Sakalika Sutta

The Stone Sliver

Note: See the introductory note to SN I.38.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rajagaha at the Maddakucchi Deer Reserve. Now at that time his foot had been pierced by a stone sliver. Excruciating were the bodily feelings that developed within him -- painful, fierce, sharp, wracking, repellent, disagreeable -- but he endured them mindful, alert, & unperturbed. Having had his outer robe folded in four and laid out, he lay down on his right side in the lion's posture -- with one foot placed on top of the other -- mindful & alert.

Then Mara the Evil One went to the Blessed One and recited this verse in his presence:

"Are you lying there in a stupor,
or drunk on poetry?
Are your goals so very few?
All alone in a secluded lodging,
what is this dreamer, this sleepy-face?"

The Buddha:

"I lie here,
    not in a stupor,
    nor drunk on poetry.
My goal attained,
    I am sorrow-free.
All alone in a secluded lodging,
I lie down with sympathy
    for all beings.
Even those pierced in the chest
with an arrow,
their hearts rapidly,
    rapidly
    beating:
even they with their arrows
are able to sleep.
    So why shouldn't I,
    with my arrow removed?

I'm not awake with worry,
nor afraid to sleep.
Days & nights
don't oppress me.
I see no threat of decline
in any world at all.
That's why I sleep
    with sympathy
    for all beings."

Then Mara the Evil One -- sad & dejected at realizing, "The Blessed One knows me; the One Well-Gone knows me" -- vanished right there.

See also: SN I.38; SN XXXVI.6; AN V.129.

Source: ATI - For Free Distribution Only, as a Gift of Dhamma.

Dhamma Essay:
Dukkha for Knowledge and Vision by Ayya Khema