Mara – the Buddhist Satan

In my last Blog, we read about the Devil or Satan in the Christian and Islamic mythologies. This does not mean that the Satan in some form or the other did not exist in any other mythologies or cultures. Let us look at Mara, the Satan in Buddhist mythology.

It would be pertinent to mention that Mara is not a permanent devilish character in Buddhist mythology. He presents himself at an important juncture and shows its presence and thereafter, Mara manifests itself in the form of temptation and other vices for mankind, which again is a common form of the Devil.

Mara seems to have tried to lure Buddha many times in different forms. The first time it tried when Gautam (who was not the Buddha then) was leaving the gates of his city after renouncing the world. Mara offered to make him the monarch of the entire universe if he changed his mind of renouncing the world, but Gautam did not heed and carried on his pursuit.

The next time we see Mara in a more determined and fuller form. Just before Gautam attained enlightenment, Mara was determined to break Gautam’s firm resolution. Mara decided to attack Gautam with his full army with him atop an elephant. Mara’s followers were armed with weapons and in frightening forms. They hurled their weapons, but the same turned into flowers and dropped on the ground. Next Mara sent whirlwinds and earthquakes, but nothing stirred Gautam. Seeing him frustrated his children asked him the cause of such worry. Mara explained that there was a frail man under the tree who had no weapons, no army, nothing, but still managed to threaten the mighty Mara with his resolution of attaining something. This could lead to his decimation, which he could not allow, but he seemed to be unable to make any difference.

He then sent his three daughters to seduce Gautam and lead him into a world of temptation, but Gautam did not even feel their presence. As a final try, Mara claimed that the place that Gautam was sitting for his penance was his and Gautam should vacate the place immediately. As witness, Mara got his followers to echo his statement. Gautam had no witness to his claim, so he simply let his middle finger touch the ground, to which Mother earth roared back saying that she stood as a witness to Gautam’s right to the spot.

Seeing this, Mara knew that he had lost. However, not the one to give up easily, it is said that Mara called for rains to pour down heavily on Gautam. But the king of serpents who wanted Gautam to succeed came to his rescue. It coiled down under him to raise him above the mud and waters and spread its broad hood above Gautam to allow him to meditate. With this Mara knew that he had lost and he left the place with his followers.

 

A 12th Century Cambodian Bronze depicting Buddha sheltered by the Naga

It is said that Gautam was now at peace and his meditation continued for about forty-nine days, after which he attained enlightenment and he became the Buddha.

The concept of an evil being in mythology is a common factor. The intense clash with the devil or evil beings in mythology helps to refine the hero’s character and the glory at the end of it aids in the process of deification. In the case of Mara, he is personification of all the negative elements in human life, prime among them being temptation. According to Buddhists texts, Mara also means the end of spiritual life or spirituality.

In one of the texts detailing the above event, Mara’s army is said to consist of lust, hunger, thirst, craving, doubt, cowardice, etc. His three daughters who were sent to seduce Gautam had the ability to take different forms to lure and charm. Some texts have mentioned five daughters of Mara, whose names meant, attraction, aversion, delusion, pride and fear. Here Mara is nothing but the different temptations which lead man to all sorts of trouble.

Another interesting aspect of this myth is the support Buddha gets from the earth and the serpent, both of which are prominent Hindu deities. Many feel that the character of Mara was based on the Vedic demon, Namuci. This entire episode in the life of Buddha, blends well with the mythological tract of a hero’s clash with the evil, as well as blend with the Hindu elements of aid coming from other minor Hindu deities in the quest for enlightenment.

An interesting myth on the occasion of Buddha Purnima, today!

Fall of the Angels

In the world of mythology (and sometimes theology) all creation has been credited to the primeval entity, the Creator. All that we see, the universe, the earth, the rivers, mountains, plants, animals, man, have been created by the creator, whom we will refer as God. Sounds great. This brings forth a debate though – if everything was created by god, then did he also create evil and the Devil?

If god created everything so beautiful, why did he have to pepper it with a devil and his home, the hell?

This brings me to an interesting Christian myth known as the fall of the angels. Before God sent his chosen son to the earth, Lucifer was an angel in the kingdom of God. Lucifer was of the opinion that he was the most favoured amongst all the angels, till the day, when God ordained that Christ, his son, was equal to him and would also be the chosen one amongst all to lead God’s mission.

Lucifer was disappointed and saw the elevation of Christ as an unfair gesture on the part of God. Lucifer’s discontent with God soon gathered momentum into a rebellion by a small group of angels led by him. The others tried to pacify Lucifer and reason out that if God had chosen his son to lead, then there was nothing wrong in it, but Lucifer and his followers would not listen. Soon the matter reached God and his Son and matters came to a confrontation.

It is said that God threw Lucifer and his angels out of his kingdom and thus the term – fall of angels. It is the same Lucifer who then became Satan or the Devil.

 

Statue of the Fallen Angel, Retiro Park (Madrid, Spain) Courtesy Wikipedia

An artists impression of Shaitaan

A similar example is found in Islam. According to Islam, the character similar to Lucifer was Iblis. However, Iblis was not an angel, but a Jinn. According to Islam, angels were servants of god and could never disobey Him, but Jinn’s were like humans who could make choices (to follow the right path or not, or to obey or not). Iblis’s crime was that he had refused to bow before Adam. For this he was banished from Jannat, heaven and thus he became Shaitaan or the Devil. It is said that from day onwards, Shaitaan took upon him to create mischief for God’s creation by leading him into temptation and commit sin; the creation which god was so proud of.

So coming back to the first question, did god create Satan/Shaitaan? Did he not have in him the power of destroying this evil, instead of just throwing him out of his kingdom?

Lucifer in Latin means the ‘morning star’ or the planet Venus. It is called the morning star as it heralds the advent of morning. If this sounds ironic for a character who is characterised by darkness and all things negative, then herein lies the message. Lucifer was an angel, but Satan is the devil. This might imply, that there is both good and evil in man, it is only which one finds prominence in the personality. If man has the choice, then what choice should he exercise – to be good or to be evil?

Philosophers say that the Creator did not want to create followers, who had no choice but to praise him. Along with man, He created conscience and free will. Man has the choice and depending on his faculties and the ability to choose, he chooses the path of righteousness or evil. Lucifer had the choice of being loyal to God and be an angel, but he chose to rebel and become Satan.

For the religious, this is a debate of God vs. Satan. For the rationalist, this is a debate of good vs. evil or right vs. wrong. Whatever it be, one thing is for sure, the greatness of good gets highlighted only in the awareness of what is bad. If you have not burnt your hand, you wouldn’t know what it feels like when you run cold water over the burn.

But one final question. Why does evil befall even to those who choose the path of righteousness? If one has made the right choice, then why does he go through ‘hell’? Why do innocent people who choose the path of god or goodness, have to suffer in the hands of evil? Why do the evil gain prominence to such an extent that one wonders, who is more powerful, go(o)d or evil? It must have been this dilemma, which must have made one of the inmates at a German concentration camp write on the walls before he was sent to the gas chambers – “If there is a God, He must beg my forgiveness one day”!*

Finally, around last month some Italian archaeologists have discovered the ruins of some ancient mythological cave in Turkey, believed to be the ‘Gate to Hell’, which has been emitting poisonous carbon fumes. It was known as Plutonium, or Pluto’s Gate, is a portal to the underworld, in the Graeco-Roman mythology. For more on this: “Discovered: Mythical ‘gate to hell’ emitting deadly fumes ...)

*The quote is taken from an article from Spiritual Atheist, The Economic Times.

Aphrodite’s infidelity

Here is an interesting Greek myth which talks of Aphrodite’s infidelity.

Let me introduce the characters first –

Aphrodite – goddess of love and wife of Hephaestus; she is also known as Venus in Roman mythology

Hephaestus – the blacksmith of gods, also known as Vulcan in Roman mythology, (the word ‘volcano’ gets its name from Vulcan; the ancient Romans believed that a volcano occurred when Vulcan was working in his forge making thunderbolts and weapons for the gods)

Ares – the god of war also known as Mars in Roman mythology.

Helios – the Sun god

Aphrodite and Hephaestus did not have a happy married life as Aphrodite never liked the old and lame Hephaestus. From his end, Hephaestus was too busy with his craft and did not make any effort to work on the relationship. Ares was a handsome young man, and soon Aphrodite and Ares were meeting at Hephaestus’s home, in his absence.

During one such escapade, Helios, who is everywhere during the day, saw them on Hephaestus’ bed. He reported the matter to Hephaestus, who was angry. Hephaestus planned to catch them red-handed. Hephaestus made a fine invisible net of bronze and laid it on his bed. He left for his work soon after. When Ares saw him leaving, he immediately came to Aphrodite and both headed for the bed. No sooner had they gone to bed, both of them were ensnared in the invisible net, so much so, that they couldn’t even move.

On getting the message from Helios, Hephaestus came back and caught them in the act. He made a lot of noise and called all the gods and goddesses to come and see both of them. The goddesses were embarrassed by the act of Aphrodite and so they all stayed back, but the gods came and took voyeuristic pleasure in seeing both in the act, with not a shred of cloth on them.

Some gods made fun of Hephaestus for making a marital issue public, while some envied Ares, while still others just laughed at the predicament. After much embarrassment, Poseidon, the god of seas, decided to mediate. He requested Hephaestus to let go of Ares after making him pay a fine for adultery. Poseidon even agreed to stand guarantee for the payment. Hephaestus released both of them and Ares immediately left the city. It is said that Aphrodite later gave birth to a child, who was named Harmonia (the origin of the word ‘Harmony’).

On the surface of it, the myth gives a moral message against infidelity, which I will skip as I am sure all the readers have understood it. Let me give you an insight into the symbolism of such myths.

According to some scholars, this was a comment on the art of blacksmithing -

Fire (i.e. Hephaestus) softens iron (i.e. Ares). In this work, as in any work, one needs to apply passion (i.e. Aphrodite). After the iron has been softened, one needs to use water (i.e. Poseidon) to cool it off. From this myth, one can surmise, that the essence of hot and dry and its opposite, i.e. the cold and wet, sometimes draw the universe together and sometimes pull it apart. When together, it gives birth to harmony. This is one of the most beautiful interpretations of an otherwise simple tale of infidelity.

Some scholars have gone ahead to say, that the union of Aphrodite and Ares amounts to adultery. According to them, the two are not naturally inclined to be together, and thus goes against the norm, but when together, produce harmony. Some scholars have interpreted the laughter of the gods too. According to them, the union of love and strife is a cause for joy, which is to be seen in the form of divine laughter as against the cynical as seen in the myth.

Whatever message one takes is on one’s own self, but one thing is for sure, the myth is pregnant with inherent symbolism!