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This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Victory Over Māra with Diana Clark (2 of 3). It likely contains inaccuracies.

Victory Over Māra with Diana Clark (2 of 3)

The following talk was given by Diana Clark at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Introduction and Review

Welcome back to the second class on victory over Māra1, where we’re exploring the story that so many of us have heard in Dharma talks about this battle, quote unquote, with the Buddha-to-be and Māra. We’ll be exploring a little bit about what it means for us as practitioners, as well as our relationship to these stories and the different ways that they show up in the Buddhist literature. I’m going to share my screen just a little bit to help us stay on the same page, especially because when I use Pali2 words, I know it’s so easy to just be dismissive of them. I know I certainly was before I knew Pali.

Here we are in the second class. I just want to do a little bit of a review because part of what I want to do today is to compare what we did last week and this week. So, to refresh a little bit what we did last week: I think probably most of us are familiar with the general arc of this story. The Buddha-to-be journeyed to Bodh Gaya to strive or do his last efforts towards awakening. There, he’s confronted by Māra, there’s a conflict, and the Buddha-to-be overcomes the conflict and becomes awakened. So that’s the big, 10,000-foot view.

This story in early Buddhism is told in different textual locations. The Padāna Sutta3, translated as the Sutta on Striving, is in the Pali Canon. Then it’s also in the Nidānakathā4, which we’re going to talk about today, and the Buddhacarita5, which is part of an epic poetry tradition. As far as I know, I don’t think any other person has talked about the Buddhacarita. It’s beautiful, and we’ll be talking about that next week.

These three different textual locations were composed at really different times. The Padāna Sutta is from around the time of the Buddha. The commentaries, like the Nidānakathā, could be 800 years later. The Buddhacarita is closer to the time of the Buddha, but still maybe 600 years later.

Last week, we talked about the Padāna Sutta. Here’s a review of some of the key elements. Before awakening, the Buddha-to-be stated that he had the five faculties. He named Māra’s armies, a list of ten: sensual pleasure, doubt, craving, dullness and drowsiness, gain, praise, honor, hunger and thirst, and discontent. The story ends with the Buddha-to-be saying that he’s going to destroy Māra’s army with wisdom.

The Three Knowledges of Awakening

I want to introduce a new topic because we’re going to compare what’s in the suttas with what we’re about to read today. There’s a typical way in which the Buddha’s awakening gets described: with the three knowledges. This is found in the Majjhima Nikāya, in the Bhayabherava Sutta (The Sutta on Fear and Dread). These three knowledges occur after the Buddha-to-be has been in the fourth jhāna6. He says, “When my concentrated mind was malleable, wieldy, steady…” and goes on.

  1. Recollection of Past Lives: The first knowledge is the recollection of all his previous past lives—where he lived, what his name was, the food he ate, and other characteristics.
  2. The Passing Away and Reappearance of Beings: The second knowledge was understanding how beings pass on to their next lives according to their actions (karma). He saw that beings who did bad deeds in their current life would go to a bad destination, like an animal realm or a hell realm. Those who did good deeds would have a good rebirth.
  3. The Destruction of the Taints: The third knowledge is insight into the Four Noble Truths. “I directly knew as it actually is: This is suffering. This is the origin of suffering. This is the cessation of suffering and the way leading to the cessation of suffering.” This third knowledge also includes the destruction of the taints (āsava7), which are defilements like craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, and ignorance.

How do we hold this idea of the three knowledges? Scholars and Dharma teachers have explored this a lot. Here are three ways we can understand it:

  1. It’s an actual depiction of what happened.
  2. It’s a response to the dominant religion of that time, Brahmanism, which also had three knowledges (the three Vedas). It was a way of saying, “You have three knowledges, we have three knowledges too,” and showing that Buddhism’s were superior.
  3. It’s a symbolic representation. It’s not until one sees all the suffering—in one’s own past lives and in the lives of all other beings—that the defilements can cease. The third knowledge is the deep understanding of suffering and its end, which comes from the first two.

Now we’re going to shift to the Nidānakathā to talk about Māra. This is the introduction to the Jātaka8 tales, which are the stories of the Buddha’s past lives. It’s fascinating that this is the first biography in the Pali tradition.

I want to read a few little bits here to give a sense of what’s there.

The bodhisattva9 ascended the platform at the foot of the Bodhi tree and stood on the southern side facing the north. At that moment, the southern ridge of the universe sank low and appeared to have reached Avīci, the deepest hell, and the northern ridge of the universe was raised upward. The bodhisattva thought that perhaps it was not the place for the attainment of enlightenment. He went around in a clockwise direction and stood on the western side, then the northern side, but the same thing happened.

Finally, he sits on the eastern side. The great being, having realized that that was the stable place never forsaken by any of the Buddhas, held blades of grass at their tips and shook them. Immediately, there sprang a seat 14 cubits in extent (about 21 feet). Those blades of grass placed themselves in a manner that even the ablest painter or sculptor would not have been able to design.

He sits down and he makes this resolve: “Let only my skin, sinews, and bones remain, and let the flesh and blood in my body dry up. But not until I attain the supreme enlightenment will I give up this seat of meditation.”

At that time, the devaputta10 Māra, a heavenly being, thought, “Prince Siddhattha wishes to go beyond my control, but I will not give him the opportunity of doing so.” He went and announced it to his forces and marched forward with them. Māra doesn’t want people to leave saṃsāra.

The devaputta Māra mounted on the elephant called Girimekhala, which was 150 yojanas in height (a yojana is about seven miles). He armed himself with diverse weapons, creating a thousand hands. The rest of the army came in diverse forms, assuming various guises to overwhelm the great being.

At this time, the deities of the 10,000 world spheres stood around the great being, singing songs in praise of him. So, Māra has his army, and the Buddha-to-be has these deities. It feels like this big cosmic event. But when the army of Māra was fast approaching, not one deity was able to remain; they were afraid and left. But the Buddha-to-be stayed.

Māra then said to his followers, “My men, there is no man equal to Siddhattha. We are not equal to the task of giving him battle face to face. Let us attack him from behind.”

Beholding the forces of Māra swooping down upon him, the bodhisattva continued to sit there reflecting on the ten perfections, the ten pāramī11. This is very different from the sutta version, where he’s thinking about the five faculties. The ten pāramī (generosity, ethics, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, determination, loving-kindness, and equanimity) only appear in the absolute latest books of the Pali Canon.

Then the deva Māra raised a tornado, but by the virtue and majesty of the great being, it lost its force and was not able to shake even the hem of his robe. Māra hurls many things at the Buddha-to-be:

After that, Māra advanced upon the bodhisattva and cried out, “Rise, Siddhattha, from that seat! It is not meant for you; it goes to me.” It feels a little bit like jealousy. Why would Māra think he could get awakened? If he has dominion over saṃsāra, why would he want to leave it?

The Buddha-to-be says to Māra, “You have neither practiced the ten perfections, the sub-perfections, and the supreme perfections, nor made the five great sacrifices, nor have you fulfilled the quest of knowledge, the quest of the world, and the quest of wisdom. This seat is not meant for you. I alone have the right to it.”

The five great sacrifices are giving up one’s wife, children, kingdom, and having a willingness to give up your limbs and even your life for the sake of others.

Then the great being told Māra, “Who will testify to your having given away in charity?” Māra stretched forth his hand in the direction of his army, saying, “All these are my witnesses.” And they all said, “We are your witness.”

Then Māra said to the great being, “Siddhattha, who will testify to your having given in charity?” The great being answered, “You have sentient beings as witnesses. But here in this place, I have no living being whatever as my witness. Let alone the generosity I have practiced in all other existences, let this great and solid earth, non-sentient as it is, be my witness to the seven-hundredfold great alms I gave when I was born as Vessantara12.”

And extricating his right hand from underneath the folds of his robe, he stretched it out towards the earth, saying, “Are you or are you not witness to my having given the seven-hundredfold alms in my birth as Vessantara?” And the great earth resounded with a hundred thousand echoes as though to overwhelm the forces of Māra, saying as it were, “I was your witness to it then.”

This is the origin of the earth-touching mudra, a common way we see the Buddha depicted. In many Dharma talks, it’s said he was claiming his right to become awakened, but here it’s specifically about being generous in a previous life, where as Vessantara he gave away his wife and children.

When this happens, Māra’s followers all leave. All the heavenly beings are very happy. “Māra has been defeated. Prince Siddhattha has triumphed. Let us honor him at his victory.” They advanced, singing, “This is the victory to the illustrious Buddha and defeat to Māra the evil one.” I’m a little confused about this, because he’s not a Buddha yet. He’s just won this battle.

Then, the Buddha-to-be becomes awakened.

Then at dawn, when the great being had gained penetrative insight into omniscient knowledge, the 10,000 world systems resounded. So, the third knowledge is dependent origination, and a fourth one is omniscience.

Discussion

Participant: I feel so touched to hear that it is about generosity to that level of compassion. What I have understood is that real compassion is when you risk your own life for the well-being of others. In our day-to-day life, how many people give organs for the well-being of others? It’s very touching and very inspiring.

Participant: There’s such hyperbole here that it stretches my willingness to believe it. It also reminds me a little bit of Christianity and some of the stories about deities and some kind of all-powerful something that runs throughout many different types of religions. I’m interested in relating it to my life too.

Diana: I personally don’t feel like I have to believe this as a story that actually happened. I think the story has a different function. The function is less to tell an accurate account of an event and more to support practitioners.

Participant: Is not the type of language used typical of the time? Grandiose hyperbole?

Diana: That’s a really good question. I would say yes. The commentaries, which were written in this era, have a lot of supernatural and exaggerated elements. They definitely have a different flavor and even different vocabulary.

Participant: What the Buddha supposedly said to Māra does sound a little bit like adolescent boys fighting with each other. It is full of “I’m better than you,” which is conceit. But he’s not awakened yet.

Diana: There’s a rhetorical device here. These are the commentaries, 800 years after the time of the Buddha. There are competing religious ideas at this time, and they’re wanting to show, “Our religion’s the best. Look, our guy beats everybody.” This isn’t unique to Buddhism; every religion does this to justify its existence.

Participant: This brings up the question: what is our relationship to these texts? What authority do we give them? When what’s in the text doesn’t jive with our understanding of the teachings, what do we do with them?

Diana: That is the most interesting question. What is authoritative? What points the way?

Myth as a Mirror for the Inner Life

What are the functions of myths, if we’re going to put this into that category?

Let’s focus on the psychological function: myth as a mirror, a symbolic map of the inner life.

Concluding Verses

Here are a few small teachings from the suttas where the Buddha speaks about how to work with Māra.

One who has ended the defilement of sensuality, whose ignorance has faded away, and whose desire to be reborn is finished—liberated, free of attachments. They bear their final body, having vanquished Māra and his mount. — Itivuttaka13

Like a fish pulled from the sea and cast upon the shore, this mind flounders about, trying to throw off Māra’s dominion. — Dhammapada14

Whoever has well-developed ethics, concentration, and wisdom has slipped free of Māra’s dominion and shines like the sun. — Saṃyutta Nikāya 5.9

This last one brings it home. This is stuff we practice. We are developing ethics, concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (paññā) with our practice, and this is related to being free from Māra’s dominion.

Next week, we’ll look at the Buddhacarita, which is epic poetry and has a completely different flavor. There’s a lot of emotion in it. Thank you all.

  1. Māra: In Buddhism, a demonic celestial king who personifies temptation, sin, and death. He is the embodiment of the unskillful emotions and passions that create suffering. ↩

  2. Pali: An ancient Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is the sacred language of Theravāda Buddhism. ↩

  3. Padāna Sutta: A discourse from the Sutta Nipāta in the Pali Canon, focusing on the Buddha’s striving before his enlightenment. ↩

  4. Nidānakathā: The introduction to the Jātaka tales, which provides a biography of the Buddha. It is part of the commentary tradition, written centuries after the Buddha’s life. ↩

  5. Buddhacarita: “The Acts of the Buddha,” an epic poem on the life of Gautama Buddha by Aśvaghoṣa, written in the early second century CE. ↩

  6. Jhāna: A state of deep meditative absorption or concentration. ↩

  7. Āsava: A Pali term translated as “taints,” “cankers,” or “defilements.” They are deep-seated mental biases that obstruct liberation. ↩

  8. Jātaka: A voluminous body of literature native to the Indian subcontinent concerning the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. ↩

  9. Bodhisattva: In early Buddhism, a term used to refer to Gautama Buddha in his former lives before he became a Buddha. ↩

  10. Devaputta: A “son of the gods” or a male heavenly being in Buddhist cosmology. ↩

  11. Pāramī: A Pali word for “perfection” or “completeness.” These are virtues cultivated by a bodhisattva on the path to becoming a Buddha. ↩

  12. Vessantara: The name of the Buddha in his penultimate life, as told in the Vessantara Jātaka. In this life, he perfected the virtue of generosity by giving away everything he owned, including his wife and children. ↩

  13. Itivuttaka: A collection of 112 short discourses in the Khuddaka Nikāya of the Pali Canon. ↩

  14. Dhammapada: A collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best-known Buddhist scriptures. ↩

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