Mara, the Lord of Death (evil)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Barbara O'Brien (Buddhism Expert)

I'll watch this child to make sure he does not lead others out of my realm (countryfried)

 

The "Demon" Who Challenged the Buddha 

B. O'Brien

Many supernatural creatures populate Buddhist literature, but among these maras (killers, corrupters, defilers, obstructors) one Māra is spoken of as a single terrible being.

 

Mara may be evil, but he's cute.

Various maras are named, the two very worst being Namuci and Dusi (the first who oppressed the Buddha and the second who, surprisingly, was Maha Moggallana in the distant past in a previous existence, MN 50). They are some of the earliest non-human beings, along with the ever present angelic "shining ones," the devas, to appear in Buddhist texts.

Hellmuth Hecker, in his biography Maha-Moggallana, writes:

"About his recollection of his own former existences, [Ven.] Moggallana spoke only once, [which was] in the 50th [sutra] of the Middle Length Discourses (Majjhima Nikaya).... In the ["Rebirth Tales," or] Jatakas,...which have been recorded, is a very small number compared with the infinity of lives through which every being in Samsara has passed." [But it was in that life that Maha Moggallana was Mara Dusi, "Mara the Corrupter."]

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Is Mara watching, obstructing my meditation?

Early Buddhism acknowledged both a literal and figurative (psychological) interpretation of "Mara." Mara is described both as an entity having an existence in the Sensual Sphere and as a shapeshifting being on Earth around the Buddha; maras are also described in the chain of Dependent Origination primarily as the guardian of passions, a catalyst for lust, hesitation, and fear that obstructs meditation among Buddhists.

Mara Namuci, Mara the "Evil" One, is a tempter, a demon chief, sometimes personified as the Lord of Death. He is not Death but because he leads to death, and endless rebirth and redeath, he is spoken of as Death. And in the case of Mara Devaputra, literally Mara "Son of God," that is, a kind of Cupid or Lucifer character, an angelic Mara "born among the devas," who fancies himself Lord or Overseer of the Sensual Sphere (kama dhatu).

Charming Mara and nun (HK)

He plays a role in many stories of the Buddha and Buddhist nuns and monks, particularly by the two with the greatest psychic powers, the chief female disciple Ven. Uppalavanna Theri and chief male disciple Ven. Maha Moggallana Thero (along with the two other chief disciples, foremost in wisdom, the nun Ven. Khema and monk Ven. Sariputra).

 

Mara is best known for attempting to obstruct and derail Siddhartha's great enlightenment, which made him the historical Buddha. This story has grown to mythological proportions, literally as a great battle with Mara, whose name means "destruction," leading armies of yakkhas (demons, ogres) and his own daughters, who represent the various passions that snare and delude us.

The Buddha's Enlightenment

The ascetic Siddhartha is assailed by Mara's armies, yakkhas (demons), and doubts.

  

Siddhartha hit on by Mara's daughters

There are several versions of this story; some fairly straightforward, some elaborate, some phantasmagorical. Here is a plain version:

 

As the about-to-be Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, sat in meditation, Mara brought his most beautiful daughters to seduce Siddhartha. Siddhartha,however, remained in meditation. Then Mara sent vast armies of monsters to attack him. Yet Siddhartha sat still and untouched.

 

Mara claimed that the seat of enlightenment rightfully belonged to him and not to the mortal Siddhartha. Mara's monstrous soldiers cried out together, "I am his witness!" Mara challenged Siddhartha, who will speak for you?

 

Then Siddhartha reached out his right hand to touch the earth, and the earth itself spoke: "I bear you witness!" Mara disappeared. And as the morning star rose in the sky, Siddhartha Gautama realized enlightenment and became a Buddha.

The Origins of Mara

How to personify Death?

Mara may have had more than one precedent in pre-Buddhist mythology. For example, it's possible he was based in part on some now-forgotten character from popular folklore.

 

Zen teacher Lynn Jnana Sipe points out in "Reflections on Mara" that the notion of a mythological being responsible for evil and death is found in Vedic Brahmanic mythological traditions and also in non-Brahamanic traditions, such as that of the Jains. In other words, every religion in India seems to have had a character like Mara in its myths.

 

Mara also appears to have been based on a drought demon of Vedic mythology named Namuci. The Rev. Jnana Sipe writes,

 

"While Namuci initially appears in the Pali Canon as himself, he came to be transformed in early Buddhist texts to be the same as Mara, the god of death. In Buddhist demonology the figure of Namuci, with its associations of death-dealing hostility, as a result of drought, was taken up and used in order to build up the symbol of Mara; this is what the Evil One is like -- he is Namuci, threatening the welfare of [hu]mankind. Mara threatens not by withholding the seasonal rains but by withholding or obscuring the knowledge of truth."

Demon possession is real. However, Mara is not really a demon and cannot actually "possess" someone but can, as seen in MN 50, enter one's mind/heart and influence one by provoking that person's own unwholesome roots, the defilements (asavas, kilesas), the many expressions of greed, hate, and delusion. While we may say, "The devil made me do it!" we are still as karmically responsible as Mara for our own actions provoked in this way (SOAD).

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Mara in the Early Texts

Beautiful Mara Devaputra at the Bodhi tree

The recently passed Buddhist scholar, prolific writer, and translator, University of the West dean, former Sri Lankan ambassador to the U.S., UNESCO and France, and Wisdom Quarterly teacher, Dr. Ananda W.P. Guruge (1929-2014), writes in the best and most complete book about the maras, The Buddha's Encounters with Mara the Tempter, that trying to put together a coherent narrative of Mara is close to impossible.

 

"In his Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, Professor G.P. Malalasekera introduces Mara as 'the personification of Death, the Evil One, the Tempter (the Buddhist counterpart of the Devil or Principle of Destruction).' He continues: 'The legends concerning Mara are, in the books [sutras, texts], very involved and defy any attempts at unraveling them.'"

 

Dr. Guruge writes that Mara plays several different roles in the early texts, and sometimes seems to be several different characters. Sometimes he is the embodiment of death; sometimes he represents unskillful actions, emotions, or conditioned existence (dependent origination) or temptation. Sometimes he is a "son of god" (devaputra), a common term in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism that simply means "reborn among the celestial devas."

Is Mara the Buddhist Satan?

Mara as represented by the Shakti Dance Company (shaktibharatanatyam.com)

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Although there are some obvious parallels between Mara and the Judeo-Christian Devil or Satan of the Abrahamic/monotheistic religions, there are also many significant differences.

 

Although both characters are associated with evil, it's important to understand that Buddhists understand "evil" differently from how it is understood in most other religions.

Trick or Treat Dick (Tom Tomorrow/TMW)

For example, "evil" (papa), which echoes another Buddhist term "proliferation" (papañca), is generally a synonym of "unskillful" (akusala). Unskillful is very broad and can be used to speak of any manifestation of greed, hatred/fear, or delusion, the roots of all harmful karma, all unwholesome and unprofitable deeds.

 

Conversely, in English, we reserve "evil" to mean not just "bad," but very-very bad. See "Buddhism and Evil" for an explanation. More

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Mara: Buddhism's Super Devil, Cupid, Lucifer

Ananda W.P. Guruge (U. West, UNESCO, Sri Lankan ambassador) Wisdom Quarterly

Mara Devaputra, or the Super Devil, is more dangerous than the other maras.

The Buddha's Encounters with Mara the Tempter

Their Representation in Literature and Art

The Dictionary of Pali Proper Names (Prof. G.P. Malalasekera) introduces Mara (a Buddhist "super devil" as:

• "the personification of Death"
• "the Evil One"
• "the Tempter"
• "(the Buddhist counterpart of the Devil or Principle of Destruction)."

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It continues: "The legends concerning Mara are, in the books, very involved and defy any attempts at unraveling them."[1]

Analyzing a series of allusions to Mara in the commentarial literature, Prof. Malalasekera further elaborates on his definition with the following observations:

1. "In the latest accounts, mention is made of five maras -- Khandha-mara, Kilesa-mara, Abhisankhara-mara, Maccu-mara, and Devaputta-mara. Elsewhere Mara is spoken of as one, three, or four."[2]
2. "The term Mara, in the older books, is applied to the whole of the worldly existence, the Five Aggregates, or the realm of rebirth, as opposed to nirvana."[3]
3. Commentaries speaking of three maras specify them as Devaputta-mara, Maccu-mara, and Kilesa-mara. When four maras are referred to, they appear to be the five maras mentioned above minus Mara Devaputta.

Prof. Malalasekera proceeds to attempt "a theory of Mara in Buddhism," which he formulates in the following manner:

"The commonest use of the word was evidently in the sense of Death. From this it was extended to mean 'the world under the sway of death' (also called Mara-dheyya, e.g. AN IV 228) and the beings therein.

"Thence, the kilesas (defilements) also came to be called Mara in that they were instruments of Death, the causes enabling Death to hold sway over the world. All temptations brought about by the kilesas were likewise regarded as the work of Death.

"There was also evidently a legend of a devaputta [a "son of the gods," one born among the celestial devas] of the Vasavatti world called Mara, who considered himself the head of the Kamavacara-world [the sense sphere] and who recognized any attempt to curb the enjoyment of sensual pleasures as a direct challenge to himself and to his authority.

"As time went on these different conceptions of the word became confused one with the other, but this confusion is not always difficult to unravel."[4]

What follows from this statement, even though Malalasekera does not elucidate, is that the term Mara, when it occurs in Buddhist literature, could signify any one of the following four:

1. An anthropomorphic deity ruling over a heaven in the sense sphere, namely, Paranimmita-Vasavatti. He is meant when Mara is called the king of the sensual realm. In this position, he is as important and prestigious as Sakka (King of the Devas) and Maha Brahma (the "Great Supremo") in whose company he is often mentioned in the canonical literature. This Mara, or Mara-devaputta, is not only a very powerful deity but is also bent on making life difficult for spiritual persons.
2. The Canon also speaks of (a) maras in the plural as a class of potent deities (e.g., SN 56.11) and (b) of previous -- hence, logically future -- maras (e.g., MN 50). According to Tibetan texts, the ascetic Siddhartha could have, with the instructions given by Arada Kalama, become a Sakra, a brahma, or a mara [all of which are best understood as posts held rather than individual historical figures].[5]
3. A personification of Death is called also the Lord of Death, the exterminator, the great king (maha raja), and the inescapable (Namuci). The preoccupation of the Buddhist quest for deliverance is consistently stressed as escaping the phenomenon of death, which presupposes rebirth. The entire range of existence falls within the realm of Mara on account of the ineluctable presence of death. (Compare with Schopenhauer's concept of "Morture."[6]) All states of existence, including the six [near-Earth] heavenly worlds of the sense sphere, are said to return to the power of Mara, which means into the power of death.[7]
4. Mara can also be seen allegorically, with almost immediate personification, of the power of temptation, the tendency towards evil, moral conflict, and the influence of such factors as indolence, negligence, and niggardliness. Similar to Satan in Judeo-Christian and Islamic thinking and Ahriman in Avestan [Zoroastrian] thought, though in no way identical, this Mara is described as Papima (i.e., "the Evil One," or simply "the Evil")[8], "Kinsman of Dalliance" (Pamattabandhu), Calumnious or Malicious (Pisuna), and "the Black" (Kanha). Grimm calls this Mara "the prince and bestower of all worldly lust" and distinguishes him from Lucifer of the Bible on the ground that this personification "always remains apparent."[9]

In this work, where the Buddha's encounters with Mara are analyzed as they are presented in literature and art, the main concern will be with Mara as a personification of temptation (No. 4 above). But I will also briefly examine how the other concepts are sometimes subsumed under this and how the literary description or the artistic representation of Mara is conditioned by the merger of three separate concepts as well as by the general body of Indian mythology.

It has to be noted that Mara is another name for the Indian "God of Love" [Cupid], known also as "Lust" (Kama) or "Deva of Lust" (Kama-deva), "Of Five Arrows" (Pañcabana), "Tormentor of Minds" (Manmatha), Bodiless (Ananga), "Flower-Weaponed" (Kusuma-yudha), and "Dragon-Flagged" (Makara-dhvaja). More

Access to Insight version:

1. Introduction
2. Mara Legends in Canonical Texts
3. Temptations by Mara in Non-canonical Buddhist Literature
4. Mara Episodes in Asian Buddhist Art
5. Conclusion

Telling the Devil to go to Hell? (comedy)

I. Rony, Wisdom Quarterly; "Swear To God" with Rev. Winton Dupree (aka Bob Odenkirk)

"The more you are motivated by LOVE, the more fearless and FREE your action will be" - DL

Ferocious avian (garuda) temple guardians warding off serpents (nagas), Thailand

 

Reverend Winton Dupree (Mr. Show)

I have a question, and I know you all have it, too. "What is up Lucifer's butt?" All he wants to do is mess us up, the crapple pie eater!

Now, I'll tell you what. I am the only preacher with the f'n cahones -- you know this, you all know this -- to say:
 
"Goddam you, Mara! I dam thee straight to purgatory! You goddam so-and-so and son of a B!" Can I get an f'n A?
 

Tricky Mara Devaputra

"F'n A!" Thank you, friends.
 

Now the Lord said, "I am the Light of the World."

 

Now he could as easily have said, "I am King Sh-t of F--- Mountain! Why would you mess with me?!"

WARNING: Rated X! Extreme Christian profanity and ungodly obscenities steeped in liberal comic mockery of fundamentalist fervor and hypocrisy! (Mr. Show with Bob & David/HBO)

• The Buddha's encounters with the real Mara (sutras)
• Encounters with the metaphorical Mara (Abhidharma)

No thanks, Mara!

Dhr. Seven, Dhr. Amber Larson, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

The Killer's disciple holding up the characteristic devil's horns (mudra) of the Dark Lord

  

But would the esteemed reverend's approach be any way to rebuke Mara Devaputra (the Killer as an angelic being of light, aka deva-putta, "son of god")? Anger in the face of anger is failure. Hatred is weakness; fear is disease.

Remember Siddhartha under the Bodhi tree. He faced Mara again and again, sometimes in a fearsome guise, sometimes in seductive mode. Mara is scheming. Mara does not play fair.

Mara (Death personified), L.A. Day of the Dead

Resistance is futile, if by "resistance" one means direct opposition. Mara (Temptation itself) is stronger than a human. But there are many things one can do: stand aside, not take the bait, distract oneself, abandon clinging by insight, or win by virtue rather than fighting.
 
Mara has no real interest in forcing only in provoking. Instead of coercing by brute strength, he inspires us to be the source of our own ruin.
 
For example, in Sutra 50 of The Middle-Length Discourses, Maha Moggallana -- one of the Buddha's chief male disciples, foremost in mystical powers -- eludes Mara. He then warns the inimical spirit what awaits as the karmic result of such harmful behavior toward enlightened disciples of the Buddha.
 
Maha Moggallana can warn Mara (Namuchi) from direct experience. For he himself, long ago, was a mara known as Mara Dusi, and he himself met with the horrific-hellish results Mara Namuchi would eventually face if he did not desist.

 

But Mara, it seems, does not listen. He does not believe there will be any karmic results for himself. He is, after all, no mere flesh and bones being. He wields dark powers, namely, the power to influence the thoughts of others, to shapeshift, to lead others astray by inspiring in them latent defilements (fear, anger, lust, delusion, discouragement, laziness, etc.)
 
Mara does not insert these into a person's mind/heart; he instigates and awakens what is there dormant and unabandoned. These things -- whether conceived of as momentary states or innate traits -- cannot be successfully opposed for very long by mere willpower or force of any kind. They can, however, be suppressed, outmaneuvered, eluded, abandoned, and completely let go by meditation (cultivation of skillful states and traits).

 

Siddhartha did not fight under the tree. But he stood his ground, it's true, refusing to rise and leave the meditation mat even at the threat of an imminent attack by an army of ogres (yakkhas) led by Mara on a giant war elephant. Finding this approach futile, Mara then sent in his three seductive "daughters" (Craving, Boredom, and Cupidity).

What to do?

The rewards of peace and ahimsa

In fighting, don't fight. In struggling, don't struggle. And in striving, the same: neither striving nor giving up. In this way one does not fall back and one does not ruin oneself by one's own efforts and over-exertion. Carry on without relenting. Elegant balance. Calm persistence. And in no long time, one realizes the fruits of compassion and wisdom.

Cupid and the Buddha (sutra)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly based on Ven. Thanissaro translation ("Farmer Discourse," Kassaka Sutra about Mara Devaputra, SN 4.19)

Buddhist Māra or Mara Devaputra is Roman Cupid, Greek Eros, Hindu Kamadeva.

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Cupid (Mara) can appear so cute!

At one time the Buddha was residing in Savatthi. Now at that time the Blessed One was instructing, urging, rousing, and encouraging his disciples with a Dharma talk on nirvana (complete freedom).

The disciples were interested, attentive, enthusiastic, absorbed in their focus listening to the teaching.
 
Then the thought occurred to Cupid (Buddhist Devaputra Mara, Māra, Hindu Kamadeva, Greek Eros): "The ascetic Gautama is instructing, urging, rousing, and encouraging his disciples with a Dharma talk on nirvana. His disciples are interested, attentive, enthusiastic, absorbed in focus listening to the teaching. What if I were to go to the ascetic Gautama to obscure his vision?"

Cupid (Māra) visits the Buddha

Then Cupid, transforming at will into the shape of a farmer with a large plowshare over his shoulder, carrying a long goad stick -- his hair disheveled, wearing clothes of coarse hemp, feet splattered with mud -- went to the Blessed One and said: "Hey, ascetic, have you seen my oxen?"

 

"And what are your 'oxen,' Cupid?"

 

"Mine alone is the eye, ascetic. Mine are forms (visible objects), mine is the sphere of consciousness (vision), and eye-contact (the coming together of sense object and consciousness) at the eye. Where can you go to escape me?

• [This is an odd brag. Mara Devaputra, a Lucifer-figure, imagines himself the "god" or "lord" of the Sensual Sphere (Kama Loka). He does not imagine rulership over the two higher and more refined spheres, the Fine-Material and Immaterial, nor of nirvana, which transcends all three spheres and their 31 planes. Mara cannot stand that anyone escapes the Sensual Sphere. Yet, the Buddha not only found an escape but also taught others the path to full liberation. So why the pride, Mara/Cupid?]

God of erotic love Eros (wiki)

"Mine alone is the ear... nose... tongue... body...
 
"Mine alone is the mind, ascetic, and mine are objects of mind (thoughts, ideas, mental impressions, notions), mine is the sphere of consciousness, and mind-contact at the mind. Where can you go to escape me?"

"Yours alone is the eye, Cupid. Yours are forms, yours is the sphere of consciousness of contact at the eye. Where no eye exists, no forms (visible objects) exist, and no sphere of consciousness of contact at the eye exists: There, Cupid, you cannot go.

"Yours alone is the ear... nose... tongue... body...

"Yours alone is the mind, Cupid. Yours are objects of mind, yours is the sphere of consciousness of contact at the mind. Where no mind exists, no mental objects exist, no sphere of consciousness of contact at the mind exists: There, Cupid, you cannot go."

Mara: "Of what they say, 'This is mine'

And those who say, 'Mine,'

If your mind is here, ascetic,

You can't escape me.

 

The Buddha: "What they speak of is not mine,

And I am not one who speaks it.

Know this, Cupid,

You will not even see my tracks."

• [That is, Mara will have no way of seeing where one who experiences nirvana goes, like a flame that goes out, it cannot be sensibly asked, "Where did it go, which direction, north, south, east, west, up, down?]

Then Cupid, sad and dejected at realizing, "The Blessed One knows me, the One Well-gone knows me," vanished then and there.

• O, Science, where's my "Mr. Right"?
• O, Buddha, what is the way to nirvana?

SUTRA: Mara (Cupid) must be crazy!

John D. Ireland (trans.), "The Great Struggle" (Padhana Sutra) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

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SUTRA: Mara must be crazy

He's very harmful, but Cupid's so cute!

[The Buddha:] "Near the river Nerañjara, when I exerted myself in meditation to attain security from bondage [1: yogakkhema = nirvana], Namuci [2: Mara] came speaking words of compassion:

• [2: Namuci is another name for Mara that means "One who does not let go" (his hold over beings easily).]

"'You are emaciated and ill-looking; you are near death! Whereas a thousand parts of you belong to death, only a fraction of you is alive.

Why should I exert (padhana) myself?

"'Live, venerable sir! It is better to live! Living you may perform many meritorious deeds. From practicing celibacy and tending the [ritual, ceremonial] sacrificial fire, much merit is made.

"'But what is to be obtained by striving? It is difficult to enter the path of exertion [effort, padhana]. It is difficult to do and difficult to maintain.'"

Mara in Ancient Rome is Cupid.

Mara spoke these words while standing in the presence of the Awakened One. To Mara speaking in this way, the Enlightened One replied:

"Friend of the negligent, O Evil One, for what reason have you come here? Those who still have need for merit, Mara may consider it worthwhile addressing them. I have confidence (saddha) and energy (padhana) and wisdom.

"Being thus bent on striving [toward the supreme goal of full enlightenment and complete liberation], why do you ask me to live [on wandering in samsara]?

Five topless women in a tub with Mara at the window behind them (express.co.uk)

 

Mara's seductive daughters try to entice

"This wind [vayo, which makes movement possible] would wither even rivers, so why shouldn't my exertion dry up blood? When the blood dries up, [the humours] bile and phlegm wither.

"On the wasting away of the flesh [the basis of sensuality], the mind becomes more and more serene. And mindfulness, wisdom, and concentration (samadhi) are firmly established. In me, who abides enduring such an extreme experience, the mind does not long for sensual pleasures. See the purification of a living being!

• [Analyzing the body into the Four Elements (dhatus) temporarily frees one from sensual craving for it. There are specific sets of practices on how to practice this analysis set out in The Path of Purification, a famous commentarial work by Buddhaghosa.]

Mara's Armies

The wandering ascetic Siddhartha kept meditating as Mara attacked in waves.

"Sensual Desire is your first army, the second is Discontent, the third Hunger-Thirst, the fourth Craving, the fifth Sluggishness-Laziness, the sixth Fear, the seventh Indecision, and the eighth Disparagement of Others and Stubbornness: gain, fame, honor, prestige wrongly acquired and whoever praises oneself and despises others -- these, Namuci, are your armies, the strike forces of the Dark One [3].

• [3: Kanha, the "Dark One" (Sanskrit Krishna), is another name for Mara. He is Ancient Indian lore's Cupid (Kamadeva) and personifies sensual passions. He carries a lute (vina), mentioned at the close, which he plays to captivate beings. His other equipment includes a bow, arrows, a noose, and a hook.

A lazy and cowardly [unenergetic and fearful] person cannot overcome them, but by conquering them one gains bliss.
 
"I wear muñja-grass! [4] Shame on life here in this world! It is better for me to die in battle than to live defeated. Some recluses and brahmanas are not seen (exerting themselves) here, so immersed are they (in worldliness). They are not aware of that path by which those of perfect conduct walk.

• [4: Indian warriors used to wear a tuft of this grass, called muñja, on their head or headgear to indicate that they were prepared even to die in battle and determined not to retreat whatever might happen.]

Cupid (at left) in Indian lore is Kamadeva.

"Seeing the surrounding army ready and Mara mounted (on a militarized elephant), I am going out to fight so that he may not move me from my position. This army of yours, which the world together with its devas is unable to subdue, that I will conquer with wisdom, like an unfired clay-bowl with a stone.

"Having mastered the mind and firmly established mindfulness (sati), I shall wander from country to country guiding many disciples [to freedom]. And they will be diligent and energetic in practicing this teaching, the teaching of one free of sensual craving, and they will go where, having gone, one no longer grieves."

Mara in Ancient Greece is Eros.

Mara: "For seven years I followed the Venerable One step by step but did not find an opportunity to defeat that mindful Awakened One. A crow flew around a stone having the color of fat: 'Can we find even here something tender? May it be something to eat?'

"Not finding anything edible the crow left that place. As with the crow and the stone, we leave Gotama [Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha], having approached and become disheartened."
 
Overcome by sorrow his lute fell from his arm and thereupon the unhappy spirit disappeared from that place.

• Low sex drive? Mara says eat this fruit to increase libido

Wait, is Mara real?

Interested in my daughters, Sid?

Māra (literally, "the killer") is the Buddhist Tempter-figure. He is often called "Māra the Evil One" (pāpimā māro) or Namuci (lit., "the non-liberator," i.e., the opponent of liberation).

Mara appears in the texts both as a real person (a deity called Mara Devaputra) and as personification of harm and passions, of the totality of worldly existence, and of death.

Later exclusively Buddhist Pāli language literature often speaks of a "Fivefold Māra" (pañca-māra):

1. the deity Mara (devaputta-māra)
2. the defilements as Mara (kilesa-mara)
3. the aggregates as Mara (khandha-mara)
4. the karma-formations as Mara (karma-mara)
5. Māra as death (maccu-mara).

These daughters do not interest me.

As a real person, Mara is regarded as the deity (deva) ruling over the highest heaven of the Sensual Sphere (kāmāvacara), that of the paranimmita vasavatti-devas, the "deities wielding power over the creations of others" (Commentary to MN 1).

According to tradition, when the Bodhisatta (Buddha-to-be) was seated under the bodhi-tree, Māra tried in vain to obstruct his attainment of enlightenment, first by frightening him with demons and so on then with his Three Daughters' allurements.

This episode is called "Māra's War" (māra-yuddha). For seven years Mara followed the Buddha, looking for any weakness in him, that is, six years before the enlightenment and one year after it (Sn. v. 446).

He also tried to induce the Buddha to pass away into final nirvana without teaching the Dharma and also when the time for the Buddha's final nirvana actually came, he urged him on. But the Buddha acted on his own insight in both cases. See DN 16. For (3) Mara as the aggregates, see S. XXIII, 1, 11, 12, 23.

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What about the Christian God/Devil?

Bhikkhu Samahita and WQ editors

Question: What about the Christian God?

The Christian God Jehovah (Hebrew, YHWH or Yahweh) exists but is neither sole creator, nor almighty, nor all-knowing. On a Buddhist cosmological scale, it is possible to place Jehovah at Level 10 (the tenth of 31 planes of existence). That realm is called "Devas Delighting in Creating" (nimmanarati). If that is the correct placement (others may argue for a different placement; see the 31 Planes of Existence below), the God worshipped in the West still deals with anger (by his own admission he is a jealous, proud, and angry god), desire, and delusion.

Wisdom Quarterly would more generously place the God of Abrahamic religions and Hinduism at Level 14 (the Realm of Maha Brahma).

The arch-opponent of Christian lore, "Satan" (in Buddhism Mara), might be placed at Level 11: "Devas Wielding Power over the Creation of Others" (paranimmita-vasavatti). But like the Christian devil, "Mara" does not refer to a single being. Mara-Devaputra is a deva (a kind of "Lucifer"); another Mara is a personification of "Death," which rules the Sensual World in its entirety (because all beings are attached to lust and of a nature to decay, pass away, and be reborn).

In this German depiction, the Devil looks quite like a Reptilian (Naga). Other beings on earth are called Maras, and these may be thought of as "demons" or spiritual soldiers dedicated to the cause of Death, corruption, anger, revenge, and spoilage.

Interestingly, just as in JudeoChristian records (Ezekiel 28:11-19, King James Bible), this being is associated with gandhabas or "heavenly musicians"* (of the lowest celestial realm, known as the Angelic Realm of the Four Great Kings). The Bible often simplifies various characters into a single being [not just monotheistically, but Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Ouroboros (the snake in the Garden of Eden), Lucifer, the Devil are either the same being over time, in different personas, or different beings controlled or said to be under the sway of Satan.]

Similarly, in Buddhist terms it could be said there are many "devils," monsters known as Nagas (serpents, dragons, or Reptilians both on earth and in celestial realms), Asuras ("Titans" who fight angels), rakshasas (demons)... Is one to believe they are all at the beck and call of Mara? No, certainly not. They have their own agendas. But in a sense, as negative influences or corrupted beings, they can be said to be "in league with Mara or Satan" because of the corrupting effect they try to exert. They may generally be called Maras ("killers") as a class as when the Buddha frequently describes this world as one "with its Brahmas and Maras, princes and humans, this generation with its priests and ascetics, its devas..." All of these types of beings are well known and numerous, except for Mara ("the killer"), a term which in the earliest discourses almost exclusively refers to a "tempter," a being also called Namuci ("the Non-liberator") or Papima-maro ("the Evil One").

One might even say that Yama, Lord of the Dead, is a kind of Devil ruling over a low "hell." That Yama is certainly not the same as Mara Devaputra anymore than discussions of beautiful Lucifer would say that the angelic being is the hellion; perhaps one became the other, but they cannot be condensed all into one being as often happens to make things simple. Beyond that there are other beings Christians would likely regard as demons. These are yakshas (ogres, goblins, yetis) and poltergeists (pretas, "hungry ghosts," departed earthbound beings who linger in a kind of Jewish or Greek hades alongside humans) or petty bhumi-devas (nature spirits).

In Buddhism, many of these are titles (Brahma, Sakka, Mara, Buddha, Yama, etc.) occupied like offices over time by many individuals. Because the time periods "in office" are usually so incredibly long -- even lasting an entire world cycle -- people forget that the titles only refer to general stations not special individuals. Anyone can become a Mara (Devil), or a deva (angel), a Brahma (God), a preta (ghost), naga (snake), animal, or even a Buddha (an "Awakened One"). It's not likely, but it is technically possible. The Buddha explained the course of actions (karma) leading to all destinations. Of these destinations, liberation is superior; nirvana ("the end of all suffering") is best.

Lucifer, Satan, demons, and "unclean spirits" -- just like God, godlings, angels, light-beings -- all still deal with varying degrees of lust, hatred, and ignorance. Mara/Satan may have developed a particularly polluted mind (as for example the story of Mara Dusi, MN 50).

Buddhas and Arhats are beyond and above deities, gods, and other beings, since they irreversibly have eliminated all greed, all hate, and all delusion! They have transcended existence and continued wandering in Samsara by attaining nirvana. Nirvana is the deathless absolute peace, the supreme bliss, the highest bliss. No trace of craving, anger, or confusion remains.

More Details

• See the 31 Planes of Existence here.
• On the recurring re-Creation, or cyclic genesis of the world, see the Aggañña Sutra (DN 27).
• Understanding Beginnings is a fundamental book on the historical Buddha.

Humorous billboard graffiti indicating that even God listens to Satanic metal music since most of Slayer's songs are about God (belowtopsecret.com).

God created Evil and the Devil?

*Where in the Bible does it say that Lucifer was a heavenly musician?

It says so in the Book of Ezekiel (28:11-19), where God gets wrathful on Lucifer, displaying quite a bit of jealously and anger, claiming the inadvertent creation of evil, mentioning Lucifer's musicianship along the way:

"Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation...Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God;..the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

"Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. [He was created with sinfulness to be found inside him?]

"By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

"Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more."