Mara

David_2009

I was wondering, who, or what, is Mara?, it's just I'm a bit confused by different traditions, like, some hold Mara to be more psychological, others hold Mara to be something that is a real being, in a sense, I've seen others say both views are true, etc.

Sometimes, I think of Mara as similar to the First Evil in Buffy (I'm not sure how many Buffy fans there are here?), but, basically, it's something that's part of everything that exists, including humans, and can't be killed, but, can be overcome, it's not just psychological, as it does have some kind of objective existence, but, would that be good analogy to Mara, or is it something different?.

Thanks for any help.

Javelin

This is a melting pot of different traditions.....right here. If you're saying that it's held differently, and you're asking people here what it means, you're going to get back the same kinds of answers that you've already found.

Namaste

RichardH

Mara invented online poker, strobe lights, and sour cream and onion chip dip.

SherabDorje

Richard H wrote: »

Mara invented online poker, strobe lights, and sour cream and onion chip dip.

I think maybe Mara invented Facebook and Twitter too. Facebook Platform for sure.

ansanna

see this thread, my reply in #21

http://newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5933

Jason

It's true that in some cases, Mara is portrayed as an actual being who apparently considers himself the head of the kamavacara world. Nevertheless, looking at the texts more critically, it's evident that in most contexts Mara is used in reference to death or to the mental defilements of greed, hatred and delusion.

In regard to the story of the Buddha being assailed by the hosts of Mara under the Bodhi tree, for example, G. P. Malalasekera's entry in the Dictionary of Pali Names states:

]That this account of the Buddha's struggle with Māra is literally true, none but the most ignorant of the Buddhists believe, even at the present day. The Buddhist point of view has been well expressed by Rhys Davids (Article on Buddha in the Ency. Brit.). We are to understand by the attack of Mara's forces, that all the Buddha's

"old temptations came back upon him with renewed force. For years he had looked at all earthly good through the medium of a philosophy which had taught him that it, without exception, carried within itself the seeds of bitterness and was altogether worthless and impermanent; but now, to his wavering faith, the sweet delights of home and love, the charms of wealth and power, began to show themselves in a different light and glow again with attractive colours. He doubted and agonized in his doubt, but as the sun set, the religious side of his nature had won the victory and seems to have come out even purified from the struggle."

There is no need to ask, as does Thomas, with apparently great suspicion (Thomas, op. cit., 230), whether we can assume that the elaborators of the Mara story were recording "a subjective experience under the form of an objective reality," and did they know or think that this was the real psychological experience which the Buddha went through? The living traditions of the Buddhist countries supply the adequate answer, without the aid of the rationalists. The epic nature of the subject gave ample scope for the elaboration so dear to the hearts of the Pali rhapsodists.

As for the earthquake after Mara's defeat, to me this represents the the fact that Buddha's enlightenment was a stupendous, earth shaking event, not that the earth actually moved. A lot of people tend to take these poetic allegories literally, but I'm not one of them. This is partially due to the nature of ancient Indian literature itself, which was full of allegory and symbolism.

I'll admit that when I first began studying the Suttas, I tended to take everything literally; but now, I've learned how to "read between the lines" as they say.

seeker242

I have always thought of Mara as being the thing that says and makes you believe these things:

"I don't have time to practice today, I'm just too busy, it's too noisy, I'm too tired, I'll do it tomorrow"
"I really like that"
"I really don't like that"
"I wish that didn't happen"
"I wish this could have happened instead"
"I hope this does happen"
"I hope this doesn't happen"
"I'm afraid of that"
"I don't want to get sick"
"I don't want to get old"
"I don't want to die"
"I, me, mine!"

But not necessarily just those things.