Mara
(South and Central Asian mythology)
In Indian mythology Kama and Mara are the two sides of existence: the desire for life and the fear of death—the tasty bait and the keen hook. These two powers rule the world of the unawakened, those beguiled by maya. To escape from this non-enlightenment the Buddha preached his doctrine, which was called yana, a vehicle, a ferry to the other shore, where spiritual ignorance no longer held sway.
Mara, the master magician of illusion, became in Buddhist myth the Evil One. Because the Buddha delivers men from desire, birth, and death, Mara was his special enemy, and thus his tempter as well as those who would follow his law. Threatened by Enlightenment, the powerful demon committed his entire strength to the capture of the Gautama's mind, but below the outstretched branches of the Bo Tree the meditating sage sat unmoved. Assailed by the forces of Mara, the Buddha simply touched the earth with the tips of his fingers, whereupon there was a tremendous roar of approbation and the gods descended to pay their homage. Though defeated and shamed, Mara is said to linger in the world, hoping to seize the souls of the dying.
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Mara
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Buddhist Lord of the Senses, who repeatedly tempted the Buddha Gautama. When Gautama seated himself under the bodhi tree to await enlightenment, the evil Mara appeared in the guise of a messenger claiming that a rival had usurped the family throne. After sending a storm of rain, rocks, ashes, and darkness to frighten away the gods who had gathered, he challenged Gautama's right to sit beneath the tree and sent forth his three daughters, Trsna, Rati, and Raga (thirst, desire, and delight), to seduce Gautama, but to no avail. After the Buddha had achieved enlightenment, Mara pressed him to abandon any attempt to preach, but the gods successfully persuaded him to preach the law.
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The Buddhist ‘devil’. Technically a god (deva), Māra is the enemy of the Buddha and constantly tries to disrupt his teaching in order to prevent beings reaching nirvāṇa where they would be beyond his grasp. He makes two main appearances in the Buddha's life, one just before he gains enlightenment (bodhi) and the other shortly before his death. On the first occasion, accompanied by his daughters (see Māra's daughters) he tries alternately to tempt and frighten the Buddha, but to no avail. On the second occasion he tries to persuade the Buddha to pass away into parinirvāṇa, but the Buddha delays his passing for a time. More abstractly, Māra, whose name literally means ‘death’, symbolizes all that is connected with the realm of rebirth (saṃsāra) and opposed to nirvāṇa. There are said to be four forms of Māra: (1) Māra of the aggregates (skandha-māra), or Māra as a symbol of human mortality; (2) Māra as the Lord of Death (mṛtyu-māra); (3) Māra as the vices and moral defilements (kleśa-māra); and (4) the gods in the retinue of Māra (devaputra-māra).
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Mara (Hindu goddess)
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Mara is a Hindu goddess of death.[dubious ]
In Hinduism, Mara brings death (Mrtyu) in the same way that Kama brings love and intimacy. On their own, neither is important, but act more as attributes than as deities. Generally references to Mara as an individual are referenced to Maya Devi (Queen Māyā).
See also
- Mara (demon), a "demon" of the Buddhist cosmology
- Maya Devi Temple, Haridwar, a Hindu temple dedicated to Queen Māyā
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Copyrights:
Oxford Dictionary of World Mythology
A Dictionary of World Mythology. Copyright © Arthur Cotterell 1979, 1986, 2003. All rights reserved.
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism
A Dictionary of Buddhism. Copyright © 2003, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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