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Mara(demon)
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Mara(Sanskrit:mraChinese:pinyin:mTibetan

RelieffragmentofMara
inGandharastyle,found
inSwatValley

Wylie:bdudKhmer:Burmese: Thai:Sinhalese:),inBuddhism,
isthedemonthattemptedGautamaBuddhabytryingtoseducehimwiththevisionof
beautifulwomenwho,invariouslegends,areoftensaidtobeMara's
daughters.[1]InBuddhistcosmology,Marapersonifiesunwholesomeimpulses,
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unskillfulness,the"death"[2]ofthespirituallife.Heisa
tempter,distractinghumansfrompracticingthe
spirituallifebymakingmundanethingsalluring,orthe
negativeseempositive.

Contents[hide]
1 Etymology
2 Overview
3 Overseer
4 Threedaughters
5 Skandhamaras
Thedemonsofmara.Palm
6 Seealso
leaf
7 Notes manuscript.Nalanda,Bihar,Indi
8 Sources a
9 Furtherreading
10 Externallinks

Etymology [ edit ]

Theword"Mra"comesfromtheProtoIndo
Europeanroot*mermeaningtodie.Theword"mer"is
alsofoundinthePashtolanguageandhasthesame
meaning.TheSanskritformoftheverbalrootism.
Ittakesapresentindicativeformmyateanda
causativeformmrayati(withstrengtheningoftheroot
vowelfromtor).Mraisaverbalnounfromthe
causativerootandmeans'causingdeath'or'killing'.It
isrelatedtootherwordsfordeathfromthesameroot, Mara'sassaultonthe
suchas:maraaandmtyu.Thelatterisanamefor Buddha
(ananiconicrepresentation:the
deathpersonifiedandissometimesidentified Buddhaisonlysymbolized
withYama. byhisthrone),2nd
century,Amaravati,India

Overview [ edit ]
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IntraditionalBuddhismfourmetaphoricalformsof
"mra"aregiven:[3]

Kleamra,orMa
raastheembodimentof
allunskillfulemotions,suchasgreed,hateand
delusion. Maradepictedinthe
Burmesestyle,attemptingto
Mtyumra,orMraasdeath. temptBuddha
Skandhamra,orMraasmetaphorforthe
entiretyofconditionedexistence.
Devaputramra,thedevaofthesensuousrealm,whotriestopreventGautama
BuddhafromattainingliberationfromthecycleofrebirthonthenightoftheBuddha
senlightenment.

Overseer [ edit ]

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containsoriginal
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madeandaddinginline
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EarlyBuddhismacknowledgedbothaliteralandpsychologicalinterpretationofMara.
SpeciallyMaraisdescribedbothasanentityhavinganexistenceinKmaworld,[4]just
asareshownexistingaroundtheBuddha,andalsoisdescribed
inpaiccasamuppdaas,primarily,theguardianofpassionandthecatalystforlust,
hesitationandfearthatobstructsmeditationamongBuddhists.

"BuddhadefyingMara"isacommonposeofBuddhasculptures.TheBuddhaisshown
withhislefthandinhislap,palmfacingupwardsandhisrighthandonhisrightknee.
Thefingersofhisrighthandtouchtheearth,tocalltheearthashiswitnessfordefying
Maraandachievingenlightenment.Thispostureisalsoreferredtoasthe'earth
touching'mudra.

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ThedemonMarainBuddhismissometimescalledKamaMarawhichmeansdesireand
deathandhasparallelswithGreekmythologyaswellaspsychologyinErosThanatos.

Threedaughters [ edit ]

InsomeaccountsoftheBuddha'senlightenment,itissaidthatthedemonMradidn't
sendhisthreedaughterstotemptbutinsteadtheycamewillinglyafterMra'ssetback
inhisendeavortoeliminatetheBuddha'squestforenlightenment.Mara'sthree
daughtersareidentifiedasTah(Craving),Arati(Aversion/Discontentment),
andRaga(Attachment/Desire/Greed/Passion).[5][6]Forexample,intheSamyutta
Nikaya'sMrasayutta,Mara'sthreedaughterswerestrippinginfrontofBuddhabut
failedtoenticetheBuddha:

Theyhadcometohimglitteringwithbeauty
Tah,Arati,andRga
ButtheTeachersweptthemawayrightthere
Asthewind,afallencottontuft.[7]

SomestoriesrefertotheexistenceofFiveDaughters,whorepresentnotonlythe
ThreePoisonsofAttraction,Aversion,andDelusion,butalsoincludethedaughters
Pride,andFear.

Skandhamaras [ edit ]

MarasasmanifestationsofthefiveskandhasaredescribedintheragamaStra.In
itssectiononthefiftyskandhamaras,eachofthefiveskandhashastenskandha
marasassociatedwithit,andeachskandhamaraisdescribedindetailasadeviation
fromcorrectsamdhi.Theseskandhamarasarealsoknownasthe"fiftyskandha
demons"insomeEnglishlanguagepublications.

Seealso [ edit ]

Demiurge
Eros
Grmekhala
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Kamadeva
Mara
Marzanna
Mors(mythology)
Thanatos

Notes [ edit ]
1.^See,forinstance,SN4.25,entitled,"Mra'sDaughters"(Bodhi,2000,pp.21720),as
wellasSn835(Saddhatissa,1998,page98).Ineachofthesetexts,Mara'sdaughters
(Mradht)arepersonifiedbysensualCraving(tah),Aversion(arati)andPassion
(rga).
2.^Marathegodofdeath
3.^Buswell,RobertJrLopez,DonaldS.Jr.,eds.(2013).PrincetonDictionaryofBuddhism.
Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress.pp.530531,550,829.ISBN9780691157863.
4.^regardedasthedeityrulingoverthehighestheavenofthesensuoussphere
5.^TheBuddha'sEncounterswithMaratheTempter
6.^See,e.g.,SN4.25(Bodhi,2000,pp.21720),andSn835(Saddhatissa,1998,p.98).In
asimilarfashion,inSn436(Saddhatissa,1998,p.48),tahispersonifiedasoneof
Death'sfourarmies(sen)alongwithdesire(km),aversion(arati)andhungerthirst
(khuppips).
7.^SN4.25,v.518(Bodhi,2000,p.220).

Sources [ edit ]

Bodhi,Bhikkhu(trans.)(2000).TheConnectedDiscoursesoftheBuddha:A
TranslationoftheSamyuttaNikaya.Boston:WisdomPubs.ISBN0861713311.
Saddhatissa,H.(translator)(1998).TheSuttaNipta.London:RoutledgeCurzon
Press.ISBN0700701818.

Furtherreading [ edit ]

Guruge,AnandaW.P.(1991)."TheBuddha'sencounterswithMara,theTempter:
theirrepresentationinLiteratureandArt" (PDF).IndologicaTaurinensia.1718:
183208.Archivedfromtheoriginal (PDF)onNovember22,2014.

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Boyd,JamesW.(1971)."SymbolsofEvilinBuddhism" .TheJournalofAsian
Studies31(1):6375.viaJSTOR(subscriptionrequired)

Externallinks [ edit ]

TheBuddha'sEncounterswithMaratheTempter:TheirRepresentationin
LiteratureandArt
TamingtheMara
Mara,theEvilOne_99

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