Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 5.8

With Sīsupacālā

Sīsupacālāsutta

Setting
At Sāvatthī, at the root of a tree, for the day's meditation
Speakers
The nun Sīsupacālā and Māra the Wicked
Form
A challenge about religious affiliation, an apparent contradiction raised, and its resolution naming one clear exception
Length
~1.5 minutes 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
★★★☆☆ — closes the trio traditionally identified as sisters begun at SN 5.6

Why this discourse

Māra's question here targets something different from fear, grief, or desire: religious identity itself — whose creed do you approve of? Sīsupacālā's answer, that she approves no one's, seems to invite an obvious challenge: why shave your head and dress like an ascetic if you follow no teaching at all? Her verse resolves the apparent contradiction by distinguishing sectarian creeds in general, which she finds unconvincing, from the Buddha's own teaching specifically, which she names as the sole exception — calling him, among other titles, the ‘dispeller of Māra’.

Reading guide

A challenge to identity, not to capability or safety

This discourse's confrontation targets a different register entirely from this saṃyutta's other tactics: not fear, grief, seduction, or doubted capability, but a question of religious allegiance — whose authority does she actually follow?

An apparent contradiction Māra presses directly

Māra's follow-up doesn't simply accept Sīsupacālā's answer; he presses what looks like an inconsistency — if she approves no creed, why does she look like an ascetic at all, wandering ‘as if lost’? — a pointed challenge assuming her stated position cannot coherently explain her own visible commitment.

A distinction, not a retraction

Sīsupacālā's reply doesn't walk back her original claim; it sharpens it, explaining that ‘followers of other creeds’ are confident in views she finds unconvincing because they are ‘no experts in the Dhamma’ — her rejection was never blanket in the sense Māra's challenge assumed.

One teacher named, with a title tied to this saṃyutta's own theme

Among several titles she gives the Buddha — unrivaled, champion, everywhere undefeated, everywhere freed — one stands out for this particular saṃyutta: ‘dispeller of Māra’ (māranudo), an epithet naming exactly the confrontation this entire collection has been staging, spoken here by one of the very women carrying it out herself.

A trio's close, if the traditional sibling reading holds

If SN 5.6, SN 5.7, and this discourse are indeed read as a connected set of sisters, as tradition holds outside the sutta text itself, this closing discourse completes a progression: general rejection of rebirth (Cālā), refusal of every offered alternative (Upacālā), and finally a positive statement of exactly where her actual commitment lies (Sīsupacālā).

Key terms

Sīsupacālā — “Sīsupacālā” — the nun this discourse follows, traditionally identified alongside Cālā and Upacālā as sisters, though the discourses themselves do not state this directly.
pāsaṇḍa — “creed” — the term both Māra's question and Sīsupacālā's answer turn on, naming sectarian doctrine specifically.
dhammassa akovidā — “no experts in the Dhamma” — Sīsupacālā's specific criticism of other creeds' followers, explaining rather than retracting her rejection.
māranudo — “dispeller of Māra” — one of the titles Sīsupacālā gives the Buddha, naming exactly the confrontation this saṃyutta stages throughout.
sakyakule jāto — “born in the Sakyan clan” — how Sīsupacālā identifies the one teacher whose instruction she does approve.

The text

The discourse in full: Māra's challenge to her religious identity and Sīsupacālā's resolving verse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1At Sāvatthī. Then the nun Sīsupacālā robed up in the morning … and sat at the root of a tree for the day’s meditation. Then Māra the Wicked went up to Sīsupacālā and said to her, “Nun, whose creed do you approve of?” “I don’t approve anyone’s creed, sir.”

§2“In whose name did you shave your head? You look like an ascetic, but you don’t approve any creed. Why do you wander as if lost?”

§3“Followers of other creeds are confident in their views. But I don’t approve their teaching, for they’re no experts in the Dhamma.

§4But there is one born in the Sakyan clan, the unrivaled Buddha, champion, dispeller of Māra, everywhere undefeated, everywhere freed, and unattached, the Clear-eyed One sees all. He has attained the end of all deeds, freed with the ending of attachments. That Blessed One is my Teacher, and I approve his instruction.”

§5Then Māra the Wicked, thinking, “The nun Sīsupacālā knows me!” miserable and sad, vanished right there.

· · ·

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 does Māra's question in this discourse target, unlike his other tactics in this saṃyutta?
Correct: A. A question of authority and affiliation, distinct from this saṃyutta's more common tactics.
Question 2 of 10
How does Sīsupacālā initially answer Māra's question?
Correct: A. A blunt initial answer that Māra immediately presses further.
Question 3 of 10
What apparent contradiction does Māra raise?
Correct: A. Assuming her stated position cannot coherently explain her visible commitment.
Question 4 of 10
How does Sīsupacālā resolve this apparent contradiction?
Correct: A. Sharpening her original claim rather than retracting it.
Question 5 of 10
What criticism does she give of other creeds' followers?
Correct: A. A specific criticism explaining the basis of her general rejection.
Question 6 of 10
What title does she give the Buddha that connects directly to this saṃyutta's overall theme?
Correct: A. Naming exactly the confrontation this entire collection has been staging, spoken by one of the women carrying it out.
Question 7 of 10
How does the reading guide describe the traditional progression across SN 5.6, 5.7, and this discourse?
Correct: A. If the traditional sibling reading holds, a coherent progression across the three discourses.
Question 8 of 10
How is the relationship between these three nuns described by the sutta texts themselves?
Correct: A. A distinction the reading guide maintains between sutta content and later tradition.
Question 9 of 10
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. The same general setting shared with several other discourses in this saṃyutta.
Question 10 of 10
How does Māra's closing thought in this discourse read?
Correct: A. Following this saṃyutta's pattern of crediting the specific nun by name.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousSN 5.7 · With Upacālā