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- SN 5

SN 5.6
PTS: S i 132
CDB i 226
Cala Sutta: Cala
translated from the Pali by
Bhikkhu Bodhi
© 1997
Alternate translation: Thanissaro

Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Cala dressed... she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.

Then Mara the Evil One approached the bhikkhuni Cala and said to her: "What don't you approve of, bhikkhuni?"

"I don't approve of birth, friend."

[Mara:]

Why don't you approve of birth? Once born, one enjoys sensual pleasures. Who now has persuaded you of this: 'Bhikkhuni, don't approve of birth'?

[Cala:]

For one who is born there is death; Once born, one encounters sufferings — Bondage, murder, affliction — Hence one shouldn't approve of birth. The Buddha has taught the Dhamma, The transcendence of birth; For the abandoning of all suffering He has settled me in the truth. [133] As to those beings who fare amidst form, And those who abide in the formless — Not having understood cessation, They come again to re-becoming.

Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Cala knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.