Mara, The Personification of the Forces Antagonistic to Enlightenment."
- Mar 27, 2022
- 9 min read
Updated: Feb 25, 2025
In Buddhist cosmology, Mara is associated with death, rebirth and desire, and the noun means 'who is causing death' or 'who is killing'. Mara personifies unskillfulness: the "death" of the spiritual life.
Demon and Meaning
Relief fragment of Mara in Gandhara style, found in Swat Valley
(*) Under the titles “Prince of Darkness,” “Tempter,” “Lord of Death,” and “Evil One”, Mara weaves his way through Buddhist scripture, wreaking havoc and sowing bad karma where he goes. This god is hell-bent on obstructing enlightenment, and with his boundless influence over the lives and hearts of men, he is very good at achieving his goal.
Mara can be understood in the 2 ways:
not only as the metaphoric demonic King figure in the story of the Buddha - when in the course of his meditations, the Buddha was tempted by the demon Mara,
but also as a representation of our inner temptations - mainly inside of one’s ego (our occasionally states of mind that we express by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving") - that is the true obstruct of walking the path to enlightenment.
Therefore, overcoming Mara is equivalent to overcoming our own ego.
He is a tempter, distracting humans from practicing the Buddhist dharma through making the mundane seem alluring, or the negative seem positive. Buddhism utilizes the concept of Mara to represent and personify negative qualities found in the human ego and psyche. The stories associated with Mara remind Buddhists that such demonic forces can be tamed by controlling one's mind, cravings and attachments.
In traditional Buddhism four senses, or metaphorical forms of the word Māra are given.
Firstly, there is Kleśa-māra, or Mara as the embodiment of all unskillful emotions, such as greed, hate and delusion;
Secondly, Mṛtyu-māra, or Mara as death, in the sense of the ceaseless round of birth and death;
Thirdly, Skandha-māra, or Mara as metaphor for the entirety of conditioned existence;
Lastly, Devaputra-māra, or Mara, the deva of the sensuous realm, who tried to prevent Gautama Buddha from attaining liberation from the cycle of rebirth, that is, Mara as an objectively existent being rather than as a metaphor. This last connotation of Mara is strikingly similar to the Hindu concept of Maya (Illusive Veil that covers the reality), which may suggest that the two words Maya and Mara are perhaps directly related.
Other names appear in literature:
Mara is also known as Namuci ("not-loosing"), a demon described in the Hindu Vedic literature as causing drought.
Mara is also called Kanha ("the dark one"), associating his power with darkness, a metaphor for confusion.
Other epithets of Mara are Maccu ("death"), Antaka ("the end"), and Papima ("evil one"), all of which further attest to his notoriety in Buddhist thought and literature.
Describing Mara thus is a literary allusion (how interpret) used by Buddhists to indicate his power and malevolence.
Many religions speak of those demonic forces within the cosmos representing the antithesis of truth and goodness — these forces are ultimately vanquished in the triumph of good over evil, or truth over untruth.
In the Story of the Buddha
The Buddha triumphing over Mara, 900–1000. India; probably Kurkihar, Bihar state. Stone. Courtesy of the Asian Art Museum, The Avery Brundage Collection, B60S598.
Mara sent his armies, various temptations, and finally (as depicted here) a challenge that the Buddha must defend his claim of enlightenment. The Buddha touched the earth, and called the earth to witness his achievement.
This “touching the earth” is seen as a significant gesture (mudra) in this sculpture.
This iconography of the Buddha became very popular throughout Asia.
In Buddhist iconography, Mara is most often presented as a hideous demon (although sometimes he is depicted as an enormous elephant, cobra or bull).
When shown in an anthropomorphic (human) form he is usually represented riding an elephant with additional tusks.
Other popular scenes of Mara show his demon army attacking the Buddha, his (*) daughters tempting the Buddha, or the flood that washes away those under Mara's command.
Meaning of Desires
Wikipedia: [...] are states of mind that are verbally expressed by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving".
A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires:
They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of affairs.
They aim to change the world by representing how the world should be,
unlike beliefs, which aim to represent how the world actually is.
Desires are closely related to agency and volition: they motivate the agent to realize them. For this to be possible, a desire has to be combined with a belief about which action would realize it.
Desires present their objects in a favorable light, as something that appears to be good. Their fulfillment is normally experienced as pleasurable,
in contrast to the negative experience of failing to do so.
Conscious desires are usually accompanied by some form of emotional response.
Both beliefs and desires are representations of the world.
What Is Mara?
Mara is a demonic god who runs rampant in Kāmadhātu, the “Desire Realm” of Buddhist cosmography. He attempts to corrupt the other inhabitants of Kāmadhātu, including animals, humans, and demigods, by tempting them with desire and instilling them with fear.
Early Buddhism acknowledged both a literal and psychological interpretation of Mara.
Mara is described both as an entity having an existence in Kāma-world, the Desire Realm of existence (Kāmadhātu) just as are shown existing around the Buddha, and also is described as, primarily,
the guardian of passion and the catalyst for (*) lust, hesitation and fear that obstructs meditation among Buddhists. It is also refered as the "One Who Delights in Destruction", which highlights his nature as a deity among the Parinirmitavaśavarti devas.
"Buddha defying Mara" is a common pose of Buddha sculptures. The Buddha is shown with his left hand in his lap, palm facing upwards and his right hand on his right knee. The fingers of his right hand touch the earth, to call the earth as his witness for defying Mara and achieving enlightenment. This posture is also referred to as the "earth-witness" mudra.
Characteristics
Physical Description
Most contemporary Buddhists believe that Mara only has a metaphorical existence. Although he doesn’t take a physical form, he is nevertheless real and must be combatted.
Early followers of Buddhism believed that Mara had both a metaphorical and literal existence, which allowed him to take physical form in Kāmadhātu. Ancient drawings show Mara as a fat-bodied creature with either blue-green or angry red skin. Like most wrathful gods in Indian culture, he usually has three eyes and may have six arms. A crown of human skulls encircles his head, and he is often seen riding an elephant or in the company of serpents.
Special Abilities
Mara’s greatest power is his influence over the other inhabitants of the Desire Realm. Not only can he summon millions of different other demons to him whenever he pleases, but also, he can turn good men and women into his tools as well - with clever lies and cunning truths, he succeeds at filling hearts with greed, lust, anger, jealousy, confusion, fear, and depression.
Mara can also disguise himself by taking the form of other people. He can appear as someone you hate, someone you love, someone you fear, or someone you trust, and twist your mind with false messages delivered by a friend or a foe.
All of Mara’s deviance is designed to inspire (bring desire spirits, and deceipt spirits into) the people of Kāmadhātu, in order to make them accumulate bad karma, so that they are unable to break their karmic cycle and escape from the Desire Realm, where they exist in physical world, but under the shadow of his influence.
Three daughters of Mara (*)
The first temptations and provations, are Mara's three daughters, who are identified as:
Taṇhā (Thirst or Craving, Famine, Delusion, Ignorance or Stupidity),
Arati (Aversion, Discontentment, Repugnance),
and Rāga (Attachment, Desire, Greed, Passion).
For example, in the Samyutta Nikaya's Māra-saṃyutta, Mara's three daughters were stripping in front of Buddha; but failed to entice the Buddha:
They had come to him glittering with beauty – Taṇhā, Arati, and Rāga – but the Teacher swept them away right there as the wind, a fallen cotton tuft.
Mara's three daughters represent the Three Poisons:
Attraction (Passion)
(Passion is a strong and intractable or barely controllable emotion or inclination with respect to a particular person or thing. Passion can range from eager interest in, or admiration for, an idea, proposal, or cause; to enthusiastic enjoyment of an interest or activity; to strong attraction, excitement, or emotion towards a person. It is particularly used in the context of romance or sexual desire, though it generally implies a deeper or more encompassing emotion than that implied by the term lust, often incorporating ideas of ecstasy and/or suffering.)
Aversion (Repugnance)
(The wisdom of repugnance or "appeal to disgust", also known informally as the yuck factor, is the belief that an intuitive (or "deep-seated") negative response to some thing, idea, or practice should be interpreted as evidence for the intrinsically harmful or evil character of that thing. Furthermore, it refers to the notion that wisdom may manifest itself in feelings of disgust towards anything which lacks goodness or wisdom, though the feelings or the reasoning of such 'wisdom' may not be immediately explicable through reason.)
Delusion (Ignorance or Stupidity)
Delusion is a false fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or some other misleading effects of perception, as individuals with those beliefs are able to change or readjust their beliefs upon reviewing the evidence.
Ignorance is a lack of knowledge and understanding. The word "ignorant" is an adjective that describes a person in the state of being unaware, or even cognitive dissonance and other cognitive relation, and can describe individuals who are unaware of important information or facts. Ignorance can appear in three different types: factual ignorance (absence of knowledge of some fact), object ignorance (unacquaintance with some object), and technical ignorance (absence of knowledge of how to do something).
Stupidity is a quality or state of being stupid, or an act or idea that exhibits properties of being stupid. In a character study of "The Stupid Man" (Theophrastus (c. 371 – c. 287 BC), stupidity was defined as "mental slowness in speech or action". The modern English word "stupid" has a broad range of application, from being slow of mind (indicating a lack of intelligence, care or reason), dullness of feeling or sensation (torpidity, senseless, insensitivity), or lacking interest or point (vexing, exasperating). It can either imply a congenital lack of capacity for reasoning, or a temporary state of daze, or slow-mindedness.)
... and they are his most powerful allies. He uses the beautiful girls as weapons to plant negative feelings in the people of Kāmadhātu and inspire them to accumulate bad karma.
Different texts assign different numbers of daughters to the Prince of Darkness. Most often, he has three daughters. In other texts, he has 10 daughters, sometimes called the Ten Chief Sins. They are Sakkaya-ditthi (pride, conceit), Vicikiccha (skepticism, doubt), Silabbata Paramasa (devotion to wrong rituals), Kama-raga (sensuality, desire), Patigha (ill will), Rupa-raga (attachment to the Form Realm), Arupa-raga (attachment to the Formless Realm), Mana (superiority), Uddhacca (restlessness, turmoil), and Avija (ignorance).
Cultural Representation
Origin
Neither the concept of Mara nor his name are Buddhist inventions. Prior to Buddhism, Hindu texts from the Vedic Period contained a god with the same name, who represented both sexuality and death. Even earlier Hindu texts contain numerous yakshas, nature spirits who resemble Mara in their powers, habits, and goals.
It’s clear from early Buddhist texts that the Evil One has been a player in Buddhist lore from the beginning. He appears in some of the earliest scriptures, written about a century after Buddha’s death, and Buddha himself talks to his disciples about Mara.
Explanation of the Myth
Many modern Buddhists have come to understand Mara as a psychological phenomenon. Mara is a conglomerate of all the distractions that Buddhists must overcome to build good karma and reach enlightenment. Indeed, when you try to delve deep into a meditative state, it might feel like you are battling a swarm of demons — or one demonic god — along the way.
Mara has also been interpreted as a metaphor for samsara, the cycle of death and re-birth which Buddhists are trying to escape. Mara is considered a god of desire and sensuality as well as a god of death. He creates and destroys life over and over again, thus creating samsara. When the Buddha defeated Mara and when he urges his followers to oppose Mara, he may actually be calling them to escape samsara.
Deep-rooted cultural customs may have driven early Buddhists to anthropomorphize Mara, as it was easier for them to rationalize Mara’s power as the power of a rampant god than a psychological phenomenon. The construct of gods was more familiar than the construct of the human psyche.
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