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SUMMARY and COMMENTS the Portrait Which Emerges from The CHAPTER EIGHT SUMMARY AND COMMENTS The portrait which emerges from the references to Mara in the early Indian Buddhist literature is essentially the following. On the one hand Mara is the name of a deva of high status within the cosmology of early Buddhists. On the other hand the term "Mara" meaning "death" is identified with the plurality of conditions and defilements of samsara. This ambivalence as well as versatility of the Mara references is summarized in the four-Maras formula. The skandhamiira epitomizes all the conditions of samsara that are subject to death (miyati). The kleSamiira epitomizes one's own karmic acts of defilement and sense desire that result in "death" (internal miiretii). The devaputramiira refers to some external causal agent, force or event which lies outside one's own control and which also results in "death" (external miiretii). Finally, mrtyumiira marks the essential character basic to all types of reference to Mara, encompassing all conditions and events of samsara as well as the deeds of the Mara deva, namely mrtyu, "death-itself." "Death" for the early Indian Buddhist refers to continual death after rebirth. The nature and power of the devaputramiira (Miira papimii) is described in the selected texts in the following way. Mara is a deva with a mind-made body, who together with the six classes of devas in the Kamaloka, enjoys the maturing of his good karma. Though virtuous and long-lived, Mara is subject to impermanence and sorrow like all beings in samsara. As the "Lord of the world of desire," however, Mara enjoys the splendor and majesty of his cosmological position as Chief of the Paranirmitavasavartin devas, the highest class of devas in the Kamaloka. His host of followers includes the six classes of devaputras in the Kamaloka, his beautiful daughters and virtuous sons, as well as an army of pisiicas, riik$asas and yak$as of inconceivable number and ugliness. Mara's realm, which is death's realm, extends beyond the Kamaloka to the Rupa and Arupa worlds. The entire triple world, in other words, is assailed by Mara the Evil One, for within samsara one is never freed from the fear of birth and death and continual becoming. Mara's deeds are concentrated in the realm where he is most effective, the Kamaloka. Here Mara holds in bondage by sense 130 MA RA-THE EARLY INDIAN BUDDHIST TRADITION desires the multitude of beings in this sphere of the universe. On occasion Mara even possesses individuals and groups of the Kamalo­ ka, which most often results in verbal acts of disrespect toward the Buddha and his followers, i.e., those who threaten Mara's power over the world. Mara seeks to confuse and perplex the Buddha and his followers by promoting bad opinions, sowing discord and undermining their confidence in the truth and power of Enlighten­ ment. Anything he can do to obstruct and interrupt those who are followers of the path of Enlightenment, he attempts. For example, he interrupts the meditations of bhikkhus as well as the solitude of the Buddha, and is thus called "the great disturber of the minds of living beings". In order to swerve the bodhisattva from the path, Mara sometimes encourages man's inclinations toward sense desires, other times speaks harsh accusations attempting to preserve traditional social and religious ideals not in accord with the Middle Path. Mara also resorts to attacking the Buddha with his fearful army. All of this is to assert his power and achieve his purpose of the continuance of life which forever remains subject to death and destruction. Mara is known by that name which etymologically means "death", or more precisely, "the one who kills or causes death", and is frequently associated with the coordinate to death, Kama, god of sensual love and worldly enjoyment. Also Mara is the Evil One (piipima) , evil (papa) entailing not only that which is morally bad but more objectively, all that is essentially miserable and full of suffering, i.e., subject to death. In this sense the Mara deva himself is subject to Mara. Yet as pervasive and inherent to samsara as the power of Mara is, the early Buddhists believed that Gotama the Buddha and other arhats were able to conquer this Mara deva and his death realm. All who follow the Middle Path, which includes the practice and realization of sUa (morality), samadhi (concentration) and paiiiia (wisdom), shall defeat Mara. And, it will be recalled, even Mara the Evil One may become in the future as devoted a follower to the Path as was the disciple Mogallana, the former Diisi Mara. On the basis of this summary portrait of Mara, some comments on other interpretations of the Mara figure can be made. J. Masson, in his book La religion populaire dans le canon bouddhique pali, devotes a chapter to an interpretation of the Mara symbo1.1 He groups the ------- 1 (Louvain; Bureaux du Museon, 1942), pp. 99-II3. .
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