{"id":"sn4.24","title":"Seven Years of Pursuit","languageCodes":["en","pi"],"languageNotes":{"en":"Bhikkhu Sujato · CC0","pi":"Mahāsaṅgīti edition · SuttaCentral"},"chapters":[{"id":"sn4.24","title":"Seven Years of Pursuit","units":[{"id":"sn4.24:0","sourceIds":["sn4.24:0.1","sn4.24:0.2","sn4.24:0.3"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"Saṁyutta Nikāya 4.24\n3. Tatiyavagga\nSattavassānubandhasutta","en":"Linked Discourses 4.24\n3. Māra\nSeven Years of Pursuit"}},{"id":"sn4.24:1","sourceIds":["sn4.24:1.1","sn4.24:1.2","sn4.24:1.3","sn4.24:1.4"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"Evaṁ me sutaṁ—\nekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā uruvelāyaṁ viharati najjā nerañjarāya tīre ajapālanigrodhe.\nTena kho pana samayena māro pāpimā sattavassāni bhagavantaṁ anubandho hoti otārāpekkho otāraṁ alabhamāno.\nAtha kho māro pāpimā yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavantaṁ gāthāya ajjhabhāsi:","en":"So I have heard.\nAt one time the Buddha was staying in Uruvelā at the goatherd’s banyan tree on the bank of the Nerañjarā River.\nNow at that time Māra the Wicked had been pursuing the Buddha for seven years hoping to find a vulnerability without success.\nThen Māra the Wicked went up to the Buddha and addressed him in verse:"}},{"id":"sn4.24:2","sourceIds":["sn4.24:2.1","sn4.24:2.2","sn4.24:2.3","sn4.24:2.4","sn4.24:2.5"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"“Sokāvatiṇṇo nu vanamhi jhāyasi,\nVittaṁ nu jīno uda patthayāno;\nĀguṁ nu gāmasmimakāsi kiñci,\nKasmā janena na karosi sakkhiṁ;\nSakkhī na sampajjati kenaci te”ti.","en":"“Are you swamped by sorrow that you meditate in the forest?\nHave you lost a fortune, or do you long for one?\nOr perhaps you’ve committed some crime in the village?\nWhy don’t you get too close to people?\nAnd why does no one get close to you?”"}},{"id":"sn4.24:3","sourceIds":["sn4.24:3.1","sn4.24:3.2","sn4.24:3.3","sn4.24:3.4"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"“Sokassa mūlaṁ palikhāya sabbaṁ,\nAnāgu jhāyāmi asocamāno;\nChetvāna sabbaṁ bhavalobhajappaṁ,\nAnāsavo jhāyāmi pamattabandhū”ti.","en":"“I’ve dug out the root of sorrow completely.\nI practice absorption free of guilt or sorrow.\nI’ve cut off all greed and muttered prayer for future lives.\nUndefiled, I practice absorption, O kinsman of the negligent!”"}},{"id":"sn4.24:4","sourceIds":["sn4.24:4.1","sn4.24:4.2","sn4.24:4.3","sn4.24:4.4"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"“Yaṁ vadanti mama yidanti,\nye vadanti mamanti ca;\nEttha ce te mano atthi,\nna me samaṇa mokkhasī”ti.","en":"“The things they call ‘mine’,\nand those who say ‘it’s mine’:\nif your mind remains there,\nyou won’t escape me, ascetic!”"}},{"id":"sn4.24:5","sourceIds":["sn4.24:5.1","sn4.24:5.2","sn4.24:5.3","sn4.24:5.4"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"“Yaṁ vadanti na taṁ mayhaṁ,\nye vadanti na te ahaṁ;\nEvaṁ pāpima jānāhi,\nna me maggampi dakkhasī”ti.","en":"“The things they speak of aren’t mine;\nI’m not someone who speaks like that.\nSo know this, Wicked One:\nyou won’t even see the path I take.”"}},{"id":"sn4.24:6","sourceIds":["sn4.24:6.1","sn4.24:6.2","sn4.24:6.3","sn4.24:6.4"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"“Sace maggaṁ anubuddhaṁ,\nkhemaṁ amatagāminaṁ;\nApehi gaccha tvameveko,\nkimaññamanusāsasī”ti.","en":"“If you’ve discovered the path\nthat’s safe, and leads to freedom from death,\ngo and walk that path alone—\nwhy teach it to anyone else?”"}},{"id":"sn4.24:7","sourceIds":["sn4.24:7.1","sn4.24:7.2","sn4.24:7.3","sn4.24:7.4"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"“Amaccudheyyaṁ pucchanti,\nye janā pāragāmino;\nTesāhaṁ puṭṭho akkhāmi,\nyaṁ saccaṁ taṁ nirūpadhin”ti.","en":"“Those crossing to the far shore\nask what’s beyond the domain of Death.\nWhen I’m asked, I explain to them\nthe truth without attachments.”"}},{"id":"sn4.24:8","sourceIds":["sn4.24:8.1","sn4.24:8.2","sn4.24:8.3","sn4.24:8.4","sn4.24:8.5","sn4.24:8.6","sn4.24:8.7","sn4.24:8.8"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"“Seyyathāpi, bhante, gāmassa vā nigamassa vā avidūre pokkharaṇī.\nTatrassa kakkaṭako.\nAtha kho, bhante, sambahulā kumārakā vā kumārikāyo vā tamhā gāmā vā nigamā vā nikkhamitvā yena sā pokkharaṇī tenupasaṅkameyyuṁ; upasaṅkamitvā taṁ kakkaṭakaṁ udakā uddharitvā thale patiṭṭhapeyyuṁ.\nYaṁ yadeva hi so, bhante, kakkaṭako aḷaṁ abhininnāmeyya taṁ tadeva te kumārakā vā kumārikāyo vā kaṭṭhena vā kathalāya vā sañchindeyyuṁ sambhañjeyyuṁ sampalibhañjeyyuṁ.\nEvañhi so, bhante, kakkaṭako sabbehi aḷehi sañchinnehi sambhaggehi sampalibhaggehi abhabbo taṁ pokkharaṇiṁ otarituṁ.\nEvameva kho, bhante, yāni kānici visūkāyikāni visevitāni vipphanditāni, sabbāni tāni bhagavatā sañchinnāni sambhaggāni sampalibhaggāni.\nAbhabbo dānāhaṁ, bhante, puna bhagavantaṁ upasaṅkamituṁ yadidaṁ otārāpekkho”ti.\nAtha kho māro pāpimā bhagavato santike imā nibbejanīyā gāthāyo abhāsi:","en":"“Sir, suppose there was a lotus pond not far from a town or village,\nand a crab lived there.\nThen several boys or girls would leave the town or village and go to the pond, where they’d pull out the crab and put it on solid ground.\nWhenever that crab extended a claw, those boys or girls would snap, crack, and break it off with a stick or a stone.\nAnd when that crab’s claws had all been snapped, cracked, and broken off it wouldn’t be able to return down into that lotus pond.\nIn the same way, sir, the Buddha has snapped, cracked, and broken off all my twists, ducks, and dodges.\nNow I’m not able to approach the Buddha again in hopes of finding a vulnerability.”\nThen Māra the Wicked recited these verses of disappointment in the Buddha’s presence:"}},{"id":"sn4.24:9","sourceIds":["sn4.24:9.1","sn4.24:9.2","sn4.24:9.3","sn4.24:9.4"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"“Medavaṇṇañca pāsāṇaṁ,\nvāyaso anupariyagā;\nApettha muduṁ vindema,\napi assādanā siyā.","en":"“A crow once circled a stone\nthat looked like a lump of fat.\n‘Perhaps I’ll find something tender,’ it thought,\n‘perhaps there’s something tasty.’"}},{"id":"sn4.24:10","sourceIds":["sn4.24:10.1","sn4.24:10.2","sn4.24:10.3","sn4.24:10.4"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"Aladdhā tattha assādaṁ,\nvāyasetto apakkame;\nKākova selamāsajja,\nnibbijjāpema gotamā”ti.","en":"But finding nothing tasty,\nthe crow left that place.\nLike the crow that pecked the stone,\nI leave Gotama disappointed.”"}}]}],"sourceRevision":"afdafa92450cfe7573b280da50382888323666d2","sourceUrl":"https://suttacentral.net/sn4.24/en/sujato","licence":"CC0 1.0","licenceUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/","editionNote":"Full supplied source file; inherited abbreviations are preserved. Not a reconstructed expansion of every repetition. No Malay or Mandarin translation is implied."}