Reading guide
A private hypothetical, not a settled ambition
The Buddha's wondering is framed explicitly as a question — ‘I wonder if it's possible’ — not a decision or a desire, a nuance Māra's eager response does not respect, treating a tentative reflection as an opening to be exploited rather than a question still under consideration.
Temptation toward power, not away from the teaching
Unlike every other confrontation in this vagga, Māra here is not trying to stop a teaching, mock a posture, or claim territory; he is actively encouraging the Buddha toward an alternative path entirely — worldly rule — a temptation of ambition rather than an attack on an existing position.
A reason given, unusually, for the temptation
Where this vagga's other discourses simply present Māra's challenge, here he explains why he thinks kingship is achievable: the Buddha's own developed psychic powers, which Māra claims could transform the Himalaya, king of mountains, into solid gold at a mere act of will.
Not a debate about method, but about sufficiency
The Buddha's answering verse does not dispute whether righteous, non-violent rule is achievable, or whether he could indeed produce a golden mountain; it bypasses that question entirely to make a different claim: even a golden mountain doubled would still not be enough for a single person's desire.
A closing discourse naming the entire vagga
This discourse's title, Rajja (‘ruling’), gives the ‘2. Rule’ vagga its name, following the same closing-discourse naming pattern already observed across the Devaputtasaṃyutta, Kosalasaṃyutta, and this saṃyutta's own first vagga.
Key terms
The text
§1At one time the Buddha was staying in the land of the Kosalans, in a wilderness hut on the slopes of the Himalayas. Then as he was in private retreat this thought came to his mind, “I wonder if it’s possible to rule legitimately, without killing or having someone kill for you; without conquering or having someone conquer for you; without sorrowing or causing sorrow?”
§2And then Māra the Wicked, knowing the Buddha’s train of thought, went up to him and said, “Rule, Blessed One! Rule, Holy One! Rule legitimately, without killing or having someone kill for you; without conquering or having someone conquer for you; without sorrowing or causing sorrow!” “But what do you see, Wicked One, that you say this to me?” “The Blessed One, sir, has developed and cultivated the four bases for psychic power, made them a vehicle and a basis, kept them up, consolidated them, and properly implemented them. If he wished, the Blessed One need only determine that the Himalaya, king of mountains, was gold, and it would turn into gold.”
§3“Take a golden mountain, entirely of native gold, and double it—it’s still not enough for one! Knowing this, live a moral life.
§4When a personage has seen where suffering comes from how could they incline towards sensual pleasures? Realizing that attachment is a chain in the world, a personage would train to remove it.”
§5Then Māra the Wicked, thinking, “The Buddha knows me! The Holy One knows me!” miserable and sad, vanished right there.
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