At Sāvatthī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery
Speakers
The Buddha and Māra the Wicked
Form
A four-line claim about attachment's value, answered by a verse with every noun and claim inverted
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
★★☆☆☆ — brief, its force entirely in the precision of its inversion
Why this discourse
This discourse moves the confrontation to Sāvatthī, well beyond the early post-awakening period, with Māra abandoning spectacle and taunts for a positive claim about ordinary domestic life: children bring delight, cattle bring delight, attachments are what make a man happy, and without them there is no delight at all. The Buddha's reply is a study in precision — every single term in Māra's verse is kept, but the verdict on each is reversed.
Reading guide
A positive claim, not an accusation or a threat
Unlike most of this vagga's confrontations, Māra here makes no claim about the Buddha's own bondage or impurity; he simply states what he takes to be an obvious truth about ordinary human happiness — that attachment to family and possessions is what delight consists of.
A move away from the early post-awakening setting
This discourse's Sāvatthī setting marks a departure from the Uruvelā and Isipatana locations of this vagga's opening discourses, suggesting Māra's challenges continued throughout the Buddha's teaching life rather than clustering only around its earliest days.
A reply built by exact substitution
The Buddha's verse does not argue against Māra's claim in the abstract; it takes Māra's own four lines and systematically replaces ‘delight’ with ‘sorrow’ at every occurrence, keeping children, cattle, and attachment as the exact same subjects while inverting the verdict on each.
Neither children nor cattle rejected outright
The verse's structure implies something more precise than a blanket condemnation of family or livelihood: it is specifically attachment to children and cattle, not their existence, that the verse names as the source of sorrow — consistent with this collection's broader treatment of attachment rather than the objects themselves as the actual problem.
A structural cousin to this vagga's earlier substitutions
This precise, line-by-line inversion technique echoes the single-line substitutions already seen across the Devaputtasaṃyutta, here applied not to change one line within an otherwise shared verse but to invert an entire verse's verdict while keeping its exact vocabulary.
Key terms
nandati — “delighting” — the claim Māra opens with, giving this discourse its title and the term the Buddha's reply systematically inverts.
puttā — “children” — the first named source of supposed delight, kept unchanged in the Buddha's reply while its verdict flips.
pasavo — “cattle” — the second named source, similarly kept and inverted.
upadhī — “attachments” — the general category Māra names as the source of a man's delight, and the Buddha names as the source of his sorrow.
socati — “brings sorrow” — the term substituted for ‘delight’ at every occurrence in the Buddha's reply.
The text
The discourse in full: Māra's claim and the Buddha's point-for-point inversion. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Then Māra the Wicked went up to the Buddha and spoke this verse in the Buddha’s presence:
§2“Children bring you delight! Cattle also bring you delight! For attachments are a man’s delight; without attachments there’s no delight.”
§3“Your children bring you sorrow. Your cattle also bring you sorrow. For attachments are a man’s sorrow; without attachments there are no sorrows.”
§4Then Māra the Wicked, thinking, “The Buddha knows me! The Holy One knows me!” miserable and sad, vanished right there.
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Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
What kind of claim does Māra make in this discourse, unlike most others in this vagga?
Correct: A. Stating what Māra takes to be an obvious truth about attachment and delight.
Question 2 of 10
What does Māra claim brings delight?
Correct: A. The specific claims the Buddha's reply will systematically invert.
Question 3 of 10
How does the Buddha's reply relate structurally to Māra's verse?
Correct: A. A reply built by exact, line-by-line substitution rather than a new argument.
Question 4 of 10
Does the Buddha's reply reject the existence of children and cattle themselves?
Correct: A. Consistent with this collection's broader treatment of attachment, not objects, as the actual problem.
Question 5 of 10
How does this discourse's setting differ from SN 4.1 through SN 4.7?
Correct: A. Suggesting Māra's challenges continued throughout the Buddha's teaching life.
Question 6 of 10
What technique does the reading guide compare this discourse's inversion to?
Correct: A. Here applied to an entire verse's verdict rather than a single line within a shared verse.
Question 7 of 10
What word does the Buddha substitute for “delight” throughout his reply?
Correct: A. Systematically replacing Māra's key term at every occurrence.
Question 8 of 10
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. A new location for this vagga, distinct from its earlier settings.
Question 9 of 10
How does Māra react at the end of this discourse?
Correct: A. The stock reaction established across this vagga's discourses.
Question 10 of 10
What does this discourse's precision suggest about how the Buddha engages Māra's claims?
Correct: A. The exact substitution technique demonstrates careful, targeted rather than general rebuttal.
