SN 5.6 - Cala Sutta: Cala
Translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi
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Copyright: ©1997 Buddhist Publication Society.
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Attribution: ©1997 Buddhist Publication Society. You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge and, in the case of reprinting, only in quantities of no more than 50 copies; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. From Discourses of the Ancient Nuns (BL 143), translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1997). Copyright © 1997 Buddhist Publication Society. Used with permission. Last revised for Access to Insight on 13 June 2010. How to cite this document (a suggested style): "Cala Sutta: Cala" (SN 5.6), translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 13 June 2010, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn05/sn05.006.bodh.html .
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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.