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Mara, the Buddhist Manifestation of Evil

© Wayne Kreger

The many traditions of the world will often anthropomorphize evil. In Buddhist tradition we find evil personified in Mara, the "death causer". However, we may find our own preconceptions of "evil" are not completely adequate in understanding this Buddhist "devil". The figure Mara is most often likened to Satan in the Abrahamic faiths - this is a poor analogy, on par with equating Buddha with a creator deity. His role in Buddhist myth is more nuanced than that - he is not simply an opponent to Buddha or the Buddhist dharma.

Mara's most important appearance in Buddhist lore is his attack on Buddha under the Bodhi tree, just prior to Buddha's enlightenment. There are several accounts of this meeting from early Buddhist sources, showing that it is a thread in Buddhism that had its birth very early in the tradition. One source, the Buddhacarita, is taken as the standard biography and record of Buddha's life. In this story we find Buddha being observed by Mara and his entourage of demons. Mara recognizes that Buddha is on the verge of transcending the realm of senses and desire - Mara's domain - and engages in attempts to prevent this enlightenment through violence and distraction. He sends horrible, monstrous demons to attack him, but they are ignored and their weapons are turned into flowers. Mara sends his daughters, transformed from disgusting creatures into beautiful women, to distract Buddha - however, he recognizes them and their purpose, and rebukes them. Mara himself appears before Buddha, a terrifying monster mounted on his elephant, wielding powerful weapons, but even then he is unable to break his concentration and will. The lord of sense-desire mocks Buddha, admitting that though he has been beaten, there is no one there to witness Buddha's victory. Buddha replies that the earth will be his witness, and touches the ground - the earth trembles in response, indicating that it will indeed bear witness to Buddha's triumph. These events are some of the most popular portrayed in Buddhist art, and often discussed in Buddhist lore.

Understanding Mara's role as evil personified requires an understanding of evil as seen by Buddhists. In the Abrahamic faiths Satan is evil because he is opposed to the creator - evil is recognized as those things that are in opposition to God. In Buddhism, "evil" is equated with the ignorance that causes all beings to be entangled in the realm of senses and desire. It is no coincidence then that Mara is described as the lord of the sense and desire realm. It is also important to note that prior to the emergence of Buddhism (for Mara is not a Buddhist invention) Mara was sometimes described as the deity of erotic love, perhaps the most entangling of the sense-desire constructs. Thus, in the story we read in the Buddhacarita, there is a double meaning. It can be read literally, as Buddha's victory over a demon (ie, Mara), or figuratively, as Buddha's victory over the realm of sense and desire, illustrated as Mara.

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