SOMA AND MARA

from the SAMYUTTA NIKAYA

Once the nun Soma, having returned from her alms round and after her meal, entered the woods for a noonday rest. Plunging into the depths of the woods, she sat down under a tree.

Then the tempter Mara, desirous of arousing fear, wavering, and dread in Soma, and wishing to cause her to interrupt her concentrated meditation, went up to her and said, "The goal is hard to reach, hard even for sages; it cannot be won by a woman with whatever wisdom she may have."

Then Soma thought, "Who is this, a human or a nonhuman, who is saying this? Surely it is the evil Mara who wants to interrupt my concentrated meditation." Knowing that it was Mara, she said to him, "What does one's gender matter to one whose mind is well-composed, in whom insight is functioning, and who comprehends the Dharma?"

Then the evil Mara thought, "The nun Soma knows me." Being sad and sorrowful, he vanished there and then.