14. The Chapter about the Buddha, Buddhavagga

14.1 The Story about Māgandiya
Māgandiyavatthu

“He whose victory cannot be undone,” this Dhamma teaching, [30.31] originally given by the Teacher while upon the Throne of Awakening with reference to the daughters of Māra, was repeated in the kingdom of the Kurus to the Brahmin Māgandiya. {3.193}

1a The Buddha Spurns the Maiden Māgandiyā

It seems that a Brahmin named Māgandiya, dwelling in the kingdom of the Kurus, had a daughter named Māgandiyā, who possessed surpassing beauty. Many men of wealth and social position, both Brahmins and Nobles, desired her to wife and sent word to Māgandiya, saying: “Give us your daughter.” But he refused them all alike, saying: “You are not good enough for my daughter.”

Now one day, as the Teacher surveyed the world at early dawn, he perceived that Māgandiya had entered the net of his knowledge. Forthwith considering within himself: “What will happen now?” he perceived that both the Brahmin and his wife were ripe for the three paths and fruitions.

Now the Brahmin tended the fire regularly every day without the village; accordingly the Teacher took bowl and robe early in the morning and went to that very place. The Brahmin surveyed the majestic form of the Teacher and thought to himself: “There is no man in this world comparable to this man; {3.194} this man is suitable for my daughter; I will give my daughter to this man.” So he said to the Teacher: “Ascetic, I have a single daughter, and I have looked in vain to find a man suitable to be her [30.32] husband. I have not given her to any one. But you are suitable for her. I wish to give you my daughter to wife; wait right here until I fetch her.” The Teacher listened to his words, but expressed neither approval nor disapproval.

The Brahmin went home and said to his wife: “Wife, today I saw a man suited to be the husband of our daughter; let us give her to him.” So the Brahmin had his daughter arrayed in her beautiful garments, and taking daughter and wife with him, went to the place where he had talked with the Teacher. A great multitude also, agitated and excited, went forth with them. The Teacher, instead of remaining in the place mentioned by the Brahmin, moved away and stood in another place, leaving a footprint where he had stood before. It is said that when the Buddhas establish a footprint, saying: “Let So-and-so see this footprint,” the footprint appears only in a trodden place and not elsewhere; nowhere else can anyone see it.

The Brahmin’s wife, who accompanied him, asked him: “Where is this man?” The Brahmin replied: “I said to him: ‘Remain in this place.’” Looking all about, the Brahmin saw the footprint and pointed it out to his wife, saying: “This is his footprint.” Now the Brahmin’s wife was familiar with the verses relating to signs and immediately said to the Brahmin: “Brahmin, this is no footprint of one who follows the five lusts.” The Brahmin replied: “Wife, you are always seeing a crocodile in a drop of water. When I said to that ascetic: ‘I will give you my daughter,’ he accepted my proposal.” The Brahmin’s wife replied: “Brahmin, you may say what you like, but this is the footprint only of one who is free from lust.” So saying, she pronounced the following verse: {3.195}

The foot of a lustful man will be on tip-toes,
of a hateful man it is severly pressed down,
the foot of the deluded man is dragged along,
this is the foot of one who has rolled back the veil.

Then said the Brahmin to his wife: “Wife, do not rattle on thus; come with me in silence.” Advancing a little way, he saw the Teacher, whereupon he pointed him out to his wife and said: “There is the man!” And approaching him, he said to him: “Ascetic, I will give you my daughter to wife.” The Teacher, instead of saying: “I have no need of your daughter,” said: “Brahmin, I have something to say to you; listen to me.” The Brahmin replied: “Say it, ascetic; I will listen.” Thereupon the Teacher related to the Brahmin the [30.33] story of his earlier life, beginning with the Great Renunciation. The following is a synopsis of the story:

1b The Buddha Spurns the Daughters of Māra

The Great Being, having renounced the glory of dominion, mounted Kanthaka, and with Channa for companion, proceeded forth on the Great Renunciation. As he approached the gate of the city, Māra, who stood near, said to him: “Siddhattha, return upon your way; seven days hence the wheel of a Universal Monarch will be manifested to you.” The Great Being replied: “I too know that, Māra, but I do not desire it.” – “Then for what purpose are you going forth on the Great Renunciation?” – “That I may acquire omniscience.” – “Well then, if from this day forth you think a lustful thought and so on, I shall know what to do in your case.”

And from that time on, Māra pursued the Great Being for seven years, awaiting his opportunity. For six years the Teacher practiced austerities, and when, through his individual effort, he had attained omniscience at the foot of the Bodhi tree, he sat down at the foot of the Goatherd’s Banyan tree, experiencing the bliss of emancipation. At that time Māra sat down by the highway, overwhelmed with sorrow at the thought: “All this time I have pursued him, seeking my opportunity, {3.196} but have found no flaw in him; now he has escaped from my power.”

Now his three daughters, Taṇhā, Aratī and Ragā said to themselves: “Our father is nowhere to be seen; where can he be now?” Looking all about, they saw him sitting there, whereupon they approached him and asked him: “Dear father, why are you so downcast and depressed?” He told them what was the matter. Then they said to him: “Dear father, be not disturbed; we will bring him under our control and fetch him here.” – “Dear daughters, it is not possible for anyone to bring this man under control.” – “Dear father, we are women; we will bind him fast with the fetters of lust; so will we fetch him here. As for you, be not disturbed.” And approaching the Teacher, they said to him: “Ascetic, we would be your humble slaves.” The Teacher paid no attention to their words, nor did he so much as open his eyes and look at them.

The daughters of Māra said again: “Many and various are the tastes of men. Some like maidens, others like women in the prime of life, others like women who have reached middle life, while still [30.34] others like women who have passed middle life. We will tempt him in various forms.” So one after another, they assumed the forms of women of various ages, creating by supernatural power each a hundred female forms. And in the guise of maidens, women who had not yet given birth to a child, women who had given birth to one child, women who had given birth to two children, women who had reached middle life, and women who had reached old age, they approached the Fortunate One six times and said to him: “Bhikkhu, we would be your humble slaves.”

But neither did the Fortunate One pay any attention to that, but remained free, even as though the elements had been utterly destroyed. {3.197} But when, after that, they did not retire, the Teacher said to them: “Depart; what do you see, that you strive thus? Such actions as these should be performed before those who have not rid themselves of the lusts and other pollutants. The Realised One, however, has rid himself of the lusts. Why will you try to bring me into your control?” So saying, he pronounced the following verses:

179. Yassa jitaṁ nāvajīyati, -
jitaṁ assa no yāti koci loke,
tam-Buddham-anantagocaraṁ,
apadaṁ kena padena nessatha?

He whose victory cannot be undone,
whose victory no one here approaches,
the Buddha, whose range is surely endless,
by what path can you lead the pathless one?

180. Yassa jālinī visattikā,
taṇhā natthi kuhiñci netave,
tam-Buddham-anantagocaraṁ,
apadaṁ kena padena nessatha?

For him there is no desire, attachment,
or craving that will lead him anywhere,
the Buddha, whose range is surely endless,
by what path can you lead the pathless one? {3.198}

At the end of the teaching many divinities had comprehension of the Dhamma, and the daughters of Māra then and there disappeared.

When the Teacher had completed his Dhamma teaching, he said: “Māgandiya, when long ago I beheld these three daughters of Māra, possessed of bodies comparable to masses of gold, free from phlegm and the other bodily impurities, even then I had no desire for the pleasures of love. But as for your daughter’s body, it is a corpse filled with the thirty-two aggregates, an impure vessel, as it were, painted without. Were my foot smeared with filth, and were she to lie on my threshold, I would not touch her even with the sole of my foot.” And when he had thus spoken, he pronounced the following verse: AJ: Snp 4.1, vs. 835. [30.35]

Having seen Taṇhā and Aratī and Ragā,
I had no desire for sexual intercourse.
What is this, so full of urine and exrement?
I do not want to touch it even with my foot!