| 157. At one time the Bhagava was
staying at Silivati monastery in the country of the Sakyans. At that time many
bhikkhus were residing not far from the Bhagava with mindfulness, with
diligence and with their mind directed towards Nibbana. Then Mara the Wicked
One assumed the guise of a brahmin, with a great coil of plaited hair wrapped
around his head wearing a robe of black leopard-skin with dangling hooves, aged
and bent; his ribs showing like the rafters of a roof, breathing heavily and
noisily, and holding a hermit's staff in his hand, approached the bhikkhus to
whom he said:
"Honorable Sirs, you became bhikkhus
while quite young; you are mere lads in the prime of youth and in the first
period of life with hair still dark; you have not yet enjoyed sense-pleasures.
Honorable Sirs, do enjoy human pleasures (first). Don't yearn for future
pleasures (of the deva world), forsaking present pleasures."
"Brahmin, we are not yearning for
future pleasures after forsaking present pleasures. Brahmin, rejecting future
pleasures also, we seek the immediate benefit of (Ariya Magga) realizable here
and now. Brahmin, indeed, the Bhagava has said: 'The future sense-pleasures (of
the deva world) are full of misery, full of woe; these (sense pleasures) are
full of fault.' This dhamma (expounded by the Bhagava) is personally and
immediately apperceivable here and now; it is not delayed in its results; it
can stand investigation; it is worthy of being perpetually borne in mind; and
its truths can be realized and experienced by the ariyas individually by their
own effort and practice."
When this was said, Mara the Wicked One
nodded his head, and flicking his tongue out (to this and that side) and deeply
frowning (lit., 'causing three deep lines to appear on his forehead'),
departed, leaning upon his staff.
Then the bhikkhus approached the
Bhagava, made their obeisance, and sat in a suitable place. Having sat in a
suitable place, those bhikkhus said to the Bhagava thus:
"Venerable Sir, we were residing not
far from the Bhagava with mindfulness, with diligence and with our mind
directed towards Nibbana. Then Venerable Sir, a brahmin with a big coil of
plaited hair wrapped around his head, wearing a robe of black leopard-skin with
dangling hooves, aged and bent, his ribs showing like the rafters of a roof,
breathing heavily and noisily, and holding a hermits staff in his hand, came
near us and addressed us thus, 'Honorable Sirs, you became bhikkhu while quite
young. You are mere lads in the prime of youth and in the first period of life
with hair still dark, you have not yet enjoyed sense pleasures, Honorable Sirs,
do enjoy human pleasures (first). Don't yearn for future pleasures (of the deva
world), forsaking present pleasures.'
"When this was said, Venerable Sir,
we said thus to that brahmin, 'No, brahmin, we are not yearning for future
pleasures after forsaking present pleasures. Brahmin, rejecting future
pleasures also, we seek the immediate benefit of (Ariya Magga) realizable here
and now. Brahmin, indeed the Bhagava has said: The future pleasures (of the
deva world) are full of misery, full of woe, these (sense-pleasures) are full
of fault, This dhamma (expounded by the Bhagava) is personally and immediately
apperceivable here and now; it is hot delayed in its results; it can stand
investigation; it is worthy of being-perpetually borne in mind; and its truths
can be realized and experienced by the ariyas individually by their own effort
and practice.'
"When this was said, the brahmin
nodded his head, and flicking his tongue out (to this and that side) and deeply
frowning (lit., causing three deep lines to appear on his forehead') departed,
leaning upon his staff."
"Bhikkhus, that was not a brahmin. That was Mara the
Wicked One. He came to deprive you of the eye of knowledge."
Then the Bhagava, understanding the matter, spoke this verse on that occasion:
"He who has understood that
dukkha has its source in sense-pleasures, why should he be inclined to sense-
pleasures?
Knowing that in the world sense-pleasures and
fetters, one should train oneself to eliminate them."
End of the Sambahula Sutta,
the first in this vagga.
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