Buddha
As I was telling you, I am watching the Saga of Buddha on Netflix and I am fascinated by Buddha's life story. After watching yesterday's episode I found myself a little confused about Buddha's temptation. So many questions arise.
It is depicted so similarly to Christ's temptation as He travelled for forty days in the dessert...yet I am wondering if that is the result of Christian influence over the years or vice versa. Is there similarity between the two for reasons that should be obvious but aren't? How do the two temptations connect or do they?
I am wondering what version of Buddha's time below the Bodhi tree, to believe as I research through history, scripture and literature. Depiction of this temptation changes so much from one interpretation to the next, one culture to the next and one venue of expression to the next.
Who is Mara/Maara and what does he and his three daughters represent?
What was Buddha (and Christ) really overcoming when they overcame the temptations?
I like to think this through logically...so there are three questions I want answered:
- Is Mara the Christian version of the devil and if so what does such a demon really represent to humanity?
- Why do similar temptations happen to spiritual and divinely determined leaders as they transcend from mere human limitations?
- What can someone raised on the meaning of Christ's temptation learn from Buddha's temptation?
Who is Mara?
In the Netflix series, Mara comes to the Buddha -to-be as he is meditating in his attempt to become enlightened under the Bodhi tree. He comes to him in a grotesquely distorted human form of Siddhartha himself with horns on his head and trailing smoke and fire (sound familiar?) and calls himself the God of Temptation.
He attempts to tempt Buddha into giving up his mission by introducing him to his three beautiful ghostly daughters: Wish, Distraction and Passion (I can't remember for sure if that is how they were named). Buddha is not tempted and remains steadfast on his journey toward enlightenment.
Is this an accurate depiction of Mara according to scripture? Who is he really?
Mara, according to Garuge (2013) has been depicted by translating scholars as many things over the years. In the earliest translations, Maara was viewed not as a demon but the God of Love and throughout historical changes he was demonized as the God of desire, the God of death, the God of earthly things, the Lord of drought, the Lord of the sensual realm, the God of temptation and so on and so on ( Garuge, 2103; O'Brien,2016; Kingsley, 1888; The Buddha's Victory, 1991).
According to the Pali sutras as referred to in The Buddha's Victory there is, however, a more literal interpretation of these events and of Mara himself. Mara is described a s a demi god, a son of god which could be interpreted as a personification of death and destruction of material and non material things due to five defilements (or what we Christians would refer to as sins): craving, aversion, ignorance, conceit and distraction(1991).
Mara, then, like the devil was to Christ...offers temptation to take Buddha off the spiritual path and into mental weakness...again what we Christians' call sin. Buddha like Christ overcomes these temptations. I believe from my reading...that Christians have a much more literal interpretation of the Temptor than Buddhists do.
In the Pali interpretation of Buddhism, these temptations are believed to occur only in our minds and are in a sense a creation of our own mental state. By controlling the mind we can control the Mara. Fear can be overcome and one can gain control of these forces "little by little". (The Buddha's victory, 1991) Mara will become nothing but flowers and dust.
Evil is so personified in Christianity, however, ...that it is seen as something outside the self and not within human capacity to control. Evil is personified in the form of a being known as the devil. And the devil is just as real as God is and to be feared as such. Such personified fear is definitely based on death and destruction. I personally like the Buddhist interpretation better.
Why the Temptation?
In the search for salvation of mankind and enlightenment spiritual leaders are tempted. Why?
What force wants to direct these leaders away from their altruistic goals and into selfishness, mental destruction and sin?
By leading them away...in a sense all of mankind is lead away. Why do Mara or the devil want this?
This is going to take more thought for sure but right away I wonder about the "ego" and its need to control our lives. The ego lives by the defilements, does it not?
It sees the need for us to cling to the virtues of fear, death and destruction to survive. If we are able to turn temptation of riches and. power and glory down as Christ had done or to get beyond our cravings, aversions, ignorance, conceit and distraction are we not getting past our egos?
Is victory over temptation simply getting beyond our egos to know who we really are? Could it be that simple?
No...though it sounds simple, it isn't simple. It is a slow arduous process to get above our egos. The Buddha had to overcome cravings through tranquility; aversion through friendliness and compassion; ignorance through wisdom, conceit through selflessness and distraction through awareness and mindfulness.
Our human limitation is our ego and it is not easy to overcome. "Tranquillity, friendliness, compassion, and so on do not just appear – not even when one is seated beneath the Bodhi tree! They have to be developed" (The Buddha's Victory, 1991).
What force wants to direct these leaders away from their altruistic goals and into selfishness, mental destruction and sin?
By leading them away...in a sense all of mankind is lead away. Why do Mara or the devil want this?
This is going to take more thought for sure but right away I wonder about the "ego" and its need to control our lives. The ego lives by the defilements, does it not?
It sees the need for us to cling to the virtues of fear, death and destruction to survive. If we are able to turn temptation of riches and. power and glory down as Christ had done or to get beyond our cravings, aversions, ignorance, conceit and distraction are we not getting past our egos?
Is victory over temptation simply getting beyond our egos to know who we really are? Could it be that simple?
No...though it sounds simple, it isn't simple. It is a slow arduous process to get above our egos. The Buddha had to overcome cravings through tranquility; aversion through friendliness and compassion; ignorance through wisdom, conceit through selflessness and distraction through awareness and mindfulness.
Our human limitation is our ego and it is not easy to overcome. "Tranquillity, friendliness, compassion, and so on do not just appear – not even when one is seated beneath the Bodhi tree! They have to be developed" (The Buddha's Victory, 1991).
What can one learn from the Buddha's Victory over Temptation
Regardless of what religious sect we come from; what we have been taught or conditioned to believe we can all learn from The Buddha's victory over temptation.
Though we may never reach the heights of greatness and compassion that the Buddha and Christ have reached we can all strive for that love for humanity.
We can all strive to get beyond the limitations and temptations ego provides us. We can all strive to see beyond the false grandeur of the physical world to what is really important.
We can all strive to be better human beings one drop at a time.
Though we may never reach the heights of greatness and compassion that the Buddha and Christ have reached we can all strive for that love for humanity.
We can all strive to get beyond the limitations and temptations ego provides us. We can all strive to see beyond the false grandeur of the physical world to what is really important.
We can all strive to be better human beings one drop at a time.
All is well in my world.
References
Guruge, A.(Nov 2013) The
Buddha's Encounters with Mara the Tempter: Their Representation in
Literature and Art. Access to Insight(Legacy Edition). Retrieved
from http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/guruge/wheel419.html
Kingsley, W. L. (1888...[yes
1888 lol]) Light of Asia and Light of the World. New Englander and Yale
Review,49,page 33. Retrieved from https://books.google.ca/books?id=E-g6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=Buddha%27s+temptation+in+comparison+to+Christ%27s&source=bl&ots=XCuJiDrqew&sig=oLTHdS_Q33WeT_fG50maqJbVNYE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjL6cj40pLUAhXLx4MKHfn8D5MQ6AEIRjAI#v=onepage&q=Buddha's%20temptation%20in%20comparison%20to%20Christ's&f=false
O'Brien, B. (March 2016) The
Demon Mara: The Demon Who Challenged the Buddha. Thought Co. Retrieved
from https://www.thoughtco.com/the-demon-mara-449981
The Buddha’s
Victory: Sangharakshita. (1991)Windhorse
Publications. Retrieved from http://www.sangharakshita.org/_books/buddhas-victory.pdf
The Temptations of the Buddha
and Christ (n.d.) Archetypal Spirituality. Retrieved from https://archetypalspirituality.org/groups/myths/the-temptations-of-the-buddha-and-christ/
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