9. Sela Sutta Discourse Concerning Bhikkhuni Sela Bhikkhuni Samyutta Sagatha Vagga Samyutta, Samyutta Nikaya, Suttanta Pitaka SOURCE: "FIVE SAMYUTTAS FROM SAGATHAVAGGA SAMYUTTA" Translated by U Tin U (Myaung), Yangon Edited by the Editorial Committee, Burma (Myanmar) Tipitaka Association, 1998

9. Sela Sutta Discourse Concerning Bhikkhuni Sela

The Bhagava was staying at Savatthi. . During that time Sela the bhikkhuni, on a certain morning, having re-arranged the robes on her person . . .p. . . sat at the foot of a tree to spend the day (in meditation). Then, Mara the Wicked One, desiring to make Sela the bhikkhuni feel hair-raising dread and terror ...p... and spoke to Sela the bhikkhuni in verse:

"By whom is this body created? . Who is the creator of this body? Why does the body arise? And why does the body dissolve?" Thereupon Sela the bhikkhuni thought: "Who might be this that speaks to me in vense?, Is he human or non-human? And then it occurred to her: This is Mara the Wicked One desiring to make me feel hair-raising dread and terror and desiring to make me lose concentration.' Then, Sela the bhikkhuni, knowing that it was Mara the Wicked One, replied to Mara the Wicked One in these verses:

"This body is not one's own creation, nor is this body* the creation of any other. It arises from a cause, and ceases with the disappearance of the cause thereof. "Just as a seed sown in a field grows dependent on both the soil's fertility and moisture, so also these physical and mental aggregates, elements, and six sense-bases arise from a cause, and cease with the disappearance of the cause thereof."

*. body: Agha in the Pali Text. The commentary says agha means the base of dukkha, pain or grief of misery, which is to.be taken as meaning attabhava, the complex of khandha aggregates.

Mara the Wicked One then realised: "Sela the bhikkhuni knows me," and, feeling frustrated and miserable, he vanished thence.

End of the Sela Sutta,

the ninth in this vagga.

(v) Bhikkhuni Samyutta,

Link to Alphabetical List of Suttas