Cala Sutta
Cala
translated from the Pali by
Bhikkhu Bodhi
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.
