SN 5.8 - SN 5:8 Sister Sīsupacālā | Sīsupacālā Sutta
Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN5_8.html
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Copyright: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017
License notice: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
Attribution: From Handful of Leaves, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu; https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/SuttaPitaka_251113.epub. Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
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Sister Sīsupacālā
 Sīsupacālā Sutta (SN 5:8)

Near Sāvatthī. Then, early in the morning, Sīsupacālā the nun adjusted her robes and, taking her bowl & outer robe, went into Sāvatthī for alms. When she had gone for alms in Sāvatthī and had returned from her alms round, after her meal she went to the Grove of the Blind to spend the day. Having gone deep into the Grove of the Blind, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day’s abiding.

Then Māra the Evil One approached her & said, “Whose philosophy do you approve of, nun?”

“I don’t approve of anyone’s philosophy, my friend.”

Māra:
“For whose sake
  have you shaved your head?
You look like a contemplative
but don’t approve of a philosophy,
so why are you wandering here
  confused?”

Sister Sīsupacālā:
“Outside philosophers place
their confidence in views.
I don’t approve
  of their teaching.
They’re not adept
  in the Dhamma.

  But there is
the Awakened One,
born in the Sakyan clan,
a person without peer:
  all-conquering,
  Māra’s subduer,
everywhere undefeated,
everywhere freed, independent;
      endowed with an Eye
  all-seeing, reaching the end of
  all kamma—
with the ending of acquisitions,
  released.

He, that Blessed One,
  is my teacher.
It’s in his Dhamma
  that I delight.”

Then Māra the Evil One—sad & dejected at realizing, “Sīsupacālā the nun knows me”—vanished right there.