Sister Vajirṅ Vajirṅ Sutta (SN 5:10)
- suttas - - evening talks - short morning talks - lectures - guided meditations - talk collections - other themes - chants - - - - à¹à¸à¸¢ - Franā§ais - Espaā±ol - - Portuguāªs - Ð ÑÑÑкий - - - УкÑаÑнÑÑка Submit Search - Home - Suttas - SN - SN 5:10 Sister Vajirṅ ## Browse Suttas Go to Saṃyutta Nikṅya index SN index ## Sister Vajirṅ Vajirṅ Sutta  (SN 5:10) This discourse dramatizes a problem that often arises in meditation practice—a speculative question arises that, if followed, pulls one out of concentration. Sister Vajirṅ shows how to deal with the situation: Recognize that the terms in which the question is expressed are just that—terms—and that whatever reality there is in the issue raised by the question can be reduced to phenomena observable in the immediate present. In ultimate terms, this comes down to the arising and passing away of stress, which should be observed and comprehended to the point where one can see through to that which neither arises nor passes away. * * * Near Sṅvatthī. Then, early in the morning, Vajirṅ the nun adjusted her robes and, taking her bowl & outer robe, went into Sṅvatthī for alms. When she had gone for alms in Sṅvatthī and had returned from her alms round, after her meal she went to the Grove of the Blind to spend the day. Having gone deep into the Grove of the Blind, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the dayâs abiding. Then Mṅra the Evil One, wanting to arouse fear, horripilation, & terror in her, wanting to make her fall away from concentration, approached her & addressed her in verse: "By whom         was this being created? Where      is the beingâs maker? Where      has the being originated? Where      does the being cease?" Then the thought occurred to Vajirṅ the nun: "Now who has recited this verse—a human being or a non-human one?" Then it occurred to her: "This is Mṅra the Evil One who has recited this verse wanting to arouse fear, horripilation, & terror in me, wanting to make me fall away from concentration." Then, having understood that "This is Mṅra the Evil One," she replied to him in verses: "What? Do you assume a ),
# Right single quote
('â', being,â Mṅra? Do you take a position? This is purely a pile of fabrications. Here no being can be pinned down. Just as when, with an assemblage of parts, thereâs the word, chariot, even so when aggregates are present, thereâs the convention of a being. For only stress         is what comes to be; stress,         what remains & falls away. Nothing but stress   comes to be. Nothing ceases   but stress." Then Mṅra the Evil One—sad & dejected at realizing, "Vajirṅ the nun knows me"—vanished right there. See also: MN 121; SN 12:15; SN 22:36; SN 23:2; SN 35:85; SN 35:205; SN 36:11; SN 38:14; Ud 1:10 - --> - - - -