Mara (demon)
Mara (
In Buddhist cosmology, Mara is associated with death, rebirth and desire.[2] Nyanaponika Thera has described Mara as "the personification of the forces antagonistic to enlightenment."[3]
Etymology
The word Māra comes from the Sanskrit form of the verbal root mṛ. It takes a present indicative form mṛyate and a causative form mārayati (with strengthening of the root vowel from ṛ to ār). Māra is a verbal noun from the causative root and means 'causing death' or 'killing'.[4] It is related to other words for death from the same root, such as: maraṇa and mṛtyu. The latter is a name for death personified and is sometimes identified with Yama.
The root mṛ is related to the Indo-European verbal root *mer meaning "die, disappear" in the context of "death, murder or destruction". It is "very wide-spread" in Indo-European languages suggesting it to be of great antiquity, according to Mallory and Adams.[5]
Four types of Māra
In traditional Buddhism, four or five metaphorical forms of Māra are given:[6]
- Kleśa-māra - Māra as the embodiment of all unskillful emotions, such as greed, hate and delusion.
- Mṛtyu-māra - Māra as death.
- Skandha-māra - Māra as metaphor for the entirety of conditioned existence.
- Devaputra-māra - the cycle of rebirth on the night of the Buddha’s enlightenment.
Character
Early Buddhism acknowledged both a literal and psychological interpretation of Mara.[7][8]
Mara is described both as an entity having an existence in
"Buddha defying Mara" is a common pose of
Three daughters
In some accounts of the Buddha's enlightenment, it is said that the demon Māra did not send his three daughters to tempt but instead they came willingly after Māra's setback in his endeavor to eliminate the Buddha's quest for enlightenment.
- They had come to him glittering with beauty –
- Taṇhā, Arati, and Rāga –
- But the Teacherswept them away right there
- As the wind, a fallen cotton tuft.[15]
Mara's conversion
The Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp and the Denkoroku both contain a story of Mara's conversion to Buddhism under the auspices of the monk Upagupta.
According to the story, Upagupta journeyed to the kingdom of Mathura and preached the Dharma with great success. This caused Mara's palace to tremble, prompting the deity to use his destructive powers against the Dharma. When Upagupta entered samadhi, Mara approached him and slipped a jade necklace around his neck.
Upagupta reciprocated by transforming the corpses of a man, a dog, and a snake into a garland and gifted it to Mara. When Mara discovered the true nature of the gift, he sought the help of
Mara returned to the human world where he prostrated before the monk and repented. At Upagupta's recommendation, he vowed never to do harm to the Dharma and took refuge in the
In popular culture
Mara appears in Roger Zelazny's 1967 novel Lord of Light as a god of illusion.[17]
In 2020, the singer-songwriter
Notes
- Sn 835 (Saddhatissa, 1998, page 98). In each of these texts, Mara's daughters (Māradhītā) are personified by sensual Craving (taṇhā), Aversion (arati), and Passion (rāga).
- ISBN 9780195173987.
- ISBN 9789552403163.
- ISBN 9780813537788.
- ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5.
- ISBN 9780691157863.
- ISBN 9780415332286.
- ISBN 9781402768835.
- ^ www.wisdomlib.org (10 August 2008). "Mara, Māra: 13 definitions". www.wisdomlib.org.
- ^ Jokin, Keizan (2003). "The Denkōroku: The Record of the Transmission of the Light" (PDF). Translated by Hubert Nearman. Mount Shasta, California: OBC Shasta Abbey Press. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
- ^ Vogel, Jean Philippe; Barnouw, Adriaan Jacob (1936). Buddhist Art in India, Ceylon, and Java. Asian Educational Services. pp. 70–71.
- ^ a b "The Buddha's Encounters with Mara the Tempter: Their Representation in Literature and Art". www.accesstoinsight.org.
- ISBN 9780191579172.
- kāmā), aversion (arati) and hunger-thirst (khuppipāsā).
- SN4.25, v. 518 (Bodhi, 2000, p. 220).
- ^ Jokin, Keizan (2003). "The Denkōroku: The Record of the Transmission of the Light" (PDF). Translated by Hubert Nearman. Mount Shasta, California: OBC Shasta Abbey Press. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
- ^ "Lord of Light Summary". Shmoop. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
- ^ "Mara Inspiration". ladygunn. 5 February 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
Sources
- ISBN 0-86171-331-1.
- Saddhatissa, H. (trans.) (1998). The Sutta-Nipāta. London: RoutledgeCurzon Press. ISBN 0-7007-0181-8.
Further reading
- Boyd, James W. (1971). "Symbols of Evil in Buddhism". The Journal of Asian Studies. 31 (1): 63–75. (subscription required)
- Guruge, Ananda W.P. (1991). "The Buddha's encounters with Mara, the Tempter: their representation in Literature and Art" (PDF). Indologica Taurinensia. 17–18: 183–208. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 22, 2014.
- Ling, Trevor O. (1962). Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil: A Study in Theravada Buddhism. London: Allen and Unwin.