Mara is the bad boy of Buddhist lore. The Buddha would tell of how Mara, the most evil of the demons, tried to prevent the Buddha’s enlightenment and how Mara continually tries to snare others with desire or fear. In Zen Buddhism and in most Buddhist teachings, Mara is a metaphor for our attachment to pleasure and our aversion to suffering and the pain we bring ourselves.
The Buddha taught to a variety of people using language and imagery appropriate to their understanding and culture. Sometimes he used local deities to explore the nature and duality of attachments and aversions. He spoke of how we bring our own suffering upon ourselves by our belief in illusions. For a Zen Buddhist, Mara is a symbolic reminder that suffering has a cause and it can be overcome.
Impermanent world.
Metaphors and imagery
Explore illusions.
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