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Mara (demon)

March 28, 2023

For other uses, see Mara.

Mara (Sanskrit: मार, Māra; Sinhala: මාරයා; Vietnamese: Thiên Ma; Chinese: 天魔; pinyin: Tiānmó or traditional Chinese: 魔羅; simplified Chinese: 魔罗; pinyin: Móluó; Japanese: 魔羅, romanized: Mara; also マーラ, Māra or 天魔, Tenma; Tibetan Wylie: bdud; Khmer: មារ; Burmese: မာရ်နတ်; Thai: มาร; Tagalog: Mara), in Buddhism, is a malignant celestial king who tried to stop Prince Siddhartha achieving Enlightenment by trying to seduce him with his celestial Army and the vision of beautiful women who, in various legends, are often said to be Mara's daughters.[1]

Relief fragment of Mara in Gandhara style, found in Swat Valley
The demons of mara. Palm leaf manuscript. Nalanda, Bihar, India
Mara's assault on the Buddha (an aniconic representation: the Buddha is only symbolized by his throne), 2nd century, Amaravati Stupa, India
Burmese wall painting in Malaysia representing Mara attempting to destroy Buddha
Mara, his lusty daughters, and demonic army, attempting to tempt Buddha, on a 10th-century icon from Mogao Caves

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 deva of the sensuous realm, who tried to prevent Gautama Buddha from attaining liberation from 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 Kāma-world,[9] just as are shown existing around the Buddha, and also is described in pratītyasamutpāda as, primarily, the guardian of passion and the catalyst for lust, hesitation and fear that obstructs meditation among Buddhists. The Denkōroku refers to him as the "One Who Delights in Destruction", which highlights his nature as a deity among the Parinirmitavaśavarti devas.[10]

"Buddha defying Mara" is a common pose of Buddha sculptures.[11][12] The Buddha is shown with his left hand in his lap, palm facing upwards and his right hand on his right knee. The fingers of his right hand touch the earth, to call the earth as his witness for defying Mara and achieving enlightenment. This posture is also referred to as the bhūmisparśa "earth-witness" mudra.

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.[13] Mara's three daughters are identified as Taṇhā (Thirst), Arati (Aversion, Discontentment), and Rāga (Attachment, Desire, Greed, Passion).[12][14] For example, in the Samyutta Nikaya's Māra-saṃyutta, Mara's three daughters were stripping in front of Buddha; but failed to entice the Buddha:

They had come to him glittering with beauty –
Taṇhā, Arati, and Rāga –
But the Teacher swept them away right there
As the wind, a fallen cotton tuft.[15]

Some stories refer to the existence of Five Daughters, who represent not only the Three Poisons of Attraction, Aversion, and Delusion, but also include the daughters Pride, and Fear.[citation needed]

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 Brahma to remove it. Brahma informed him that because the necklace was bestowed by an advanced disciple of the Buddha, its effects could only be assuaged by taking refuge in Upagupta.

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 Three Jewels.[16]

The former source includes a gatha that Mara recited when his suffering was lifted:

Adoration to the Master of the three samādhis,
To the sage disciple of the ten powers.
Today I wish to turn to him
Without countenancing the existence
Of any meanness or weakness.[17]

In popular culture

Mara has been prominently featured in the Megami Tensei video game series as a demon. Within the series, Mara is portrayed as a large, phallic creature, often shown riding a golden chariot. His phallic body and innuendo-laden speech are based on a pun surrounding the word mara, a Japonic word for "penis" that is attested as early as 938 CE in the Wamyō Ruijushō, a Japanese dictionary of Chinese characters. According to the Sanseido dictionary, the word was originally used as a euphemism for "penis" among Buddhist monks, which references sensual lust as an obstacle to enlightenment.[18]

The villain of the Doctor Who serial Kinda and Snakedance was the Mara.

Mara appears in Roger Zelazny's novel Lord of Light as a god of illusion.[19]

In 2020, the singer-songwriter Jack Garratt released a song entitled "Mara". Inspired by the story of Mara’s distraction of the Buddha, "Mara" describes Garratt's experience of intrusive thoughts.[20]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ See, for instance, SN 4.25, entitled, "Māra's Daughters" (Bodhi, 2000, pp. 217–20), as well as 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).
  2. ^ Trainor, Kevin (2004). Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide. Oxford University Press. p. 34. ISBN 9780195173987.
  3. ^ Thera, Nyanaponika (2008). The Roots of Good and Evil: Buddhist Texts translated from the Pali with Comments and Introduction. Buddhist Publication Society. p. 22. ISBN 9789552403163.
  4. ^ Olson, Carl (2005). The Different Paths of Buddhism: A Narrative-Historical Introduction. Rutgers University Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780813537788.
  5. ^ J. P. Mallory; Douglas Q. Adams (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Taylor & Francis. pp. 150–153. ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5.
  6. ^ Buswell, Robert Jr; Lopez, Donald S. Jr., eds. (2013). Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 530–531, 550, 829. ISBN 9780691157863.
  7. ^ Williams, Paul (2005). Buddhism: The early Buddhist schools and doctrinal history ; Theravāda doctrine, Volume 2. Taylor & Francis. pp. 105–106. ISBN 9780415332286.
  8. ^ Keown, Damien (2009). Buddhism. Sterling Publishing Company. p. 69. ISBN 9781402768835.
  9. ^ www.wisdomlib.org (10 August 2008). "Mara, Māra: 13 definitions". www.wisdomlib.org.
  10. ^ Jokin, Keizan; Nearman, Hubert (translator) (2003). "The Denkōroku: The Record of the Transmission of the Light" (PDF). Mount Shasta, California: OBC Shasta Abbey Press. Retrieved 2019-12-06. {{cite web}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
  11. ^ Vogel, Jean Philippe; Barnouw, Adriaan Jacob (1936). Buddhist Art in India, Ceylon, and Java. Asian Educational Services. pp. 70–71.
  12. ^ a b "The Buddha's Encounters with Mara the Tempter: Their Representation in Literature and Art". www.accesstoinsight.org.
  13. ^ Keown, Damien (2004). A Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. p. 174. ISBN 9780191579172.
  14. ^ See, e.g., SN 4.25 (Bodhi, 2000, pp. 217–20), and Sn 835 (Saddhatissa, 1998, p. 98). In a similar fashion, in Sn 436 (Saddhatissa, 1998, p. 48), taṇhā is personified as one of Death's four armies (senā) along with desire (kāmā), aversion (arati) and hunger-thirst (khuppipāsā).
  15. ^ SN 4.25, v. 518 (Bodhi, 2000, p. 220).
  16. ^ Jokin, Keizan; Nearman, Hubert (translator) (2003). "The Denkōroku: The Record of the Transmission of the Light" (PDF). Mount Shasta, California: OBC Shasta Abbey Press. Retrieved 2019-12-06. {{cite web}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
  17. ^ Daoyuan; Whitfield, Randolph S. (translator) (2015). Yi, Yang (ed.). Record of the Transmission of the Lamp: Volume One. BoD – Books on Demand. ISBN 9783738662467. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
  18. ^ "摩羅(まら)とは - Weblio辞書". www.weblio.jp.
  19. ^ "Lord of Light Summary". Shmoop. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  20. ^ "Mara Inspiration". ladygunn. 5 February 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2020.

Sources

  • Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Pubs. ISBN 0-86171-331-1.
  • Saddhatissa, H. (translator) (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. doi:10.2307/2053052. JSTOR 2053052. S2CID 162777343. – via JSTOR (subscription required)
  • Guruge, Ananda W.P. (1991). (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

External links

  • The Buddha's Encounters with Mara the Tempter: Their Representation in Literature and Art
  • Mara, the Evil One_99

March 28, 2023
mara, demon, other, uses, mara, mara, sanskrit, māra, sinhala, රය, vietnamese, thiên, chinese, 天魔, pinyin, tiānmó, traditional, chinese, 魔羅, simplified, chinese, 魔罗, pinyin, móluó, japanese, 魔羅, romanized, mara, also, マーラ, māra, 天魔, tenma, tibetan, wylie, bdud. For other uses see Mara Mara Sanskrit म र Mara Sinhala ම රය Vietnamese Thien Ma Chinese 天魔 pinyin Tianmo or traditional Chinese 魔羅 simplified Chinese 魔罗 pinyin Moluo Japanese 魔羅 romanized Mara also マーラ Mara or 天魔 Tenma Tibetan Wylie bdud Khmer ម រ Burmese မ ရ နတ Thai mar Tagalog Mara in Buddhism is a malignant celestial king who tried to stop Prince Siddhartha achieving Enlightenment by trying to seduce him with his celestial Army and the vision of beautiful women who in various legends are often said to be Mara s daughters 1 Relief fragment of Mara in Gandhara style found in Swat Valley The demons of mara Palm leaf manuscript Nalanda Bihar India Mara s assault on the Buddha an aniconic representation the Buddha is only symbolized by his throne 2nd century Amaravati Stupa India Burmese wall painting in Malaysia representing Mara attempting to destroy Buddha Mara his lusty daughters and demonic army attempting to tempt Buddha on a 10th century icon from Mogao Caves 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 Contents 1 Etymology 2 Four types of Mara 3 Character 3 1 Three daughters 3 2 Mara s conversion 4 In popular culture 5 See also 6 Notes 7 Sources 8 Further reading 9 External linksEtymology EditThe word Mara comes from the Sanskrit form of the verbal root mṛ It takes a present indicative form mṛyate and a causative form marayati with strengthening of the root vowel from ṛ to ar Mara 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 Mara EditIn traditional Buddhism four or five metaphorical forms of Mara are given 6 Klesa mara Mara as the embodiment of all unskillful emotions such as greed hate and delusion Mṛtyu mara Mara as death Skandha mara Mara as metaphor for the entirety of conditioned existence Devaputra mara the deva of the sensuous realm who tried to prevent Gautama Buddha from attaining liberation from the cycle of rebirth on the night of the Buddha s enlightenment Character EditEarly Buddhism acknowledged both a literal and psychological interpretation of Mara 7 8 Mara is described both as an entity having an existence in Kama world 9 just as are shown existing around the Buddha and also is described in pratityasamutpada as primarily the guardian of passion and the catalyst for lust hesitation and fear that obstructs meditation among Buddhists The Denkōroku refers to him as the One Who Delights in Destruction which highlights his nature as a deity among the Parinirmitavasavarti devas 10 Buddha defying Mara is a common pose of Buddha sculptures 11 12 The Buddha is shown with his left hand in his lap palm facing upwards and his right hand on his right knee The fingers of his right hand touch the earth to call the earth as his witness for defying Mara and achieving enlightenment This posture is also referred to as the bhumisparsa earth witness mudra Three daughters Edit In some accounts of the Buddha s enlightenment it is said that the demon Mara did not send his three daughters to tempt but instead they came willingly after Mara s setback in his endeavor to eliminate the Buddha s quest for enlightenment 13 Mara s three daughters are identified as Taṇha Thirst Arati Aversion Discontentment and Raga Attachment Desire Greed Passion 12 14 For example in the Samyutta Nikaya s Mara saṃ yutta Mara s three daughters were stripping in front of Buddha but failed to entice the Buddha They had come to him glittering with beauty Taṇha Arati and Raga But the Teacher swept them away right there As the wind a fallen cotton tuft 15 Some stories refer to the existence of Five Daughters who represent not only the Three Poisons of Attraction Aversion and Delusion but also include the daughters Pride and Fear citation needed Mara s conversion Edit 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 Brahma to remove it Brahma informed him that because the necklace was bestowed by an advanced disciple of the Buddha its effects could only be assuaged by taking refuge in Upagupta 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 Three Jewels 16 The former source includes a gatha that Mara recited when his suffering was lifted Adoration to the Master of the three samadhis To the sage disciple of the ten powers Today I wish to turn to him Without countenancing the existence Of any meanness or weakness 17 In popular culture EditThis article appears to contain trivial minor or unrelated references to popular culture Please reorganize this content to explain the subject s impact on popular culture providing citations to reliable secondary sources rather than simply listing appearances Unsourced material may be challenged and removed May 2022 Mara has been prominently featured in the Megami Tensei video game series as a demon Within the series Mara is portrayed as a large phallic creature often shown riding a golden chariot His phallic body and innuendo laden speech are based on a pun surrounding the word mara a Japonic word for penis that is attested as early as 938 CE in the Wamyō Ruijushō a Japanese dictionary of Chinese characters According to the Sanseido dictionary the word was originally used as a euphemism for penis among Buddhist monks which references sensual lust as an obstacle to enlightenment 18 The villain of the Doctor Who serial Kinda and Snakedance was the Mara Mara appears in Roger Zelazny s novel Lord of Light as a god of illusion 19 In 2020 the singer songwriter Jack Garratt released a song entitled Mara Inspired by the story of Mara s distraction of the Buddha Mara describes Garratt s experience of intrusive thoughts 20 See also EditDemiurge Eros Grimekhalaṃ Kamadeva Mare Marzanna Mors mythology Thanatos Anubis Izanami Hades Ah Puch Id ego and super ego Temptation of Christ and Temptation of St Anthony similar themes in Christianity Maravijaya Buddha A Buddharupa attitude depicting the scene against Mara Indiana Jones Adventure A dark ride at Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea MayasuraNotes Edit See for instance SN 4 25 entitled Mara s Daughters Bodhi 2000 pp 217 20 as well as Sn 835 Saddhatissa 1998 page 98 In each of these texts Mara s daughters Maradhita are personified by sensual Craving taṇha Aversion arati and Passion raga Trainor Kevin 2004 Buddhism The Illustrated Guide Oxford University Press p 34 ISBN 9780195173987 Thera Nyanaponika 2008 The Roots of Good and Evil Buddhist Texts translated from the Pali with Comments and Introduction Buddhist Publication Society p 22 ISBN 9789552403163 Olson Carl 2005 The Different Paths of Buddhism A Narrative Historical Introduction Rutgers University Press p 28 ISBN 9780813537788 J P Mallory Douglas Q Adams 1997 Encyclopedia of Indo European Culture Taylor amp Francis pp 150 153 ISBN 978 1 884964 98 5 Buswell Robert Jr Lopez Donald S Jr eds 2013 Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism Princeton NJ Princeton University Press pp 530 531 550 829 ISBN 9780691157863 Williams Paul 2005 Buddhism The early Buddhist schools and doctrinal history Theravada doctrine Volume 2 Taylor amp Francis pp 105 106 ISBN 9780415332286 Keown Damien 2009 Buddhism Sterling Publishing Company p 69 ISBN 9781402768835 www wisdomlib org 10 August 2008 Mara Mara 13 definitions www wisdomlib org Jokin Keizan Nearman Hubert translator 2003 The Denkōroku The Record of the Transmission of the Light PDF Mount Shasta California OBC Shasta Abbey Press Retrieved 2019 12 06 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a first2 has generic name help 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 Keown Damien 2004 A Dictionary of Buddhism Oxford University Press p 174 ISBN 9780191579172 See e g SN 4 25 Bodhi 2000 pp 217 20 and Sn 835 Saddhatissa 1998 p 98 In a similar fashion in Sn 436 Saddhatissa 1998 p 48 taṇha is personified as one of Death s four armies sena along with desire kama aversion arati and hunger thirst khuppipasa SN 4 25 v 518 Bodhi 2000 p 220 Jokin Keizan Nearman Hubert translator 2003 The Denkōroku The Record of the Transmission of the Light PDF Mount Shasta California OBC Shasta Abbey Press Retrieved 2019 12 06 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a first2 has generic name help Daoyuan Whitfield Randolph S translator 2015 Yi Yang ed Record of the Transmission of the Lamp Volume One BoD Books on Demand ISBN 9783738662467 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a first2 has generic name help 摩羅 まら とは Weblio辞書 www weblio jp Lord of Light Summary Shmoop Retrieved August 18 2019 Mara Inspiration ladygunn 5 February 2020 Retrieved April 5 2020 Sources EditBodhi Bhikkhu trans 2000 The Connected Discourses of the Buddha A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya Boston Wisdom Pubs ISBN 0 86171 331 1 Saddhatissa H translator 1998 The Sutta Nipata London RoutledgeCurzon Press ISBN 0 7007 0181 8 Further reading EditBoyd James W 1971 Symbols of Evil in Buddhism The Journal of Asian Studies 31 1 63 75 doi 10 2307 2053052 JSTOR 2053052 S2CID 162777343 via JSTOR 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 UnwinExternal links EditThe Buddha s Encounters with Mara the Tempter Their Representation in Literature and Art Taming the Mara Mara the Evil One 99 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mara demon amp oldid 1145641807, 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