Reading guide
Genuine injury, not illusion or metaphor
Every earlier confrontation in this vagga involved Māra's manifestations or claims; here the provoking circumstance is entirely real — an actual wound, described with unusual clinical precision as ‘painful, sharp, severe, acute, unpleasant, and disagreeable’ — grounding this discourse in genuine physical suffering rather than a contest of images.
Mockery aimed at weakness, not doctrine or bondage
Māra's taunt targets something almost petty given the circumstances: not the Buddha's teaching or his claimed freedom, but the simple fact of lying down, questioning whether it signals feebleness, self-indulgent poetry, or unsatisfied ambition — kicking at someone already in pain.
Two kinds of dart, distinguished precisely
The verse's central image separates physical pain from existential suffering with unusual clarity: even those with an actual dart piercing their heart moment by moment can still find some sleep, so why not the Buddha, whose dart — craving, not the literal splinter — has already been drawn out entirely?
Sympathy as the stated reason for rest, not merely its result
The verse does not simply claim the Buddha rests despite pain; it names sympathy for all living creatures as the actual content of what fills his mind while lying down, turning what could read as private endurance into something outward-facing and compassionate.
No decline seen, days and nights undisturbing
The verse's closing claim — seeing ‘no decline for myself in the world’ — answers this vagga's earlier temptations around lifespan and impermanence (SN 4.9, SN 4.10) from a different angle: not denying that decline exists, but describing a state in which decline no longer registers as personal loss.
Key terms
The text
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha in the Maddakucchi deer park. Now at that time the Buddha’s foot had been cut by a wooden splinter. The Buddha was stricken by harrowing pains; physical feelings that were painful, sharp, severe, acute, unpleasant, and disagreeable. But he endured unbothered, with mindfulness and situational awareness. And then he spread out his outer robe folded in four and laid down in the lion’s posture—on the right side, placing one foot on top of the other—mindful and aware. Then Māra the Wicked went up to the Buddha and addressed him in verse:
§2“Are you feeble that you lie down? Or are you drunk on poetry? Are your goals not amply satisfied? Alone in a secluded lodging, why this sleeping, sleepyhead?”
§3“I’m not feeble that I lie down, nor am I drunk on poetry. Having reached the goal, I’m rid of sorrow. Alone in a secluded lodging, I lie down full of sympathy for all living creatures.
§4Even those with a dart stuck in the breast, piercing the heart moment by moment, are able to get some sleep. So why not I, whose dart is drawn out?
§5I don’t lie awake tense, nor do I fear to sleep. The days and nights don’t disturb me, as I see no decline for myself in the world. That’s why I lie down full of sympathy for all living creatures.”
§6Then Māra the Wicked, thinking, “The Buddha knows me! The Holy One knows me!” miserable and sad, vanished right there.
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