“Things of which they say: ’This is mine!’ And those folk who say: ’This is mine!’ If you mind those things and them You will not, O recluse, escape from me.” [The Exalted One] “That of which they speak, that’s not for me The folk who speak so, one of them I am not. Thus should you know, O evil one, You will not see even the way I go.” Then Māra, the evil one, thought: The Exalted One knows me! The Blessed One knows me!” And sad and sorrowful he vanished there and then.
12. Sela (S 5:9) At Sāvatthī… Sister Selā, dressed herself in the forenoon and taking bowl and robe, entered Sāvatthī for alms. And when she had gone about Sāvatthī for it, and had returned after the meal, she seated herself at the foot of a certain tree for noon-day rest. The Māra, the evil one, desirous of arousing fear, trepidation and horripilation in her, desirous of making her lose her concentration, went up to her and addressed her in verse: “By whom was this image31 wrought? And where can its maker be? Where has this image arisen? And where does it come to cease?” Now, it occurred to Sister Selā: “Who now is this, human or non-human, that utters this verse?” And then it occurred to her: “Surely it is Māra, the evil one, who utters this verse, desirous of arousing in me fear, trepidation and horripilation, desirous of making me lose my concentration.” Then the Sister Selā, knowing it was Māra, the evil one, answered him with verses: “Neither self-wrought is this image Nor yet other-wrought is this misery32 By reason of a cause,33 it came to be By breaking up the cause, it ceases to be. “Even as in the case of a certain seed, Which, when sown on the field, doth feed On the taste of the earth and moisture And by these twain doth grow,34 even so All these, the aggregates, the elements and the six-spheres By reason of a cause have come to be; By breaking up the cause they cease to be.” Then Māra, the evil one, thought: “Sister Selā knows me,” and sad and sorrowful, he vanished there and then.
13. Sūciloma (S 10:3) The Exalted One was once dwelling near Gayā, on the Stone Couch, at the haunt of the Yakkha35 Sūciloma. Now, at that time Khara (’Shaggy’), the yakkha and Sūciloma (’Needle-hair’), the yakkha, were passing by, not far from the Exalted One. And Khara said to Sūciloma: “That’s a recluse.” 9