Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra
by Gelongma Karma Migme Chödrön | 2001 | 941,039 words
This page describes “second attack of mara’s daughters” as written by Nagarjuna in his Maha-prajnaparamita-sastra (lit. “the treatise on the great virtue of wisdom”) in the 2nd century. This book, written in five volumes, represents an encyclopedia on Buddhism as well as a commentary on the Pancavimsatisahasrika Prajnaparamita.
The second attack of Māra’s daughters
When the Buddha was seated in meditation under the nyagrodha tree, the three daughters of Māra questioned him with these stanzas:
[181a] Alone, sitting under a tree
The six organs ever in repose.
Would you have lost a treasure?
Do you not feel the poison of grief and sorrow?
Your face is unequalled in the world
You remain alone, seated, your eyes closed.
Our minds are uncertain:
What are you looking for in this place?
Then the Bhagavat answered with these stanzas:
I gave found the taste of nirvāṇa,
I do not like to dwell among the emotions,
I have chased away the internal and external enemies.,
Your father also I have put to flight.
I have found the taste of the Deathless (amṛtarasa),
I am seated in this forest in peace.
Beings are prey to attachments,
I feel compassion for them.
Then the girls felt ashamed and said to themselves: “This man has abandoned pleasures (vītarāga); he is unshakeable.” At once they disappeared and were not seen again.
Note on this story:
[also see The first attack by the daughters of Māra]
See referencs above, p. 880F, n. 1.