《中部》第五十經，講大目犍連察覺魔羅潛入自己體內作祟，令魔羅倉皇現身，目犍連隨即講述自己前生也曾是名為杜西的魔羅，曾煽動婆羅門迫害過去佛拘留孫及其弟子，因而墮入大地獄備受極苦，藉此警告眼前的魔羅若繼續侵擾聖者，也將遭受同樣下場。

The fiftieth discourse of the Majjhimanikāya, in which Mahā-Moggallāna, troubled by Māra who has entered his body, confronts the discomfited tempter and recounts how he himself was once a Māra who provoked persecution against an earlier Buddha and his disciples, suffering terrible torment in hell as a result, warning the present Māra of the same fate.