Several years ago I discovered that the Buddha discourses were almost self-contained so that it was fairly easy to deduce many implications and new propositions. In other words, there is a kind of entailment process going on in the Buddha’s discourses which has been overlooked by both clergy and scholars. If, for example, Mara the Evil One is equated with the Five Aggregates, as scripture states (cf., S.iii.195), then a relation is entailed between Mara and the Five Aggregates. Thus, everything that can be said about the Five Aggregates applies to Mara.
On the other side of the coin, while Mara proclaims his dominion over the sensory world, i.e., the Five Aggregates, the Buddha, by contrast, transcends Mara’s world. He has dominion over the transcendent (paraloka), this being nirvana. The Buddha has nothing to do with the Five Aggregates which entail the “no-self”. His world is not a part of Mara’s overarching sensory kingdom of samsara.
Like in the English poem, Beowulf, Beowulf is not what the dragon Grendel is. There is no overlapping ambiguity between the two characters. Dragons like Grendel do not rule or sit on thrones. They hoard rather than give; they do not teach, nor cooperate, or even interact with other beings (except to destroy them). The have no compassion. They are utterly cruel. In a way, Mara the Evil One is like a dragon. It is worth noting, that the Bodhisattva, before he becomes a Buddha, battles Mara and defeats him and his armies. Through this battle, the Bodhisattva is transformed into a Buddha which is the Mind decoupled from the carnal body which is under the bondage of Mara.
Mara, as mentioned before, has complete dominion over the sensory world which is the world of samsara with all of its transitoriness, suffering and insubstantiality (anatman). Mara doesn’t wish sentient beings to escape from his world of suffering, either. He makes them to see that there is no higher world. Mara wants sentient beings to be clothed in the Five Aggregates, believing that these aggregates are the true self or atman. Mara, naturally, offers no path in the way the Buddha does or a means of crossing to the other shore. To do so would admit a higher, transcendent world (paraloka).
Against the world of Mara, the Buddha reveals the mysterious Noble Eightfold Path whereas Mara reveals nothing of the sort. The Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path leads us out of Mara’s evil world of samsara to the transcendent world of nirvana. This also entails a path to the undying as well as a path to bliss (sukha) which is the opposite of suffering. The inner self (pratyatma), also, is what realizes nirvana—not the no-self or anatman, which is the Five Aggregates.
This may sound strange to many Buddhists, especially, the proposition that Mara and the no-self are entailed whereas there is no entailment between Mara and the self (atman)! But on many occasions, the Buddha taught, unequivocally, that the Five Aggregates are not the self. This means that Mara is entailed with all that which is not the self. Therefore, we might conclude that the Buddha stands for the self because he renounces any identification with the Five Aggregates (i.e., anatman) saying, “This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.”
The negative chain of entailment goes somewhat like this: Mara the Evil One = Five Aggregates = no-self (P., anatta; Skt., anatman) = suffering = change = death = etc.
Very clear post!
Indeed it is strange that some overlook that Mara the evil one reigns the 5 aggregates and therefore loka. In this world (loka), salvation is impossible. But since the Buddha showed the path to salvation, there must be something other than this world, these aggregates, this samsara.
Many Buddhists I talked with fall under sakkāyaditthi since they take their body as a real being, their nature, while in fact, it has nothing to do with our true nature (Attan) but instead belongs to evil Mara
Posted by: Lebensgeist | November 26, 2007 at 02:17 PM