When he had spoken, I said to Māra, ‘I know you, Wicked One. Do not think, “He doesn’t know me.” You are Māra the Wicked. You don’t speak to me like this out of sympathy, but with no sympathy. For you think, “Those who the ascetic Gotama teaches will go beyond my reach.” Those who formerly claimed to be fully awakened Buddhas were not in fact fully awakened Buddhas. But I am. The Realized One remains such whether or not he teaches disciples. The Realized One remains as such whether or not he presents the teaching to disciples. Why is that? Because the Realized One has given up the defilements that are corrupting, leading to future lives, hurtful, resulting in suffering and future rebirth, old age, and death. He has cut them off at the root, made them like a palm stump, obliterated them so they are unable to arise in the future. Just as a palm tree with its crown cut off is incapable of further growth, the Realized One has given up the defilements that are corrupting, leading to future lives, hurtful, resulting in suffering and future rebirth, old age, and death. He has cut them off at the root, made them like a palm stump, obliterated them so they are unable to arise in the future.’”

And so, because of the silencing of Māra, and because of the invitation of the Divinity, the name of this discussion is “On the Invitation of Divinity”.

Middle Discourses 50 The Warning to Māra