From Discourses of the Ancient Nuns (BL 143), translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1997). Copyright ©1997 Buddhist Publication Society. Used with permission.

Then Mara the Evil One approached the bhikkhuni Cala and said to her: "What don't you approve of, bhikkhuni?"

"I don't approve of birth, friend."

"Why don't you approve of birth?
Once born, one enjoys sensual pleasures.
Who now has persuaded you of this:
'Bhikkhuni, don't approve of birth'?"

"For one who is born there is death;
Once born, one encounters sufferings --
Bondage, murder, affliction --
Hence one shouldn't approve of birth.

The Buddha has taught the Dhamma,
The transcendence of birth;
For the abandoning of all suffering
He has settled me in the truth. [133]

As to those beings who fare amidst form,
And those who abide in the formless --
Not having understood cessation,
They come again to re-becoming."

Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Cala knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.