The Buddha’s Encounters with Måra the Tempter Their Representation in Literature and Art by

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Although  the  numbering  of  the  “hosts”  stops  at  eight,  two  more  sets  are

identifiable. Thus the concept of ten “hosts” has also been established. Similarly

conceived is Måra riding an elephant (savåhana), which could, of course, mean

any  ride—elephant,  horse,  or  chariot—and  arrayed  for  war  with  an  army  all

around (samantå dhajiniµ disvå).

The Buddha himself announces his readiness to give battle:

“None but the brave will conquer them

To gain bliss by the victory.…

Better I die in battle now

Than choose to live on in defeat.…

I sally forth to fight, that I

May not be driven forth from my post.”

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The Buddha’s squadrons, however, are not named; but earlier, in listing the

psychological defenses he possessed against Måra’s “kind” persuasive words, the

Buddha had said:

“For I have faith (saddhå) and energy (viriya)

And I have wisdom (paññå) too.”

Further to underline the psychological dimension of the battle, as conceived in

this context, the Buddha proceeds to tell Måra:

“Your serried squadrons, which the world

With all its gods cannot defeat,

I shall now break with wisdom

As with a stone a clay pot.”

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One element, however, is still not evident: Måra does not claim the seat on

which the Bodhisatta is seated, and hence the need to call as witness the earth (or

the  earth-goddess,  as  the  later  versions  have  it)  has  not  arisen.  It  may,

nevertheless, be noted that the Buddha’s reply assumes an effort on the part of

Måra and his hosts to dislodge him from his position:

“I sally forth to fight, that I

May not be driven from my post

(Må maµ †hånå acåvayi).”

On the other hand, a further reason is given for the Buddha’s determination to

fight:

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“From land to land I shall wander,

Training disciples far and wide.”

This implies a further element in the legends of Måra’s temptations, which are

found in canonical texts as well as elsewhere relating to the obstacles he had tried

to place on the Buddha’s advent into his mission as a teacher.

Another pointer in the Padhåna Sutta to other legends is contained in the last

three verses, which speak of a later encounter of Måra with the Buddha. Though

Chalmers interprets this passage as a statement addressed to the Buddha,

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  the

accusative case Gotamaµ in verse 24 indicates that it need not be so construed.

Here, Måra says:

“For seven years I pursued the Buddha at every step

Yet with the wakeful Buddha I got no chance.

As a crow that hopped around a fat-colored stone

Thinking ‘we may find a tender delicacy’

Flies away in disappointment

In disgust I give up Gotama.”

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The final verse of the sutta, which tradition assigns to the Buddha but which

appears from the contents to be of much later origin than verses 1–20, shows the

degree to which the personification of Måra had developed. Here, he is called

‘dummano  yakkho,’  a  “disappointed  sprite”  (N.B.  not  Vasavatti-Måra,  the

devaputta) and is said to be so frustrated that his lute drops from his armpit. We

shall return later to the implications of this reference to Måra as yakkha.

Altogether absent from the Padhåna Sutta is the episode with the daughters of

Måra, who are elsewhere represented as tempting the Buddha with their charms

after their father  with all his hosts had failed. This story (SN I 124ff.), along with

several others, occurs in the Måra-saµyutta of the Saµyutta Nikåya. The majority

of these episodes do not fall within the category of temptations by Måra. They

reflect mostly the hostility which Måra had to the Buddha’s mission and consist

largely  of  disturbances  he  had  created  in  different  guises—making  noises,

breaking things, disrupting sermons. It is Måra preventing the people from getting

out of his clutches in the sense of escaping from Måradheyya. These, therefore, do

not come in the category of temptations, the topic of this paper.

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The Måra-saµyutta, comprising twenty-five suttas, does contain a number of

temptations in which the Buddha or a disciple is involved. Sutta No. 1 (SN I 103)

speaks  of  a  moment  when  Måra  became  aware  of  a  thought  of  the  Buddha  as

regards his attainment of Enlightenment and approached him saying:

“You have forsaken the ascetic path

By means of which men purify themselves;

You are not pure, you fancy you are pure,

The path of purity is far from you.”

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In another sutta (No. 13, SN I 110), when the Buddha was in pain on account

of a foot injury, Måra addressed him in verse:

“What, are you stupefied, that you lie down?

Or else entranced by some poetic flight?

Are there not many aims you still must serve?

Why do you dream away intent on sleep

Alone in your secluded dwelling place?”

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Again,  Sutta  No.  20  (SN  I  116)  records  an  instance  when  the  Buddha  was

debating  in  his  mind  whether  it  was  possible  to  govern  without  killing  and

ordering execution, without confiscating and sequestrating, without sorrowing and

inflicting sorrow, in other words, righteously. Måra is said to have approached the

Buddha and persuaded him to govern righteously. Apparently, the temptation here

was for the Buddha to revert to lay life and resume a royal career so as to rescue

those suffering from the cruelty of rulers.

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In each of these cases, the Buddha gives an apt reply, which convinces Måra

that he has been recognized. Each discovery is concluded with the statement, “Sad

and disappointed, Måra vanished.”

The  Bhikkhuˆ¥-saµyutta  (SN  I  128ff.),  in  particular,  gives  ten  similar

accounts of temptations which bhikkhun¥s had experienced in lonely places. Here,

too, the statements, attributed to Måra or the bhikkhun¥ concerned, and often both,

are in verse. For example, it was Kisågotam¥ who was addressed thus by Måra:

“How now? Do you sit alone with tearful face

As mother stricken by the loss of child?

You who have plunged into the woods alone,

Is it a man that you have come to seek?”

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