[Note: These verses recount a conversation Arahant Khemā had with Māra.]
“You’re so young and beautiful!
I too am young, just a youth.
Come, Khemā, let us enjoy
the music of a five-piece band.”
“This body is rotting,
ailing and frail,
I’m horrified and repelled by it,
and I’ve eradicated sensual craving.
Sensual pleasures are like swords and spears;
the aggregates are their chopping block.
What you call erotic delight
is now no delight for me.
Relishing is destroyed in every respect,
and the mass of darkness is shattered.
So know this, Wicked One:
you’re beaten, terminator!”
“Worshiping the stars,
serving the sacred flame in a grove;
failing to grasp the true nature of things,
foolish me, I thought this was purity.
But now I worship the Awakened One,
supreme among men.
Doing the teacher’s bidding,
I am released from all suffering.”
Note: you can read the story of Arahant Khemā’s conversion in the commentary to Dhammapada verse 347.
Read this translation of Therīgāthā 6.3 Khemātherīgāthā: Khemā by Bhikkhu Sujato on SuttaCentral.net. Or read a different translation on SuttaCentral.net, SuttaFriends.org or DhammaTalks.org. Or listen on SC-Voice.net. Or explore the Pali on DigitalPaliReader.online.
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