Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 35.65

Samiddhi’s Question About Māra

Paṭhamasamiddhimārapañhasutta — Migajālavagga

Setting
Rājagaha, the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels' feeding ground — an explicit scene change from SN 35.63–64's own Sāvatthī
Speakers
Venerable Samiddhi questioning the Buddha
Form
A question about the meaning of “Māra,” answered by relocating the term onto the six sense fields, given both positively and negatively
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
A rough counterpart may exist in the Chinese Saṃyukta-āgama (T99), though this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — a short discourse, but opening a four-part sequence worth tracking

Why this discourse

This discourse marks this vagga's own first explicit relocation, moving the scene from Sāvatthī (SN 35.63–64) to Rājagaha's Bamboo Grove. Venerable Samiddhi asks how to define “Māra” — the Buddhist tradition's own recurring antagonist figure, “the Evil One” — and the Buddha's answer uses exactly the same reframing move this vagga has already used for “living alone” and “living with a partner” at SN 35.63: not a being existing apart from experience, but the six sense fields themselves, each paired with its object, its consciousness, and whatever is knowable through that consciousness. This is the first of four consecutive “how do we define X” questions from Samiddhi — Māra here, then a sentient being (SN 35.66), suffering (SN 35.67), and the world (SN 35.68) — establishing at full length here a template the next two discourses will each compress entirely to a bare cross-reference, before SN 35.68 restates it in full again.

Reading guide

A scene change to Rājagaha

The vagga's own first explicit relocation: from Sāvatthī's Jeta's Grove (SN 35.63–64) to Rājagaha's Bamboo Grove, the squirrels' feeding ground.

Māra, relocated onto the six senses

The same reframing move already met at SN 35.63: not a being separate from experience, but wherever the eye (and so for each remaining sense), its objects, its consciousness, and its knowables exist — there is Māra, or what is known as Māra.

The first of four questions

Samiddhi asks the identical style of question three more times across the discourses immediately ahead: a sentient being, suffering, and the world, each opening “Sir, they speak of this thing called…”

A shape this project has already met

Full, then compressed, then compressed, then full again — the same “bookend” shape this project already confirmed at SN 29.3–6 in Book III, now appearing across SN 35.65–68.

Key terms

Māra — the Evil One — this discourse's own target term, traditionally a tempter-deity figure
viññāṇa — consciousness — the third element in each fourfold set (field, object, consciousness, knowables)
yattha…tattha — “wherever…there” — the reframing's own grammatical hinge
pañha — question — Samiddhi's four questions are collectively named for this word
Veḷuvana — the Bamboo Grove — this discourse's own setting at Rājagaha, distinct from Sāvatthī's Jeta's Grove

The text

The complete discourse: Samiddhi's question, then the Buddha's answer given both positively and negatively. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. Then Venerable Samiddhi went up to the Buddha … and said to him: “Sir, they speak of this thing called ‘Māra’. How do we define Māra or what is known as Māra?”

§2“Samiddhi, where there is the eye, sights, eye consciousness, and things knowable by eye consciousness, there is Māra or what is known as Māra. Where there is the ear, sounds, ear consciousness, and things knowable by ear consciousness, there is Māra or what is known as Māra. Where there is the nose, smells, nose consciousness, and things knowable by nose consciousness, there is Māra or what is known as Māra. Where there is the tongue, tastes, tongue consciousness, and things knowable by tongue consciousness, there is Māra or what is known as Māra. Where there is the body, touches, body consciousness, and things knowable by body consciousness, there is Māra or what is known as Māra. Where there is the mind, ideas, mind consciousness, and things knowable by mind consciousness, there is Māra or what is known as Māra.

§3Where there is no eye, no sights, no eye consciousness, and no things knowable by eye consciousness, there is no Māra or what is known as Māra. Where there is no ear … no nose … no tongue … no body … Where there is no mind, no ideas, no mind consciousness, and no things knowable by mind consciousness, there is no Māra or what is known as Māra.”

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Self-check quiz

5 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.

Question 1 of 5
Where does this discourse relocate the vagga's own scene to, its first explicit change so far?
Correct: A. A shift from SN 35.63-64's own Sāvatthī setting.
Question 2 of 5
What does the Buddha's answer show “Māra” to be, rather than a being separate from experience?
Correct: A. The same reframing move already used for “living alone/with a partner” at SN 35.63.
Question 3 of 5
What four-part set is given for each of the six senses in defining where Māra is said to be?
Correct: A. A fourfold set repeated for eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
Question 4 of 5
What sequence does this discourse begin, continued by SN 35.66-68?
Correct: A. Māra, a sentient being, suffering, and the world, in turn.
Question 5 of 5
Which two of Samiddhi's four questions will be compressed entirely to a bare cross-reference?
Correct: A. A “full, compressed, compressed, full” bookend shape, matching SN 29.3-6.
Answered 0 of 5 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousSN 35.64 · With Migajāla (2nd)