Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrel Sanctuary. Now on that occasion the Blessed One was sitting out in the open in the thick darkness of the night while it was drizzling. Then Mara the Evil One … manifested himself in the form of a giant king serpent and approached the Blessed One. Its body was like a huge boat made from a single tree trunk; its hood, like a large brewer’s sieve; its eyes, like the large bronze dishes of Kosala; its tongue darting out from its mouth, like flashes of lightning emitted when the sky thunders; the sound of its breathing in and out, like the sound of a smith’s bellows filling with air.
Then the Blessed One, having understood, “This is Mara the Evil One,” addressed Mara the Evil One in verses:
“He who resorts to empty huts for lodging—
He is the sage, self-controlled.
He should live there, having relinquished all:
That is proper for one like him.“Though many creatures crawl about,
Many terrors, flies, serpents, sn.i.107
The great sage gone to his empty hut
Stirs not a hair because of them.“Though the sky might split, the earth quake,
And all creatures be stricken with terror,
Though men brandish a dart at their breast,
The enlightened take no shelter in acquisitions.”
Then Mara the Evil One … disappeared right there.