Selāsutta — Reader

With Selā

Selāsutta

At Sāvatthī. Then the nun Selā robed up in the morning … and sat at the root of a tree for the day’s meditation. Then Māra the Wicked, wanting to make the nun Selā feel fear, terror, and goosebumps …

Sāvatthinidānaṁ. Atha kho selā bhikkhunī pubbaṇhasamayaṁ nivāsetvā …pe… aññatarasmiṁ rukkhamūle divāvihāraṁ nisīdi. Atha kho māro pāpimā selāya bhikkhuniyā bhayaṁ chambhitattaṁ lomahaṁsaṁ uppādetukāmo …pe…

addressed her in verse: “Who created this puppet? Where is its maker? Where has the puppet arisen?

selaṁ bhikkhuniṁ gāthāya ajjhabhāsi: “Kenidaṁ pakataṁ bimbaṁ, kvanu bimbassa kārako; Kvanu bimbaṁ samuppannaṁ,

And where does it cease?” Then the nun Selā thought, “Who’s speaking this verse, a human or a non-human?” Then she thought,

kvanu bimbaṁ nirujjhatī”ti. Atha kho selāya bhikkhuniyā etadahosi: “ko nu khvāyaṁ manusso vā amanusso vā gāthaṁ bhāsatī”ti? Atha kho selāya bhikkhuniyā etadahosi:

“This is Māra the Wicked, wanting to make me feel fear, terror, and goosebumps, wanting to make me fall away from immersion!” Then Selā, knowing that this was Māra the Wicked, replied to him in verse: “This puppet isn’t self-made, nor is this gloom made by another.

“māro kho ayaṁ pāpimā mama bhayaṁ chambhitattaṁ lomahaṁsaṁ uppādetukāmo samādhimhā cāvetukāmo gāthaṁ bhāsatī”ti. Atha kho selā bhikkhunī “māro ayaṁ pāpimā” iti viditvā māraṁ pāpimantaṁ gāthāhi paccabhāsi: “Nayidaṁ attakataṁ bimbaṁ, nayidaṁ parakataṁ aghaṁ;

It comes to be because of a cause, and ceases when the cause breaks up. It’s like a seed that’s sown in a field; it grows

Hetuṁ paṭicca sambhūtaṁ, hetubhaṅgā nirujjhati. Yathā aññataraṁ bījaṁ, khette vuttaṁ virūhati;

relying on both the soil’s nutrients as well as moisture. In the same way the aggregates and elements and these six sense fields

Pathavīrasañcāgamma, sinehañca tadūbhayaṁ. Evaṁ khandhā ca dhātuyo, cha ca āyatanā ime;

come to be because of a cause, and cease when the cause breaks up.” Then Māra the Wicked, thinking, “The nun Selā knows me!” miserable and sad, vanished right there.

Hetuṁ paṭicca sambhūtā, hetubhaṅgā nirujjhare”ti. Atha kho māro pāpimā “jānāti maṁ selā bhikkhunī”ti dukkhī dummano tatthevantaradhāyīti.