho, pāpima, kakusandho bhagavā arahaṁ sammāsambuddho nāgāpalokitaṁ apalokesi:
‘na vāyaṁ dūsī māro mattamaññāsī’ti.
Sahāpalokanāya ca pana, pāpima, dūsī māro tamhā ca ṭhānā cavi mahānirayañca upapajji.

Then Māra Dūsī took possession of a certain boy, picked up a rock, and hit Vidhura on the head, cracking it open. Then Vidhura, with blood pouring from his cracked skull, still followed behind the Buddha Kakusandha. Then the Buddha Kakusandha turned to gaze back, the way that elephants do, saying, ‘This Māra Dūsī knows no limit.’ And as he was gazing, Māra Dūsī fell from that place and was reborn in the Great Hell.

Tassa kho pana, pāpima, mahānirayassa tayo nāmadheyyā honti—
chaphassāyataniko itipi, saṅkusamāhato itipi, paccattavedaniyo itipi.
Atha kho maṁ, pāpima, nirayapālā upasaṅkamitvā etadavocuṁ:
‘yadā kho te, mārisa, saṅkunā saṅku hadaye samāgaccheyya.
Atha naṁ tvaṁ jāneyyāsi:
“vassasahassaṁ me niraye paccamānassā”’ti.

Now that Great Hell is known by three names: ‘Related to the Six Fields of Contact’ and also ‘The Impaling With Spikes’ and also ‘Uniquely Painful’. Then the wardens of hell came to me and said, ‘When spike meets spike in your heart, you will know that you’ve been roasting in hell for a thousand years.’

So kho ahaṁ, pāpima, bahūni vassāni bahūni vassasatāni bahūni vassasahassāni tasmiṁ mahāniraye apacciṁ.
Dasavassasahassāni tasseva mahānirayassa ussade apacciṁ vuṭṭhānimaṁ nāma vedanaṁ vediyamāno.
Tassa mayhaṁ, pāpima, evarūpo kāyo hoti, seyyathāpi manussassa.
Evarūpaṁ sīsaṁ hoti, seyyathāpi macchassa.

I roasted for many years, many centuries, many millennia in that Great Hell. For ten thousand years I roasted in the annex of that Great Hell, experiencing the pain called ‘this is emergence’. My body was in human form, but I had the head of a fish.

Kīdiso nirayo āsi,
yattha dūsī apaccatha;
Vidhuraṁ sāvakamāsajja,
kakusandhañca brāhmaṇaṁ.
Sataṁ āsi ayosaṅkū,
sabbe paccattavedanā;
Īdiso nirayo āsi,
yattha dūsī apaccatha;
Vidhuraṁ sāvakamāsajja,
kakusandhañca brāhmaṇaṁ.
Yo etamabhijānāti,
bhikkhu buddhassa sāvako;
Tādisaṁ bhikkhumāsajja,
kaṇha dukkhaṁ nigacchasi.

What kind of hell was that, where Dūsī was roasted after attacking the disciple Vidhura along with the brahmin Kakusandha? There were 100 iron spikes, each one uniquely painful. That’s the kind of hell where Dūsī was roasted after attacking the disciple Vidhura along with the brahmin Kakusandha. Dark One, if you attack a mendicant who directly knows this, a disciple of the Buddha, you’ll fall into suffering.

Majjhe sarassa tiṭṭhanti,
vimānā kappaṭṭhāyino;
Veḷuriyavaṇṇā rucirā,
accimanto pabhassarā;
Accharā tattha naccanti,
puthu nānattavaṇṇiyo.
Yo etamabhijānāti,
bhikkhu buddhassa sāvako;
Tādisaṁ bhikkhumāsajja,
kaṇha dukkhaṁ nigacchasi.

There are mansions that last an eon standing in the middle of a lake. Sapphire-colored, brilliant, they sparkle and shine. Dancing there are nymphs shining in all different colors. Dark One, if you attack a mendicant who directly knows this, a disciple of the Buddha, you’ll fall into suffering.

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