Samyutta Nikaya: Sagathavagga: Marasamyutta

 

1:         It wouldn’t be the morning of the Buddha’s enlightenment given that he and Mara had but just completed their legenday set-to.

 

You have missed the path to purity: although Mara now appears to be advocating asceiticism, whereas previously he attempted to deflect the Buddha with sensual desires, we must realize that Mara would indicate ballroom dancing as the path to purity if he thought that by so doing he might deflect the Buddha.

 

Aimed at the immortal state: any practice, including asceticism, which has a selfish goal in mind as its motivation (such as heavenly rebirth) only accrues unfortunate karma.

 

Virtue, concentration, wisdom: sila, samadhi, panna: the three divisions of the Noble Eightfold Path.

 

2:         So now Mara attempts to scare off the Buddha by taking the form of a great elephant. Interesting how many years later, Devadatta would make an attempt on the Buddha’s life by releasing a maddened bull elephant towards him—which the Buddha was able to tame and calm down.

 

3:         So now Mara tries beautiful and hideous shapes. The Buddha is not to be caught.

 

4:         This is early in the Buddha’s career but not at the beginning—he has already sent out his first 60 disciples.

 

He discusses the role of right effort—thus this connects with “Crossing the Flood.” (Devatasamyutta #1).

 

5:         This is the B’s injunction to his first sixty disciples, also found in the Vinaya. (Thus the sutras are a bit out of order in this collection.)

 

Note that devas are most definitely included as those who are to benefit from the teachings.

 

6:         Now Mara tries to be a horrifying serpent! You would think he’d catch on by now that the Buddha sees right through him.

 

Bhikkhu Bodhi points out that Mara is considered a real being, and not just a manifestation of a psychological state—he wouldn’t be pestering an enlightened Buddha otherwise.

 

Note: the Kosalans were noted for the manufacture of large bronze dishes.

 

Death and suffering bring no fear to the enlightened—so they will not fear fiends, monsters, apparitions, or forces of nature or aggression.

 

7:         For an enlightened one, when he sleeps he sleeps. Mara’s concern over this is meaningless.

 

8:         This is also a conversation with a devat in 1:12.

 

9:         According to Mara, our short lifespan is of no concern. Just live like a baby unconcerned for the future. The Buddha counters that we must understand that all is on fire—do what is wholesome and good, to go on well to the next life.

 

10:       If Bhikkhu Bodhi’s point about the simile of the chariot’s felly is correct, then the Buddha must be thought of as conversant with the Upanishads (those of them which existed in his dsay) and was able to use them in teaching. (Or, a later redactor knew them and inserted this reference here.)

 

Felly: also ‘felloe’: it’s the exterior rim of a wheel with spokes.

 

11:       Nor can Mara upset the Buddha by shattering nearby boulders. Perhaps this took place after Devadatta’s attempt on the Buddha’s life by rolling a boulder down towards him.

 

12:       Confound them: frighten or disturb them enough so as to make them lose their concentration.

 

13:       This one refers to the Devadatta incident. The metaphor of a dart stuck in the breast is interesting: we can get along with it, but how much better it is if the dart had been removed.

 

14:       Interesting remark here: the giver of a Dharma talk may become wrapped up in notions of hurting or helping others via the talk, since all people will be sure to respond differently. This is yet another issue to let go of. One’s compassion can extend to understanding this.

 

15:       The mind can take us anywhere, in a fraction of a second, and we can get caught up in almost instantly. A mental snare moving about in the sky of the mind, governed by the five sense-desires.

 

16:       In the “Snake” Sutra, MN 22 (i, 140) the Buddha says:

 

…bhikkhus, whatever is not yours, abandon it; when you have abandoned it, that will lead to your welfare and happiness for a long time. What is it that is not yours? Material form is not yours… feeling… perception… formations… consciousness is not yours.

 

Bhikkhus, what do you think? If people carried off the grass, sticks, branches, and leaves in this Jeta Grove, or burned them, or did what they liked with them, would you think: ‘People are carrying us off or burning us or doing what they like with us?’

 

17:       [The six sense objects] are the terrible bait of the world. Great metaphor: we’re like the fish who aren’t aware enough to see the difference between safe food and a baited hook. Instead, we just pounce without thinking.

 

18:       Only if the Buddha were attached to the notion of getting alms would Mara’s snare have any effect. The Buddha would have returned to the village and been exposed to embarassment. But to have no alms only meant a day of no food, nothing more—which is no big deal.

 

Ultimately, it is Mara who is hurt: through his poor intention he accumulates demerit, whereas the Buddha is beyond karma.

 

Devas of the Streaming Radiance are in the highest of the form realms.

 

19:       The eighteen bases of consciousness are here exposited. If we are free of them, we are not cattle.

 

20:       As the notes point out, the question of whether truly righteous governance is possible is never answered. Mara attempts to sidetrack the Buddha by bringing up using his enlightened mind in order to gain temporal power.

 

The ultimate message is that once we have understood the source of suffering—craving for the five cords of sensual pleasure—then we will no longer be inclined to those sensual pleasures.

 

21:       Another reaction against the brahmanical life—young brahmins would first marry and enjoy sensual relations before going on a life of renunciation later on. But not in the Buddha’s sangha.

 

22:       Apparently this is Samiddhi’s sole verse in the Theragatha.

 

23:       temporary liberation of mind: the four jhanas and the four formless realms.

 

He did indeed want to commit suicide. There is a sutra at 35:87 which explores suicide at some length. This issue appears to be one’s merit at the time of the act, rather than the act itself. Even an arahant may wish to take his own life—not from aversion but simply from a wish to be free form unbearable pain. But the truly non-blameworthy would not commit suicide out of aversion towards life. Suicide as an escape from the suferings of life is totally ineffective.

 

The general idea here is that he attained arahantship in observing the process of death as his meditation subject. This does not necessarily make suicide acceptable—it appears not to be in the various Vinayas—but is not what Mara is thinking, which is that Bodhika was craving death.

 

24:       This doesn’t seem to be occurring right at the time of enlightement. In the verse the Buddha says: Having dug up entirely the root of sorrow which certainly indicates that it is post-enlightenment.

 

25:       This is really a continuation of the previous sutra.

 

Mara’s daughters are:

 

Tanha (craving)

Arati (discontent)

Raga (lusting)