Samyuktagama 2.219
Samyukta Āgama (2) 219
Bhikkhunī Saṃyutta Vīrā
Thus have I heard, once, the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī at the Jeta Grove in the Anāthapiṇḍika Park.
At that time there was a nun called Vīrā staying in the Rājakārāma Vihāra near Sāvatthī. In the morning she took her robes and her begging bowl and entered the town to beg for food. Having finished her meal, she cleaned her bowl, gathered her seat for meditation and went to the Andhavana forest to meditate. At that time King Māra thought: “The renunciant Gotama is staying at Sāvatthī at the Jeta Grove in the Anāthapiṇḍika Park. And there is the nun Vīrā who took her robes and her begging bowl and entered the town to beg for food. Having finished her meal, she cleaned her bowl, gathered her seat and has gone into the Andhavana forest. I shall disturb her!” Having thought this, he changed into a young man, and, standing by the wayside, addressed her with a verse:
“Who creates this shape, / who is its creator? From where did this shape appear, / whither will it go?”
At that time Vīrā thought: “Who is this, who wants to disturb me? What a deceiver! Is he a human or a non-human being?” She entered concentration and using her insight, recognized that it was King Māra. She answered him with a verse:
“Shapes are neither self-created / nor created by others. When various conditions meet, they come into being; / parted from these conditions they dissolve and vanish,
Just as planted seeds / grow in dependence on earth, so the aggregates ( khandhas), elements (dhātus) and spheres (āyatanas) / together form shapes. Dependent on suffering they grow; / dependent on suffering they dissolve and vanish.
I have cut off all craving, / the darkness of ignorance is destroyed. Having attained complete cessation, / I peacefully dwell in a state of purity. Therefore understand: / Bad One, you are defeated.”
At that time King Māra thought: “This nun knows my mind well!” Depressed, dispirited, and ashamed he returned to his palace.