Tag Archives: Mara

Recognize the difference between Spirit and Soul.

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Tozen

The soul is Spirit´s “cognitive” power and knower of all things.

Where it needs to perceive and know as a demon, it perceives and knows as a demon. Where it needs to perceive and know as a man, it perceives and knows as a man. Where it perceives and knows as a god, it perceives and knows as a god. read more

Posted in Spirituality, Tozen Teaching, Zen | Tagged Mara, Noble Wisdom, soul, Spirit, Zen | 1 Comment

Who’s Controlling the Transmission?

Posted on October 11, 2021 by Vajragoni

What have you to say concerning those who are adverse to the teachings?

In this late-era dharma-ending age it’s not surprising that there are those who may encounter these teachings and will shake their heads in wonder about all this Unborn Mind business. They rely exclusively upon immediate sense impressions that are compilations of a skhandic induced naivety; it is little wonder that such a worldling can begin to fathom even a first glimpse into the nature of this true vehicle of salvific light. read more

Posted in The Unborn Mind Sessions | Tagged God, Götterdämmerung, Mara, success | 2 Comments

Dark Night of the Spirit

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Vajragoni

II. Dark Night of the Spirit

Congratulations! If you have come this far in this series and have been in spiritual earnest, then you have completed the first leg of the Noble Ascent of Primordial Perfection. You have journeyed through the purgative night of the active sensorial and the illuminative night of the active spiritual tribulations and have thus purified and mortified these faculties. It needs to be known that many never enter into the next and darker phase of the journey. They feel content in no longer being disturbed by the discursive mind or spiritual anxiety in mastering this first phase and make the decision not to progress further into the “Passive” Dark Night of the Spirit. Passive in the sense of not initiating any form of action but just surrendering to the work that the Unborn Spirit still needs to confer. For those few brave souls who do, they need to be prepared for the harsh arid and desolate experiences that await them on the ‘Unitive-Way’ of the Unborn. Yea, no matter how profound the purgative and illuminative ways have been, the spirit is not yet totally purified and still needs to endure a more thorough cleansing before the Actual Union will occur. read more

Posted in Ascending the Noble Mountain of Primordial Perfection | Tagged dark night of the spirit, Divine Gnosis, habit-energy, Mara, Noble Recollection, spiritual locutions, Unitive Way | Leave a comment

The mind of 84,000 hooks.

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Tozen

This is the sole gospel of Mara, the Evil One, so pay careful attention;

Within each seed granted your self,
there is a promise of a beautiful flower. read more

Posted in Spirituality, Tozen Teaching, Zen | Tagged becoming, desire, form, Mara, Mind, nirvana, suffering | 1 Comment

Towards a Psychology of the Māras, Part I

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Vajragoni

The Sacred India Tarot

At the outset here one needs to be aware that the context in which Māra(s) is spoken is mythic in scope. Far more than any cognitively-based amalgams of collective-experiences shared in the human psyche—this mythos is more-than-human. It involves cosmic-forces that have been around longer than the early dawn of mankind’s limited evolutionary experiences. As Robert Warren Clark states in his excellent Dissertation, Māra: Psychopathology and Evil in the Buddhism of India and Tibet: read more

Posted in Māra and Satan | Tagged Abhisankhāra-Māra, amānuṣamāra, ātmagrāha, catvārimāra, Devaputramara, Khandha-Māra, Kileśa-Māra, kleśa, kleṣamāra), liberation, Maccu-Māra, Mara, Māradhatu, maranamāra, mṛtyupatimāra, myth, Patañjali, prajnaparamita, psychopathology, Robert Warren Clark, samsara, Six Paramitas, skandhamāra, the four Maras, Vikalpa, vikalpanāmā | Leave a comment

Etymology of the Evil Ones

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Vajragoni

Evil is wide and prevalent in our Saha-World. Unlike the Truth, it assumes an endless array of faces and embeds itself unmercifully in all the assorted-affairs of sentient beings. The dominant Western and Eastern terms for these faces of evil are Satan and Māra. The term “Satan” is derived from a Hebrew term meaning, the adversary. The popular term “Devil” is derived from the Greek, diabolos. Both of these terms are found in the New Testament and later on in the writings of the Church Fathers. Throughout the Millennium he’s also referred to as the “Dark-One”, the “Black-One” and the “wicked-one”; the term, the evil-one appears in a popular translation of the “Our Father” prayer—deliver us from the Evil One. Traditionally, Satan was originally the premier Angel of Light (son of the morning) in Heaven, named Lucifer; through his own conceited vanity, he tried to usurp the very throne of the Most High. John Milton’s Epic poem, “Paradise Lost”, describes this most evil of all adversaries: read more

Posted in Māra and Satan | Tagged Devil, diabolos, Evil, Evil One, Frankenstein, John Milton, Kanha, Lucifer, Mara, Māra kali cakram, Paradise Lost, Picture of Dorian Gray, samsara, Satan, the adversary, the Dark One, the Evil One, the True Story | 1 Comment

Coming Soon: Māra and Satan

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Vajragoni

On Ash Wednesday, February 18^th, roughly 1.2 Billion across the globe will be ushering-in the season of Lent. One of the passages from scripture that always begins this solemn season, is the one in which Jesus is tempted by Satan for 40 days in the Desert. This is a highly symbolic event, since Lent itself lasts 40 days; and so, during this stretch of time, one is asked to do assorted penances and make new resolutions, ones that are in tune with self-denying one’s carnal appetites, in favor of a highly spiritual-makeover. In a very real way, one is also seeking refuge from the forces of evil in the world, ones that are always afoot attempting to wreak havoc on a soul that is trying to better itself. There are parallels in both Christianity and Buddhism that personify these dark forces, the Fathers of Evil if you will. Hence we have Satan, and Māra. Back in 1975, James W. Boyd, published a well-informed book, Satan and Māra: Christian and Buddhist Symbols of Evil. Unfortunately his work is long out of print, but I was recently fortunate enough to find a copy. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, we shall be exploring in depth these interesting parallels between Satan and Māra. It’s by no small chance that Siddhartha Gautama experienced similar inclinations from Māra that Jesus did from Satan throughout his Dark night of the Soul in the desert. read more

Posted in Māra and Satan | Tagged Evil, James W. Boyd, Mara, Robert Warren Clark, samsara, Satan, Temptation | 5 Comments

(36) A Timeless Lesson

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Vajragoni

A perfect teaching cannot ever be spoken, yet the great Buddha, once awakened fully [to the principle], while holding a firm position within the luminous root of bodhi, moved his mouth and smiled, offering us direct entrance into this marvelous principle of right knowledge and right release, available still today, twenty-five hundred years after his unparalleled enlightenment. read more

Posted in The Dragon Mind of Zen Tarot | Tagged deathless, light, Mara, Mind | Leave a comment

(30) The Cosmic Battle

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Vajragoni

A great battle takes place within you, sometimes you become
painfully aware of this war and sometimes it seems so far away that you hardly notice it.
Yet, it is an ongoing war that takes place in a dry wasteland of
no true light. read more

Posted in The Dragon Mind of Zen Tarot | Tagged choices, Cosmic Battle, demons, Mara | Leave a comment

(13) Mara

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Vajragoni

In Buddhism and many other religions, Mara symbolizes that collective and obstructive dark force generated by dark desires and ignorance of all sentient beings. read more

Posted in The Dragon Mind of Zen Tarot | Tagged demons of the mind, Mara, Mara's dream bodies, Mind, ONE, refuge | 15 Comments