The Farmer Kassaka Sutta (SN 4:19)

- suttas - - evening talks - short morning talks - lectures - guided meditations - talk collections - other themes - chants - - - - à¹à¸à¸¢ - Franā§ais - Espaā±ol - - Portuguāªs - РÑÑÑкий - - - УкÑаÑнÑÑка Submit Search - Home - Suttas - SN - SN 4:19 The Farmer ## Browse Suttas Go to Saṃyutta Nikṅya index SN index ## The Farmer Kassaka Sutta  (SN 4:19) Near Sṅvatthī. Now at that time the Blessed One was instructing, urging, rousing, & encouraging the monks with a Dhamma talk concerning unbinding. The monks—attentive, interested, lending ear, focusing their entire awareness—were listening to the Dhamma. Then the thought occurred to Mṅra, the Evil One: "Gotama the contemplative is instructing, urging, rousing, & encouraging the monks with a Dhamma talk concerning unbinding. The monks—attentive, interested, lending ear, focusing their entire awareness—are listening to the Dhamma. What if I were to go to Gotama the contemplative to obscure his vision?" Then Mṅra the Evil One, taking on the form of a farmer with a large plowshare over his shoulder, carrying a long goad stick—his hair disheveled, his clothes made of coarse hemp, his feet splattered with mud—went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, said, "Hey, contemplative. Have you seen my oxen?" "And what are your oxen, Evil One?" "Mine alone is the eye, contemplative. Mine are forms, mine is the dimension of consciousness & contact at the eye. Where can you go to escape me? Mine alone is the ear⦠the nose⦠the tongue⦠the body⦠Mine alone is the intellect, contemplative. Mine are ideas, mine is the dimension of consciousness & contact at the intellect. Where can you go to escape me?" "Yours alone is the eye, Evil One. Yours are forms, yours is the sphere of consciousness & contact at the eye. Where no eye exists, no forms exist, no dimension of consciousness & contact at the eye exists: There, Evil One, you cannot go. Yours alone is the ear⦠the nose⦠the tongue⦠the body⦠Yours alone is the intellect, Evil One. Yours are ideas, yours is the dimension of consciousness & contact at the intellect. Where no intellect exists, no ideas exist, no dimension of consciousness & contact at the intellect exists: There, Evil One, you cannot go." Mṅra: "Of what they say, ),

# Right single quote

('â', This is mineâ; and those who say, ),

# Right single quote

('â', Mineâ: If your intellectâs here, contemplative, you canât escape from me." The Buddha: "What they speak of isnât mine, and Iâm not one of those who speak it. Know this, Evil One: You wonât even see my tracks." Then Mṅra the Evil One—sad & dejected at realizing, "The Blessed One knows me; the One Well-Gone knows me"—vanished right there. See also: MN 49; SN 35:115; SN 35:117; SN 35:202; Dhp 92–93; Ud 1:10; Sn 5:15 - --> - - - -