English
Virūpakkha also stood, guarding the western direction, Red in body and adornment, preceded by his own army. 168. Kūvera, with his army, providing protection to the northern direction, Golden in body and adornment, stood there, the lord of men. 169. Why this long talk about the deities In the birth-field? They did not come, nor did they carry, All were gathered here; 170. The banner descended from the sky, On the earth with its feet, The Nāgas and others were not shaken, What to say of the banner's multitude? 171. Not shaken by the banner's feet, By the wind's impetuous force, The stars in the sky, we say, What banner-like things are there? 172. The eastern Cakkavāḷa, The banner fixed to the rock, Its feet, the other parts, Touched the Cakkavāḷa rock; 173. The Cakkavāḷa, great Meru, Yugandhara mountains and others, Were like flower garlands, Adorned with various colors; 174. Beautiful with a multitude of drops, Of left-over nectar, The sky was like a canopy, Filled with blooming lotuses; 175. Scattered fragrant powders there, By gods, Brahmās, and others, Seemed like a canopy, In the Cakkavāḷa's summit pavilion; 176. With camphor, agalloch, and incense, Rising up here and there, It was as if covered by a dark cloud, What more shall we say, I wonder? 177. By the flowers and other offerings, Made by the deities in the birth-fields, The earth was not burdened, Such was the strength of the elephants of the directions! 178. Flower garlands hanging from the sky, To the earth, Seemed like ropes tied by the deities, For pulling down; 179. Holding each other's hands, In the sky, celestial maidens, Wandering around, singing, Delightfully here and there; 180. Extending both arms, Adorned celestial maidens, Spinning like spinning tops, In the sky, in pairs, here and there; 181. Taking blue lotus clusters and others, Celestial maidens, Stood surrounding, Honoring the lord of men; 182. In golden lotus, water lily, And lotus clusters, Filled with fragrant water, And various kinds of flowers; 183. Taking golden water pots, Celestial maidens in the sky, Placing the Sugata in the middle, Honored him from all sides; 184. Some with golden mirrors in hand, Some maidens stood there, Some deities stood there, Holding palm-leaf fans; 185. Some with auspicious, Words of prayer, Proclaiming "May your wishes be fulfilled," Stood surrounding the Jina; 186. Sirivaccha and others, Here is that most excellent auspiciousness, The goddesses stood in the sky, surrounding the lord of sages; 187. Some dance, some play, some frolic and some flirt, Some play instruments, some sing, and some wave cloths; 188. Some throw various flowers, and some throw lamps, Rows of lamps made of jewels and gold were also there; 189. Reaching from the Brahma-world to the edge of the universe, They stood blazing brightly at the Buddha's auspicious festival; 190. Rows of various arches made of the seven jewels, And also made of golden plantain trees, and also of cloth; 191. With various kinds of countless umbrellas, The interior of the universe was like a lake filled with lotuses; 192. Here and there, many bright mechanical lamps on the earth, Resembled the surface of the sky, speckled with a network of stars; 193. Flags and umbrellas were stretched over the mountains of the universe, And there were rows of pot-lamps and arches without interruption; 194. With the sounds of various instruments and various songs, And with many shouts of approval, the universe was filled; 195. Oh, how great was that auspicious festival of the Buddha, Who could describe that special offering with a single mouth? 196. Even the four-faced Brahma, the thousand-eyed Indra, the two-thousand-eyed serpent king, And the ten-necked Rāvaṇa, could not describe it all; 197. Thus, by gods, demons, Brahmas, eagles, serpents, and others, A great festival was continuously held, crowded with celebrations; 198. On that day, Māra, seeing this world, Summoning his followers, spoke thus with curiosity; 199. All the divine mansions appear empty and abandoned, Having abandoned the city's defenses, where have the gods gone? 200. Oh Māra, do you not know? Are you asleep today? This is Siddhattha, son of Suddhodana and Māyā; 201. Having fulfilled all the perfections and made the Great Renunciation, He is seated at the foot of the Bodhi tree, thinking, "Today I will become a Buddha"; 202. For the sake of offering homage to him, deities from ten thousand worlds, Have gathered, joyful and delighted, and are holding a great festival today; 203. What, are you deaf? Is the hearing impaired, or the eye? The banners are not seen, nor the shouts heard. 204. Hearing their words, Antaka, the evil one, Sorrowful and sad, lamented thus: 205. Alas, great is the decline of existence, Essenceless indeed is existence, Siddhattha having attained glory. 206. Alas, utterly destroyed is the threefold fullness, Like a forest burnt by fire, unmarked. 207. Without light is the triple world, like a day without the sun, The kingdom, the Vedas, the triple world, are like stolen jewels. 208. Leaving my domain, goes Siddhattha the youth, By that path he has taken, many people are departing. 209. He will not make you exist, as long as the son of Suddhodana lives, Come, let us go and make Siddhattha unsuccessful. 210. Create a terrible appearance, repulsive, unsightly, and harsh, With a sound, scatter him like cotton blown by the wind. 211. Hearing his words, the army of Māra assembled, Taking on various forms, armed with various weapons. 212. Then Māra, a hundred and fifty yojanas high, Ascending Girimekhala, came swiftly with his army. 213. Seeing Māra coming from afar with his forces, The gods, struck with fear, quickly fled in all directions. 214. Brahmā quickly folded his parasol and fled, facing away, Sakka, placing the conch on his back, fled in dismay. 215. Mahākāla, the Nāga king, then plunged into the earth, Frightened, with trembling hands, he fell upon his bed. 216. Abandoning all the rituals of worship, along with the gods, They departed, and the universe was empty then. 217. That place was desolate, unlovely, and disordered, Strewn with various fallen offerings. 218. Alone there sat the Sugata on the diamond throne, Blazing with his own glory, like the sun on Yugandhara. 219. Unshaken and fearless, devoid of hair-raising, Fearless, like a lion king in the path of deer. 220. Then, at the sage's Dhamma abode, ill omens arose, Darkness filled the directions, and a comet in the sky. 221. The day was gloomy, the sun with diminished rays, A shower of meteors was seen, and fire consumed the directions. 222. In the cloudless sky appeared rainbows without brilliance, And fiery lightning bolts fell here and there. 223. Crow flocks rained down, wool and bird nests, And headless torsos, terrifying, roamed the sky. 224. Then Māra, having prepared his army, rushed forth, Coming to the edge of the world, he stood gazing at the Buddha. 225. "It is not fitting for me to approach a solitary man, An elephant does not go to an elephant, nor a jackal to an elephant." 226. Thinking, "This is not the time to retreat," Enraged, he quickly created a wind like the end of an aeon. 227. Quickly hurling it into the sky, uprooting trees, Making the forest desolate, destroying everything. 228. Shaking tāla trees and sāla trees, plucking them up and hurling them into the sky, Casting down horses, lions, elephants, and the like at the edge of the world. 229. Striking, overturning, and lifting up mountain peaks, Whirling them in the middle of the sky, rushing here and there. 230. Causing a great roar by clashing rocks against rocks, Casting down fire, and sending smoke into the sky. 231. Seizing roofs and bricks, whirling them in the sky, Overturning palaces and striking mountains and the like. 232. Digging up the earth, taking dust into the sky, As if binding another earth, shattering lofty mountains. 233. Approaching the Great Sage with a terrifying sound, He was not able to move even a hair's breadth of his robe. 234. Then was the victory of the glorious Buddha, In the first battle with Māra, Māra suffered defeat. 235. "Thus, he is of great power," thinking of the Guide of Men, Always venerate and honor him, for he is ever your refuge. Thus, the first victory. 236. Seeing the steadfast one unharmed by the wind, Namuci was sorrowful and dejected. With a mind distressed; 237. Now then, with a great flood I will sweep away this ascetic, Having created a great cloud, it is enough for my sorrow; 238. Thus thinking, that Māra created a great cloud, All directions were covered, darkness spread; 239. Layer upon layer, becoming thousands and hundreds, Torrents of water, great streams, flowed all around; 240. The sky was as if bound with thousands of lightning flashes, In this place and that, rainbows appeared in the directions; 241. The expanse of the sky was as if sewn with great silver ropes, With the continuous flow of torrents from the mountains; 242. In this place and that, terrible thunderbolts fell, Great, frightening sounds of the sky were in this place and that; 243. Lifting up great rocks, and a great flood born from them, Heaping up piles of dirt in the shape of Mount Kelāsa's peak; 244. Raising up great bubbles the size of great stupas, Deep, wide, fierce, approaching the Jina; 245. Not even able to wet a hair on his body, The great flood went to the Buddha, such was the greatness of his power; 246. Then was the victory of that glorious Buddha, In the second battle with Māra, Māra suffered defeat; 247. Thus, "He is of great power," thinking, O charioteer of men, Always venerate and honor him, for he is always your refuge; The second victory. 248. Then Māra, unable to cause harm with a rain of water,