THUS have I heard. The Exalted One was once staying at Sāvatthī, in the Jeta Grove, the park of Anāthapiṇḍika. Now Āḷavikā the Bhikkhunī dressed herself early and, taking bowl and robe, entered Sāvatthī for food. And when she had gone about Sāvatthī for it, had broken her fast and returned, she entered the Dark Wood, seeking solitude.
Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, wavering, and dread in her, desiring to make her desist from being alone, went up to her, and addressed her in a verse:
'Ne'er shalt thou find escape while in the world. |
Then Āḷavikā thought: 'Who now is this, human or non-human, that speaketh this verse? Sure 'tis Māra the Evil One speaketh it, desirous to arouse in me fear, wavering and dread, desirous to make me desist from my solitude.' And Bhikkhunī Āḷavikā, knowing that 'twas he, replied with a verse:
'There is escape while in the world, and I |
Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Āḷavikā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and dejected.
. . . . . 457 Now Somā . . . . . entered the Dark Wood for siesta, and, plunging into its depths, sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta.
Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, wavering, and dread in her, desiring to make her desist from concentrated thought, went up to her, and addressed her in a verse:
'That vantage-ground the sages may attain is hard |
Then Somā thought . . . . . 'Sure 'tis Māra!'. . . . and replied with verses:
'What should the woman's nature do to them 458 |
Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Somā knows me,' vanished thence, sad and dejected.
. . . . . Now the Lean Gotamid . . . . . entered the Dark Wood for siesta, and, plunging into its depths, sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta. Then Māra . . . . . went up to her, and addressed her in a verse:
'How now? Dost sit alone with tearful face |
Then the Lean Gotamid thought . . . . . 'Sure 'tis Māra!' . . . . . and replied with verses:
'Ay, ever am I she whose child is lost! 460 |
Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Gotamī knows me!' vanished thence, sad and dejected.
. . . . . Now Bhikkhunī Vijayā . . . . . sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta.
Then Māra . . . . . addressed her in a verse: 463
'A maiden thou and beautiful–and I |
Then Bhikkhunī Vijayā thought . . . . . 'Sure 'tis Māra!' . . . . . and . . . . . replied with verses:
'Sights, sounds and tastes and smells and things to touch, |
Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Vijayā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and dejected.
. . . . . Now, Bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā . . . . . entered the Dark Wood for siesta, and, plunging into its depths, halted at the root of a certain sāla-tree in full blossom.
Then Māra . . . . . addressed her in a verse:
'Thou that art come where over thee crownèd with blossom |
Then Bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā thought . . . . . 'Sure 'tis Māra!' . . . . . and . . . . . replied with verses:
'Were there an hundred thousand seducers e'en such as thou art, |
Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and dejected.
. . . . . Now, Bhikkhunī Cālā . . . . . sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta.
Then Māra the Evil One went up to her, and spoke thus to her: 'Wherein, O Sister, dost thou find no pleasure?'
'In birth, 468 good sir, I find no pleasure.'
'Why findest thou no pleasure in birth? Once born, one enjoys the pleasures of a life of sense. Who hath put this into thy mind–"Find no pleasure in birth"–Sister?'
'Once born, we die. Once born, we see life's Ills– |
Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Cālā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and dejected.
. . . . . Now, Bhikkhunī Upacālā . . . . . sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta.
Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear . . . . . to make her desist from concentrated thought, went up to her, and spoke thus to her:
'Where, Sister, dost thou wish to rise again?' Upacālā.
Ay, think upon the Three-and-Thirty gods, |
Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Upacālā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and dejected.
. . . . . Now, Bhikkhunī Sīsupacālā . . . . . sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta.
Then Māra the Evil One went up to her, and spoke to her thus: 'Of whose shibboleth, Sister, dost thou approve?' 'I approve of no one's shibboleth, good sir.'
'Why now and whereto art thou seen thus garbed |
Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Sīsupacālā knows me! . . . . .
. . . . . Now, Bhikkhunī Selā . . . . . sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta.
Then Māra . . . . . went up to her, and addressed her with a verse:
'Who was't that made this human puppet's form? |
Then Bhikkhunī Selā thought . . . . . ' Sure 'tis Māra!' . . . . . and . . . . . replied with verses:
'Neither self-made the puppet is, nor yet |
Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Selā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and dejected.
. . . . . Now Bhikkhunī Vajirā . . . . . sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta.
Then Māra . . . . . went up to her, and addressed her with a verse:
'Who hath this being 477 fashioned? Where is |
Then Bhikkhunī Vajirā thought . . . . . 'Sure 'tis Māra!' . . . . . and replied with a verse:
'"Being"? Why dost thou harp upon that word? |
Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Vajirā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and dejected.
Here endeth the Bhikkhunī Series.
The Yakkha-Saŋyutta, or Fairy Series in the same Nikāya, gives the summons uttered by the indignant tree-fairy to the people of Rājagaha in Sukkā's little poem (Ps. xxxiv.). The lines are exactly the same, except that 'wayfarer' is panthagū instead of addhagū.
In the following Sutta presumably the same devoted spirit proclaims the praises both of Sukkā and of a lay-disciple who supplied the eloquent Therī with food:
'O surely plenteous merit hath he wrought, |
454 Cf. Selā's Psalm, xxxv. She was the daughter of the King of Āḷavī.
455 Pamatto.
456 See Ps. xxxvi., comparing the vastly more interesting reply given here.
457 Where dotted lines occur, here and below, the reading is as for Āḷavikā.
458 Not 'to us,' as in the Psalm.
459 Cf. Ps. lxiii. In the case of elisions, read as for Somā.
460 By 'ever'–accantaŋ, lit. exceedingly, endlessly–it is conceivable that she alludes, not to her own too common case, as a mother bereaved of a son, but either to endless past bereavements, or to the fact that, as Arahant, she had cut herself off from age-long possibilities of being often again in similar circumstances. Cf., e.g., Ps. xxxiii.
461 Āsavas.
462 Vijayā, to whom Ps lvii. is ascribed, is apparently a different person.
463 Cf. Khemā's Psalm (lii.)
464 Five sorts of musical instruments are supposed to be implied in this idiomatic phrase–ātataŋ, vitataŋ, ātata-vitataŋ, ghanaŋ, susiraŋ.
465 I have ventured to bridge over the hiatus, in what Professor Windisch calls the 'loose construction' of this gāthā, by the insertion of 'from all, from. . . .' For what may have been the original, and is the more logical, ending, see Cālā's verses below. As the gāthā in Pali stands here, it seems to mean: '"I see life steadily, and see it whole." Trouble me not with your foolish little solicitations to sensual joys.'
466 Where the text differs from that of Psalm lxiv. may be seen by the following:
Therigāthā. Saŋyutta. Supupphitaggaŋ upagamma padāpaŋ ekā tuvaŋ tiṭṭhasi rukkhamūle Supupphitaggaŋ upagamma bhikkhuni ekā tuvaŋ tiṭṭhasi sālamūle Na cāpi te dutiyo atthi; koci na tvaŋ bāle bhāyasi dhuttakānaŋ. Na c'atthi te dutiyā vaṇṇadhātu idhāgatā tādisikā bhaveyyuŋ.
Bāle na tvaŋ bhāyasi dhuttakānaŋ.On choice of reading in the preceding line, see the Psalm in question, n.
467 Pronounced Chālā. Cf. Ps. lix., lx. The latter Psalm–Upacālā's–incorporates most of what is here attributed to her sister.
468 I.e., in the fact or phenomenon of 'being born over and over again.'
469 Literally, meaning the punishments of criminals, but standing for the ills of life in general. Cf. Ps. lxx., verse 345; lxxiii., verse 505.
470 Cf. last note to Vijayā's verses above.
471 In the Psalms, her Psalm is put into the mouth of her sister, Sīsupacālā.
472 Padhūpito, in the corresponding Psalm paridīpito.
473
Sanyutta. Therigāthā. Akampitaŋ acalitaŋ aputthujana-sevitaŋ Akampitaŋ atuliyaŋ aputhujjana-sevitaŋ Agati yattha Mārassa tattha me nirato mano. Buddho dhammaŋ me desesi tattha me nirato mano.
474 Lit., Thereto is my heart (or mind) devoted.
475 In the Psalms she is made to utter her sister Cālā's Psalm.
476 The Psalm ascribed to Selā (xxxv., p. 144) is, in this Appendix, put into the mouth of Āḷavikā, which, in the Commentary, is Selā's patronymic.
477 Satto, a concrete living entity, not the abstract idea.
478 Cf. Ps. xlvi. 111.