With Sīsupacālā

At Sāvatthī.

Then the nun Sīsupacālā robed up in the morning …

and sat at the root of a tree for the day’s meditation.

Then Māra the Wicked went up to Sīsupacālā and said to her,

“Nun, whose creed do you approve of?” ^[1]

“I don’t approve anyone’s creed, sir.”

“In whose name did you shave your head?

You look like an ascetic,

but you don’t approve any creed.

Why do you wander as if lost?”

“Followers of other creeds

are confident in their views.

But I don’t approve their teaching,

for they’re no experts in the Dhamma.

But there is one born in the Sakyan clan,

the unrivaled Buddha,

vanquisher of all, dispeller of Māra,

everywhere undefeated,

everywhere freed, and unattached,

the Clear-eyed One sees all.

He has attained the end of all deeds,

freed with the ending of attachments.

That Blessed One is my Teacher,

and I approve his instruction.”

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