The Buddha versus Mara: The Buddhist "Satan" and his three tempting daughters
You can have whatever you desire
(Buddha's Wisdom)
April 26, 2025:
๐ BUDDHISM'S "DEVIL" AND HIS THREE SEDUCTIVE DAUGHTERS. Did you know Buddhism has its own version of the Devil, a Satan figure?
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Buddhism's version of the Devil
02:01 Meet Mara, Buddhism's ultimate villain
06:44 The first daughter Tanhฤ (Craving)
11:08 The second daughter Arati (Boredom/Discontent)
15:30 The third daughter Rฤga (Passion/Lust)
20:02 How the Buddha defeated Mara and his daughters
24:40 The daughters among us - modern applications
Mara, the Buddhist devil or chief demon, commands three daughters, who each specialize in a different type of temptation. Their tactics haven't changed in 2,600 years. They're still working on us today -- even through our smartphones.
Christian Sabrina Carpenter is sexy wholesome?
DISCOVER:
The shocking parallels between Mara and Satan in religious mythology
How the Buddha's legendary showdown with Mara's daughters reveals timeless psychological insights
Why Mara's three daughters represent the most dangerous mind-traps humans fall into
The surprising connection between ancient Buddhist warnings and modern digital addiction
How the "I see you, Mara" technique can free us from these temptations today
Ready to break free from the cycles keeping us stuck?
SOURCES:
The Dhammapada, Sutta Nipata, Majjhima Nikaya, Anguttara Nikaya, ฤdittapariyฤya Sutta ("The Fire Sermon"), Satipatthana Sutta ("Discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness")
Thoughts of sensuality (craving for pleasures of the five senses) oppress the person beset by them again and again, becoming an obsession and compulsion. What's worse, getting what one craves does NOT solve the problem: Wanting is still there or soon comes back. Getting was no solution at all. Repeatedly getting in fact leads to addiction, a worse compulsion that sees no way out of the quagmire. (Giggity).
When the goal of the mind-body is just pleasure and more of it, the trap begins to become clear. But what other goal might one set for oneself? Liberation from disappointment and all suffering (dukkha). That goal is nirvana, realized by enlightenment (bodhi). But how?
That is what a Buddha answers, having exposed the problem, he claimed there is a cause (craving accompanied by aversion, both rooted in delusion) to our disappointment/suffering. There's a final solution, too. The fourth ennobling (enlightening) truth is that there is a path, a middle way, to the solution.
That might be a better goal, something else to fixate on and strive for, relaxing into it until the illusion dissolves and ultimate-reality becomes clear. Until then, what's a person to do but take Jerri Blank's advice to herself, "Don't think about sex, don't think about sex, don't think about sex," which will be about as useful as saying, "Don't think about pink elephants."
Did you just think of pink elephants? Didn't we just say not to think of pink elephants. Why do we keep saying "pink elephants," which only makes us think of pink elephants... Don't think about sex. Oops! We just said...
(It doesn't work to try to not think about what you're thinking about; it does work to think about something else and keep thinking that other thing).
Spring is coming! You know what that means. ๐๐๐ Cleaning, of course. And maybe a clean house will finally put her in the mood. But don't count on it. This whole marriage was a bait-and-switch! Enter, Addyi (as in addi-ction). Now there will be no excuse. Of course, how much has it even changed the world? It is not exactly new, just getting a new advertising push.
Once upon a time, "the pill" changed the world, starting in this country with women's lib, the Sixties, free love, and an end to the fear of unwanted pregnancies.
What color was that pill? Pharmaceutical white, we think. Then came a revolution in capitalist medicine, a big blue pill (Viagra®) that changed the world.
Marriages rejoiced until they yawned and turned over and kept grumbling, "Get off me." What to do, what to do? Ah, better living through chemistry was the slogan at raves that pumped the EDM to bright synthetic colors and chemicals.
I don't need it. Being lust-free is not a problem.
Finally, after decades of trying -- after millennia of aphrodisiac promises and recipes, slaughter shellfish rich in zinc, drupe fruits hanging languorously from the bough and branch, vine and even emerging from the ground (pomegranate, fig, avocado berry, strawberry, amla, gooseberry, camu camu...) What is the secret substance?
Birth control cancers? Sue the makers of Depo-Provera for injuries with attorneyThomas J Henry's class action/TORT lawsuit (800) 880-8979, San Antonio, Texas: Popular injectable birth control linked to serious health risks including brain tumors and spinal cord tumors.
Ah, clean vegan protein hits the spot.
Big Pharma now has something to sell to dissatisfied husbands and intrepid women who want to feel what they no longer feel or never felt, given years of sexism and trauma and inverted onanism no one is allowed to talk about, not that they would talk about it since the real occupation is in the mind. Free our minds and our butts will follow? That's the saying.
I should marry and do this while she sleeps.
Drop a pharmaceutical -- along with all the antidepressants (mostly SSRIs), dopaminergic Adderall, obtunding alcohol. and whatever else the dealers on campus are dealing -- and hop in bed? That would be surprising.
No one believed beets and nitric acid could do anything, but Viagra proved otherwise until every corporation rushed to release their own versions of the same thing. Cialis® anyone? That market is saturated (with generic sildenafil). Now it's time to soak some new sheets. Enter, Addyi® (flibanserin). Is it only for "working girls" like Julia Roberts? No, they don't want to enjoy it or be in any mood but moneygrubbing mode, the better for the heartless gold-digging.
What about a healthy (non-liver-harming) herbal solution? Chocolate (Theobroma cacao), damiana, epimedium (horny goat weed), Tribulus, champagne, endorphin-stimulators, and so many others.
The sexiest fruit is the most expensive. What if it doesn't work? Up the price to $19 (Erewhon)
Addyi is the only FDA-approved pill proven to increase a woman's sex drive. Addyi is a 100% [synthetic allopathic chemical compound but it is a] hormone-free pill for Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD) proven to help certain premenopausal women*:
Do we get money back if it doesn't work? (BTW, look carefully, perv. That's her leg!)
*Efficacy of Addyi was established in three 24-week trials in over 2,000 premenopausal women with acquired, generalized HSDD. Patients were treated with Addyi (n=1,187) or placebo (n=1,188) [n being the number of participants in a study].
Not all women will experience similar improvement for their HSDD. For the last 10 years, Addyi has been the #1 prescribed treatment for HSDD [1] in women who have not yet gone through menopause, who have not had problems with low sexual desire in the past, and who have low sexual desire no matter the type of sexual activity, the situation, or the sexual partner.
Sexbot: Wait, what, you're saying I'm not a "real" woman? This pill didn't work! Get off of me!
.
Women with HSDD have low sexual desire that is troubling to them. Their low sexual desire is not due to:
a medical or mental health problem [such as having been molested, assaulted, or raped, Live Beyond ACEs!],
problems in the relationship
or medicine
or other drug use.
I get a real charge out of suckers men for my Tesla
Addyi is not for use for the treatment of HSDD in women who have gone through menopause or in men or children [anyone under 18, depending on geographical location and political climate].
Addyi is not for use to enhance sexual performance [so, sorry, working girls, you'll just have to rely on the same illegal drugs you've been using up until now].
Sugar is deadlier than glyphosate (Roundup®)
ACEs
It happened to everyone. - No, it didn't!
(Live Beyond CA) Our past experiences do not define us, but they can have a lasting impact on our mental and physical health and even our relationships. ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) are not our fault. We didn’t have control over when or why they happened, but we can live beyond ACEs and take steps toward healing. More
Big Pharma keeps trying to convince women they need libido drugs
Teresa Carr, Mother Jones
What's in this legal toxic stew of allopathic chemicals and enzyme disruptors?
.
Magic in Pandora's bottle or an evil genie?
Sex therapist and researcher Leonore Tiefer shuttered the New View Campaign, an organization she had founded to combat what she refers to as “the medicalization of sex” — essentially, the pharmaceutical industry’s efforts to define variations in sexuality and sexual problems as medical issues requiring a drug fix.
For 16 years, the group had fought against industry’s involvement in sex research, including its push for a drug to boost women’s sex drives.
New View hosted conferences and its members penned papers and testified before the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The campaign was prominently featured in an 80-minute documentary called Orgasm Inc, and promoted a clever (if off-pitch) video advising women to “throw that pink pill away,” a reference to the female-libido drug flibanserin (Addyi), which was seeking FDA approval at the time.
Orgasm Inc, that's a real thing? Is it Rated X?
New View counted some successes: The FDA didn’t approve an allegedly libido-boosting testosterone patch for women, on the grounds that the patch’s slim benefits didn’t outweigh its risks, and the FDA twice rejected flibanserin for the same reason.
But [ten years ago] in August 2015, the agency reversed itself and approved the so-called pink Viagra. “I felt we’d said everything we had to say,” said Tiefer of ending the campaign.
Advocates predicted FDA approval would be sought for additional women’s libido drugs, but the group felt there was nothing they could do to stop it. More
1. IQVIA Monthly Total Prescriptions Volume Data Comparing Addyi vs Vyleesi in the US. Sept 2022 – Sept 2024
(Guide to the Buddhist Path) Feb. 21, 2020: This is a story about the Buddha meeting a king. He met many. Who's happier? Fleeting worldly (mundane) happiness versus stable otherworldly (supermundane) happiness, which is better? Written and animated by Aryajit. It is based on a discussion the historical Buddha had with some Jain ascetics (Niganthas), which can be read at accesstoinsight.org. The part about "Who is happier?" appears at the end of the sutra. Thoughts, questions, feedback? Please comment.
Ven. Thanissaro (trans.), Cula-dukkhakkhandha Sutta, (MN 14 PTS: M i 91) edited and expanded by Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly
Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was staying among the Scythians (Sakas, Sakyans, Shakyians) in Kapilavatthu in the Banyan Park.
Then the Sakyan Mahanama [Note 1] went to the Buddha, bowed, sat respectfully to one side, and said: "For a long time now, venerable sir, I have understood the Dhamma (Doctrine, Teaching, Dharma) taught by the Blessed One in this way:
"'Greed (attraction) is a defilement of the mind (heart); hatred (aversion) is a defilement of the mind; delusion (wrong view) is a defilement of the mind.'
"Yet, even though I understand the Teaching of the Blessed One that greed, hatred, and delusion are defilements of the mind, there are still times when greed, hatred, and delusion invade and remain.
He continued, "This thought occurs to me: What mental characteristic is as yet unabandoned within me so that there are times when greed or hatred/fear or delusion invade my mind and remain?"
"Mahanama, that very mental state (quality or characteristic) [2] is what is unabandoned in you so that there are times when greed, hatred, or delusion invade the mind and remain [3]. For if it were abandoned in you, you would not live the household life and would not partake of [and cling to] sensuality.
"It is because it is not yet abandoned in you that you live the household life and partake of sensuality.
"Even though a disciple of the noble ones has clearly seen as it actually is with right understanding that sensuality is of much disappointment, much despair, with dangerous drawbacks, still — if one has not attained a rapture and pleasure apart from sensuality, apart from unskillful mental states, or something more peaceful than that [4] — one can again be tempted by sensuality.
"But when one has clearly seen as it actually is with right understanding that sensuality is of much disappointment, much despair, with dangerous drawbacks, and one has attained a rapture and pleasure apart from sensuality, apart from unskillful mental states, or something more peaceful than that, one can no longer be tempted by sensuality.
Only when I was sure did I teach.
"I myself, before my awakening, when I was still an unawakened being in search of awakening (a bodhisattva), saw as it actually is with right understanding that sensuality is of much disappointment, much despair, and dangerous drawbacks.
"As long as I had not attained a rapture and pleasure apart from sensuality, apart from unskillful mental states, or something more peaceful than that, I did not claim that I could no longer be tempted by sensuality.
"But when I saw as it actually is with right understanding that sensuality is of much disappointment, much despair, with dangerous drawbacks and I had attained a rapture and pleasure apart from sensuality, apart from unskillful mental states, or something more peaceful than that, that was when I claimed that I could no longer be tempted by sensuality.
"What, Mahanama, is the allure of sensuality? There are five strands. What are these five? They are:
forms cognizable by the eye — agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing,
sounds cognizable by the ear...
fragrances cognizable by the nose...
flavors cognizable by the tongue...
tactile sensations cognizable by the body — agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing.
"Whatever pleasure or joy arises depending on these five strands of sensuality, that is the allure of sensuality.
"What is the drawback of sensuality? On account of the occupation (livelihood) by which one makes a living — whether checking or accounting or calculating or plowing or trading or cattle tending or archery or as a king's servant, or whatever the occupation may be — one faces cold, faces heat, is harassed by flies and mosquitoes, wind and sun, and creeping things, dying from thirst and hunger.
"Now dangerous drawbacks exist in the case of sensuality, a mass of disappointment visible here and now, with sensuality as its reason, sensuality as its source, sensuality as its cause, the reason simply being sensuality.
"If one gains no wealth while working and striving and making an effort, one sorrows, grieves, and laments, beats one's breast, becomes distraught: 'My work is in vain, my efforts are fruitless!'
"Now this dangerous drawback in the case of sensuality, this mass of disappointment visible here and now, has sensuality as its reason, sensuality as its source, sensuality as its cause, the reason simply being sensuality.
"If one gains wealth while working and striving and making effort, one experiences pain and distress in protecting it: 'How will neither rulers nor thieves make off with my property, nor fire burn it, nor water sweep it away, nor heirs make off with it [prematurely]?' And as one guards and watches over property, rulers or thieves make off with it, or fire burns it, or water sweeps it away, or heirs make off with it. And one sorrows, grieves, and laments, beats one's breast, becomes distraught: 'What was mine is no more!' Now this drawback in the case of sensuality, this mass of disappointment visible here and now, also has sensuality as its reason, sensuality as its source, sensuality as its cause, the reason simply being sensuality.
"It is with sensuality as the reason, sensuality as the source, sensuality as the cause, the reason simply being sensuality, that rulers quarrel with rulers, nobles with nobles, Brahmins with Brahmins, householders with householders, mother with child, child with mother, father with child, child with father, brother with brother, sister with sister, brother with sister, sister with brother, friend with friend...." More: MN 14 (accesstoinsight.org)
NOTES
1. Mahanama is a Shakyan cousin of the Buddha. The Commentary claims that he was already a once-returner when this discourse took place, but there is nothing in the Pali canon to indicate that this is so.
2. That is, greed, hatred, or delusion.
3. This sentence is mistranslated in both MLS and MLDB. Its point is that the mental states that invade Mahanama's mind are precisely the ones he has not yet abandoned. In practical terms, this means that he does not have to look for another lurking behind them but instead can focus his attention on abandoning these directly as they arise. The remainder of the sutra gives a lesson in how greed, hatred, and delusion can be abandoned by understanding the object on which they most frequently focus: sensuality.
4. The rapture and pleasure apart from sensuality, apart from unskillful mental states, is a factor of the first and second meditative absorption (jhana). "Something more peaceful than that" would be any attainments higher than the second absorption.
5. See DN 2. 6. One of the great ironies in the history of Buddhism is the extent to which teachings that the Buddha clearly disapproved of, such as this one, have later been taught as quintessentially Buddhist. In some circles, a teaching similar to this one — that not reacting to pain burns away the impurity of past karma and creates no new karma for the future — is still taught as Buddhist to this day.
(Mikey & Wyatt) Spring 2024: When You Catch Your Best Friend “Hanging Out” With Your Girlfriend because your best bud doesn’t want to cheat with your ex, but what choice is there when Eros or Cupid run the show and call the shots? Directed by Wyatt Gallitz (wyattgallitz). Written by Wyatt Gallitz and Mikey Brockmann. Director of Photography: Andrew Judge l (liltoasterofficial). Edited by Mikey Brockmann. Performed by Claire Rice (clairebellerice), Mikey Brockmann (mikeybrockmann), and Mitch McMahon (mitchm659).
It's spooky time in the capital of the world, Los Angeles/Hollywood. One can tell because it gets dark sooner and cools off at night, unlike the holy city of Phoenix that burns by day to arise at night still burning.
The Latin communities in both Southwest metropolises are working on those costumes and make up tutorials. It's not easy being a ravishing Catrina to his Mara (the King of Death, sometimes appearing as Skeletor and sometimes as Santa Muerte).
But Mara is an old foe in Buddhism -- the ender of everything, which could end in peace if it weren't for all that attachment. Mara Devaputra ("Death Born-among-angels"), like a cross between Cupid and Lucifer in the West (Kamadeva and Vemacritin in the East), encourages
sensuality
affection
attachment
grasping
clinging
all the things we "love" (in the lower, non-agape) and hold onto for dear life. If Cupid knocked on the door like black-eyed children, would we answer and let them in? Most of us would. What harm can Cupid do?
We love, we cling, it's normal or at least very usual and commonplace. English hardly has words for the problem. If we were speaking Ancient Greek or Sanskrit, it might immediately make sense.
We are not talking about healthy concern, affection (kindness and comfort), nurturing, compassion, joy in the joy of others, loving-kindness (metta). All of these are wonderful. What would life be without them?
But there's a dark side, a creepy side, a -- ugh -- clingy side. What depravity enters our lustful longings, what greed poisons our ambitions to succeed and be safe, to enjoy sensual pleasures and satisfy our wants. Fire good. It warms. Brushfire bad. It destroys. It isn't just the size. It's how it quickly gets out of all control.
When we started, it was just an itsy-bitsy straying. It's so hard to walk the narrow way. When we on full moon observance days begin to rein (reign) it in, we begin to cultivate the sort of karma (mental, verbal, and physical deeds) that bring about happiness.
What is "happiness"? It is that feeling of accomplishment for receiving what is welcome, pleasant, easy to endure. It's easy to distinguish from dukkha (disappointment or suffering), which is hard if not impossible to endure, most unwelcome and unpleasant.
"Karma" means what we do now conditions what comes about then. Now and then, now and then, even the then only really manifests now. And all the nows can be considered to previous thens to come.
Spooky. What will we wear? Will we win a prize? Will everyone look and point and smile? What about the real Day of the Dead when we die? That's unthinkable, the impossible possibility!
But at that time, the Buddha said, it's great to have a store of good karma (merit, punna) to fall back on.
It's like the old saying, "Q: When is the best time to plant a tree? A: Thirty years ago. Q: When is the second best time? A: Right now."
Cupid (Kamadeva, Mara Devaputra, Eros) seems so cute and innocent.
I know it's love cause she starts looking like this.
These things indicate a love that is slowly dying. It’s often easy to tell when a relationship is totally falling apart because there will be obvious signs, but it’s less apparent if someone is slowly falling out of love with his or her partner.
Keep an eye out for these 12 behaviors, as they may indicate that your lover’s interest is cooling when you wish that it would burn forever with more and more intensity, like an endless honeymoon. But it burns, dwindles, until is burns out.
I know I'm in love because it's blissful (piti) like serene meditating only not as good.
.
This is how I pictured us. Details schmeetails!
Am I falling in love, how can I know? Maybe this flower can tell me with its petals. They love me, they love me not, they love me, they love me not... Omens. Signs. Who can predict the future? But what if my partner is slowly falling out of love as the old lovespell is coming undone?
1. They’ll have less interest in intimacy and physical affection. That's one sign.
We were like cats in a cradle reaching Purvana.
One surefire way to determine whether someone is quietly falling out of love (even if you're falling more and more in love) is to pay attention to physical intimacy, or rather the lack of it.
Couples tend to grow less passionate after the "honeymoon period" has worn off. That's usual. But if intimacy has disappeared entirely, including hugging or handholding, that’s a big warning sign.
2. They mention feelings of being “trapped.” It's time for A Conscious Rethink. Feeling trapped rarely happens in the context of discussing a relationship, but a partner may drop hints about feeling trapped or caged in various aspects of life.
This may be accompanied by restlessness and frustration, leading to behaviors such as going for long drives or walks “just to get out.”
3. There’s less communication than there used to be. When and if this person does communicate with a partner, rather than avoiding conversation, it seems distant and unresponsive than before.
(AN 3.56) A rich Brahmin approached the Buddha. Sitting respectfully to one side, he said: “Master Gotama, I have heard that Brahmins of the past who were senior teachers-of-teachers, said:
“‘In the olden days this world was so full of people one would think they were squashed together. Villages, towns, and capital cities were no more than a chicken’s flight apart.’ What is the cause, sir, what is the reason why these days human numbers have dwindled, a decline in population is evident, and whole villages, towns, cities, and countries have disappeared?”
“Brahmin, nowadays humans love only illicit desires. They are overcome with immoral greed and are mired in wrong customs. Taking up knives, they murder each other, and many people perish. This is the cause, this is the reason why nowadays human numbers have dwindled.
“Furthermore, because nowadays humans love only illicit desires…the heavens [deva worlds on superior planes of existence] do not provide enough rain, so there’s famine, bad harvests, with blighted crops that shrivel into dry straw. And many people perish. This is the cause, this is the reason why nowadays human numbers have dwindled.
“Furthermore, because nowadays humans love only illicit desires…native spirits let vicious monsters [cryptids] loose. And many people perish. This is the cause, this is the reason why nowadays human numbers have dwindled.”
“Excellent, Master Gotama, excellent! …From this day forward, may Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone [to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha] for refuge for life.” More: suttacentral.net
The Secretum (Latin for "hidden away") was a British Museum collection of the 19th and early 20th centuries that held artifacts and images that were deemed sexually graphic.
Many of the items were phallic amulets, sexy charms, and votive offerings, often from pre-Christian traditions, including the worship of Priapus (constantly erect), a Greco-Roman god of fertility and male genitalia.
Items from other cultures covered a wide range of human history, including ancient Egypt, the classical era Greco-Roman world, the ancient Near East, medieval England, sex-crazed Japan, and Kama Sutra India.
Many of the early donations or sales to the museum -- including those from the collectors Sir Hans Sloane, Sir William Hamilton, Richard Payne Knight, and Charles Townley -- contained items with erotic or sexually graphic images; these were separated out by museum staff and kept from public display.
Modern scholars believe the segregation was probably motivated by a paternalistic (in loco parentis) stance from the museum to keep what they considered morally dangerous material away from all except scholars and members of the clergy, who are very interested in sex and erotic material for coming closer to their God or gods or the children.
What materials and modern artifacts might be sent to the Secretum if the collection continued?
.
Flute blowing Zen, Komuso
By the 1860s there were around 700 such items held by the British Museum. In 1865 the antiquarian George Witt donated his phallocentriccollectionof 434 artifacts to the museum, which led to the formal setting up of the Secretum to hold his penile collection and similar items.
The Secretum collection began to be gradually broken up in 1912, with the transfer of items into departments appropriate for their time frame and culture.
The last entry into the Secretum was in 1953, when the British Library found 18th-century condoms being used as bookmarks in a 1783 publication they held.
The last remaining items were moved out of the collection in 2005. More
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