Chapter 21
Conquering Māra
Monks, as the Bodhisattva now sat at the seat of awakening, he thought to himself, “Māra is the supreme lord who holds sway over the desire realm, the most powerful and evil demon. [F.147.b] [300] There is no way that I could attain unsurpassed and complete awakening without his knowledge. So I will now arouse that evil Māra. Once I have conquered him, all the gods in the desire realm will also be restrained. Moreover, there are some gods in Māra’s retinue who have previously created some basic goodness. When they witness my lion-like display, they will direct their minds toward unsurpassed and complete awakening.”
Monks, as soon as the Bodhisattva had this thought, a light known as the light which conquers all demonic congregations was emitted from the hair between his eyebrows. The light illuminated all demonic abodes in the entire great trichiliocosm, making them dark by comparison and causing them to shake. In fact the entire great trichiliocosm was bathed in an immense light.
From this light a voice called out to Māra, the evil one:
“Here is a pure being who has acted well for many
eons.
He appeared as a benefactor seeking immortality.
He has arrived at the
Bodhi tree, so you should now make an effort!
“Himself having crossed, he causes others to cross;
Himself liberated, he also liberates others.
Having found relief, he gives relief to others;
Having passed beyond suffering, he will cause others to transcend suffering.
And fill the city of
gods and humans.
[301]
He, the Benefactor, will attain immortality,
And bestow
absorptions, higher knowledge, immortality, and happiness.
“He will empty your city, O evil kinsman;
With your army powerless, you will be without an army and without allies.
When the Self-Arisen One, by his nature, pours down the rain of Dharma,
You will not know what to do or where to go.”
Monks, Māra, the evil one, was aroused by these verses and had a dream with thirty-two omens. [F.148.a] What are these thirty-two? They are as follows:
1. He saw his abode being filled with darkness.
2. The abode was filled with dust, and rough with scattered pebbles.
3. Startled with fear and terror, he fled in the ten directions.
4. He lost his diadem and his earrings fell off.
5. His lips, throat, and mouth dried out.
6. His heart was beating fast.
7. The leaves, flowers, and fruits in his parks withered.
8. His lotus ponds were emptied of water and dried out.
10. All his musical instruments—such as his drum, conch, clay drum, hand drum, tambour, lute, harp, cymbals, and tambourines—broke, fell into pieces, then into shreds, and fell on the ground.
11. His beloved kinfolk and retinue abandoned him, their faces cast down, while he stood aside and brooded.
12. His chief queen, Māriṇī, fell from her bed onto the ground and started beating her head with her fists.
13. Those among his sons who were the most diligent, powerful, glorious, and intelligent prostrated to the Bodhisattva, who was sitting at the supremely sacred seat of awakening.
14. His daughters wailed and cried out, “Oh no, father, oh no, father!” [302]
15. He was dressed in stained clothes.
16. With his head covered in dust and his face colorless and pale, he beheld himself as devoid of any vital force.
17. His palace with its corridors, skylights, and porticoes became covered in dust and crumbled down. [F.148.b]
19. Whatever divine regents there are among the gods in the desire realm—Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Virūḍhaka, Virūpākṣa, Vaiśravaṇa, Śakra, Suyāma, Santuṣita, Sunirmāṇarati, Vaśavartin, and so forth—Māra, the evil one, saw all of them eagerly listening to the Bodhisattva with their faces turned toward him.
20. In the midst of battle, his sword could not be pulled from its sheath, and he himself was unwell and wailing.
21. His retinue abandoned him.
22. His vases full of auspicious items fell into a hole.
24. The gatekeeper Ānandita cried out in distress.
25. The canopy of the sky became covered in darkness.
26. The goddess Śrī, who lives in the desire realm, began to weep.
27. His faculties became ineffectual.
29. His lattices of jewels and pearls became silent, fell apart, tore, and fell down.
30. His whole dwelling swayed.
31. The trees and the turrets of his buildings tore and fell over.
32. The entire army of Māra was felled in a confrontation.
Monks, such were the thirty-two omens in the dream of Māra, the evil one.
When Māra awoke from this dream, he was so terrified that he gathered all his family members. When he saw that they had gathered along with his armies, his retinue, his generals, and his gatekeepers, he addressed them with these verses:
When
Māra saw these
omens, he became worried.
And his sons and his retinue.
The evil kinsman then conferred with all of them:
[F.149.a]
“Today I heard these verses sung from the sky:
‘A being was born among the
Śākyas adorned with perfect marks.
He practiced severe austerities for six years, and now has arrived at the
Bodhi tree.’
You must make great effort!
He will awaken billions of beings.
When he attains immortality and reaches the cool state,
He will empty all our abodes.
“Come on! Let us advance with a great army!
We shall destroy that
monk, alone at the king of trees.
Quick, mobilize the four army divisions!
If you wish to please me, do not delay this.
My force will remain unharmed when they pass beyond suffering.
He would never allow the line of uncountable
victorious ones to be broken.”
Monks, at that point the son of Māra, the evil one, who was named Sārthavāha, addressed his father in these verses:
“Father, why is your face so sad and pale?
Your heart is thumping and your every limb is shaking. [304]
Come now, tell me quick, what did you hear or witness?
Let us discover the truth and devise a plan.”
“Son, listen to me. I had a bad dream, extremely terrifying.
If I were to tell everything now to the audience here,
You would faint and fall to the ground.”
“When the time for battle has arrived, victory is of no bad consequence;
However, for the one who is killed, there is detriment.
If your dream conveys an
omen of this kind,
It may be best to give up and not go to war, which would bring humiliation.”
“One with a determined mind will win in battle;
If we rely on firmness and correct action, victory will be ours.
When he sees me and my retinue,
He will be powerless but to rise and bow to my feet.”
“An army may be vast, but if it is weak,
A single powerful hero may win the battle.
Even if the universe were filled with fireflies,
They could be destroyed and eclipsed by a single sun. [305]
He who is proud and ignorant does not have much acumen;
If he is opposed to a shrewd person, he will not be able to think effectively.”
Monks, Māra, the evil one, did not pay heed to Sārthavāha’s warning. Instead, he gathered all four divisions of his great and powerful army. It was a terrifying army, so brave in battle that it would make anyone’s hair stand on end. Such an army had never been seen before, or even heard of, in the realms of gods and humans. The soldiers were able to transform their faces in a trillion ways. On their arms and legs slithered hundreds of thousands of snakes, and in their hands they brandished swords, bows, arrows, darts, lances, axes, tridents, clubs, staffs, bludgeons, lassos, cudgels, discuses, vajras, and spears. Their bodies were covered in finest cuirasses and armor.
Some had their heads, hands, or feet turned backward, or their eyes facing backward. Their heads, eyes, and faces were ablaze. Their bellies, hands, and feet were deformed, and their faces brimmed with vehement ardor. Their mouths, with protruding ugly fangs, appeared contorted in the extreme, and their thick and broad tongues, rough like a turtle’s neck or a straw mat, dangled from their mouths.
Like the eyes of a black snake, which are flush with poison, their eyes were blazing red, as if on fire. Some of them were vomiting poisonous snakes, while others, like garuḍas emerging from the ocean, grasped these poisonous snakes in their hands and ate them. Some ate human flesh and drank blood, chewing on human arms, legs, heads, and livers, and slurping entrails, feces, and vomit. Their terrifying bodies had many colors, such as brown, blue, red, black, and blazing yellow.
Some had ugly hollow eyes, like wells. Others had eyes that were gouged out, eyes that were ablaze, or disfigured eye sockets. [F.150.a] Some had ugly eyes, rolling and blazing. Some carried flaming mountains in their hands while playfully riding on other mountains as their mount. Others ran toward the Bodhisattva, carrying trees that had been uprooted.
Some had ears like goats, demons, elephants, or pigs, or hanging ears. Others had no ears at all. Some had swollen bellies and weak bodies, with their bones sticking out. They had broken noses, bellies like barrels, and feet round as balls. [306] Their skin, flesh, and blood had dried out, and their ears, noses, hands, feet, eyes, or heads were cut.
Some were so thirsty for blood that they would cut each other’s heads off. They would make snappy, ugly, terrifying, and rough sounds of “Phut phut, picut, phulu phulu!” Others would call, “Let’s get rid of him! Grab that mendicant Gautama along with his tree! Let’s make sure that he is caught, cut, slashed, tied, held, harassed, cut in pieces, gotten rid of, and destroyed!”
They were disfigured and caused terror with their awful faces of foxes, jackals, pigs, donkeys, oxen, elephants, horses, camels, wild asses, buffaloes, rabbits, yaks, rhinos, and the eight-legged lion beast. Some had animal bodies like lions, tigers, wild boars, bears, monkeys, elephants, cats, goats, sheep, snakes, mongooses, fish, crocodiles, alligators, tortoises, ravens, vultures, owls, and garuḍas.
Some had misshapen forms. Some had just one head, [F.150.b] but others had two or more, some had even up to one hundred thousand. Some had no head at all. Some had just one arm while others had up to one hundred thousand. Others had no arms. Some had just one leg while others had up to one hundred thousand. Others had no legs at all. Some had poisonous snakes emerging from their bodily apertures—ears, mouths, noses, eyes, and belly buttons. They threatened the Bodhisattva as they danced around and brandished their many weapons, such as swords, bows, arrows, darts, tridents, axes, discuses, spears, lances, vajras, javelins, and other sharp weapons.
Some of them wore garlands of human fingers that they had cut off and strung together. Others wore on their heads bones, hands, and skulls, which they had strung into garlands, and some had their bodies covered in poisonous snakes. Some were holding skulls and rode on elephants, horses, camels, donkeys, and buffaloes. Some had their heads pointing down and feet up. Some had needle-like hair on their heads. Others had hair like oxen, donkeys, boars, mongooses, goats, sheep, cats, monkeys, wolves, or jackals.
They were vomiting poisonous snakes, spitting out lumps of iron, spewing fire, and producing a rain of flaming iron and copper. They sent rains with thunder, released bolts of lightning, [307] caused a rain of hot iron sands, gathered black clouds, and made storms arise. They sent rains consisting of masses of arrows, bringing darkness and causing swishing sounds as they ran toward the Bodhisattva.
Some of the soldiers swung their lassos, destroyed great mountains, stirred the vast oceans, jumped over tall mountains, and shook Meru, the king of mountains. In this way they came running, throwing their limbs in the air and rocking their bodies. [F.151.a] They cried out loudly in laughter, slapped and beat their chests, and disheveled their hair. Their faces were yellow, their bodies blue, their heads flaming with the hair streaming upward. Running around impetuously, darting here and there with eyes like a fox, they tried to frighten the Bodhisattva.
Old women approached the Bodhisattva and called out to him, “Oh no, son! Oh no, my son! Get up! Quick, get up and flee!” Awful forms of demonesses, flesh eaters, and hungry spirits—one-eyed, limping, and with hunger in their eyes—ran toward the Bodhisattva with outstretched hands, distorted faces, and terrifying cries. They were fearful and horrifying.
Such an army of demons formed a big gathering, stretching eighty leagues on every side. Just like this single army, so too the armies of hundreds of zillions of evil demons, residing in the great trichiliocosm, spread themselves around the Bodhisattva in horizontal and upward directions.
On this topic, it is said:
As well as
rākṣasas, hungry spirits, and flesh eaters,
In any form that the world finds ugly and fierce,
All have been magically manifested there by these rogues.
They have one, two, three heads,
There are also many with one, two, three legs,
Even some with a thousand legs. [308]
Some have a blue face and a yellow body;
Others have a yellow face and a blue body.
Their heads and bodies do not match;
Such is the army of soldiers approaching.
They have faces like tigers, snakes, and hogs,
Elephants, horses, donkeys, and camels,
Monkeys, lions, or bears.
Such are the faces of the approaching army.
Many terrifying malevolent spirits approach,
With wild matted hair, sheep heads, crooked bones, and goiters;
[F.151.b]
Their bodies are drenched with human blood.
Such are the malevolent spirits that approach.
Their legs are like the legs of an antelope;
Their eyeballs look like those of monkeys;
Their fangs look like elephant tusks.
Such are the faces of the approaching army.
The shape of their bodies is that of a crocodile;
Their two eyeballs are ablaze;
Their ears are like those of a goat.
Such are the faces of the approaching army.
Some hold up a staff in their hands,
Others brandish hammers, clubs, and tridents,
While some hold Mount
Meru in their hands.
These are the terrifying forms of the approaching malevolent spirits.
They hold up sickles, brandish discuses, roll their eyes,
Lift great mountaintops in their hands,
And bring down storms and rains of rock and meteor.
These are the terrifying malevolent spirits approaching.
They blow hurricanes, bring down rainstorms,
Shoot off billions of lightning bolts,
Roar with thunder, and sway trees.
The rain pours down in torrents;
Rivers overflow and flood the land.
So many terrifying things have appeared
That even inanimate trees fall over.
As they witness these terrible forms,
All of them ugly and misshapen.
Yet the One Who Has Qualities, Marks, and Splendor
Keeps his mind unshaken, like Mount
Meru.
He sees all phenomena as illusion,
Like a dream, and like clouds.
Since he sees them in this manner that accords with the Dharma,
He meditates steadfastly, established in the Dharma.
Whoever thinks of “me” and “mine”
And clings to objects and the body,
Should be afraid and terrified,
The Son of the
Śākyas has realized the essential truth
That all phenomena arise in dependence and lack reality.
With a mind like the sky, he is just fine,
Unperturbed by the spectacle of the army of rogues.
Monks, among the one thousand sons of Māra, the evil one, [F.152.a] there were some, such as Sārthavāha, who began to feel devotion toward me, the Bodhisattva. They all assembled on the right side of Māra, the evil one, while those who supported Māra took a stand on his left side.
Now Māra asked his sons, “What type of army should we use to subdue the Bodhisattva?”
Standing to his right, Māra’s son Sārthavāha spoke this verse to his father:
“Would you want to wake up the leader of the
nāgas?
Would you want to wake up the leader of the elephants? [309]
Would you want to wake up the king of the animals?
That is like wanting to disturb the leader of men from his ease.”
“Even at the mere sight of us, people’s hearts burst,
And so does the solid core of great trees.
Struck by my stare, what power would this
monk have?
Or struck by death, what power would he have to live in this world?”
“What solid core do trees have for that matter?
You say ‘I will break him by staring,’ but can you do that, people?
Even if you could destroy Mount
Meru with your stare,
You could not even open your eyes in his presence.
To cross the ocean using one’s hands
And to drink its water is impossible for people.
Yet looking directly at the
Bodhisattva’s stainless face
Would be even harder than that.”
“My body has one hundred arms,
And with just one of them I can shoot off one hundred arrows.
O father, I will break the body of this
monk!
Be happy and go now without delay.”
From the right side, Subuddhi said: [310]
“If it is advantageous to have one hundred arms,
Why do bodily hairs not become arms?
You may hold a spear in each of your hands
And use them all, yet that will bring you nothing.
Is inaccessible to poison, weapons, and fire.
Since the love that he feels transcends the world,
When you shoot your weapons, they turn into flowers.
All the powerful ones in the sky, the earth, and the waters,
Whether humans or
guhyakas, may hold up their swords and axes.
But when they go to the leader of men, who has the power of forbearance,
They all change from very strong, to strong, to weak.”
On the left side, someone named Ugratejas called out:
“Invisible, I will enter his beautiful body
Just like a low forest fire
Would burn a dry, hollow tree.”
On the right side, Sunetra replied:
“You may burn the entire Mount
Meru
And enter, invisible, into the earth,
But his vajra mind cannot possibly be burned
By the likes of you, even if you were equal in number to the grains of sand in the
Ganges.
It can happen that all mountains quake,
And it may be that the oceans dry up.
It is also possible that the sun and moon will fall from the sky,
And it may be that the earth will one day melt away.
“Yet it is impossible that the one who has set out
To benefit the world with a firm resolve
Should rise from the foot of the great tree
Before he attains awakening.”
I could use my bare hands
The sun, the moon, and the stars. [311]
“I could, with playful ease,
Get hold of all the water in the four oceans.
Father, I will get hold of this
monk
And throw him to the end of the oceans.
“Father, may this army stand firm!
And scatter it everywhere with my hands.”
That you can crush with your hands
Along with the earth, the mountains, and the oceans.
“Yet even thousands of beings like you,
As many as there are grains of sand in the
Ganges,
Would be unable to move a single hair
“Father, for one who is set in the midst of a great army,
He does not have an army. Where are his allies?
“In the universe, the sun and the moon have no army,
Yet he is capable of destroying
Namuci single-handedly.”
“He has no lances or spears, no clubs or swords,
No horses, elephants, chariots, or foot soldiers.
That single arrogant
monk, sitting there—
Father, I will kill him today, please have no worries.”
“His body is unshakable and indestructible like
Nārāyaṇa’s;
He wears an armor of forbearance and wields the sword of unbendable
diligence;
The threefold liberation is his steed, and knowledge is his bow.
“The fire burning on the plains does not shy away from burning the grass;
The arrow shot skillfully cannot be stopped by a learned one;
The bolt of lightning shooting across the sky does not return.
I will not rest until I have conquered the son of the
Śākyas.”
“When meeting wet grass, the fire retreats;
When the arrow hits a mountain peak, it rebounds;
The bolt of lightning, having hit the ground, sinks down.
Until the
Bodhisattva obtains peaceful immortality, he will not retreat.”
Father, even if one could draw pictures in the empty sky,
Or gather the minds of all sentient beings, as many as there are, into one,
Or, my father, bind the sun, the moon, and the wind with a noose,
“With the great poison of my gaze, I can burn Mount
Meru
And turn the waters in the great oceans to ashes.
As I now turn both of them to ashes with my gaze.”
“You may be able to fill the world with poison
Yet by a mere glance from the One Who Is the Source of All Good Qualities,
[F.153.b]
Your poison will lose its toxicity.
“In the three realms, there are fierce poisons
In the form of attachment, anger, and delusion.
Yet none of them can be found in his body, nor in his mind,
Just as mud and dust cannot be found in the heavens.
“His body, speech, and mind are pristine,
And he is filled with love for sentient beings.
No weapon or poison will be able to harm him,
So, father, please, let us all turn back.”
“I will play thousands of instruments
And send forth billions of well-adorned divine girls
Who will get him excited and lead him to our exquisite harem.
I will provide sexual pleasure and bring him under your control.”
“He only delights in the pleasures of the Dharma,
The bliss of concentration and the significance of immortality,
And the
joy of liberating sentient beings and the happiness of a loving mind.
He does not delight in the pleasures of passion.”
“I can at once swallow the sun and the moon
And the wind blowing through the sky.
Father, I will catch that mendicant this very day
And blow him away like a handful of husk.”
“Even if all
gods and humans became
As swift and strong as you are
And gathered in a single place,
They would be unable to harm this peerless being.”
“If there was such a fierce crowd of our men,
He could do nothing to wound your
pride.
Since all tasks are accomplished by teams,
How could he harm you just on his own?”
“Lions have never been seen sitting on the ground in a row;
Those with a poisonous gaze do not team up.
Those splendorous beings that have courage because of being true,
Those supreme leaders of beings also do not congregate together.”
“Father, you have not heard such heated voices before
As those your sons are calling out with now.
[F.154.a]
Let’s quickly go and destroy that
monk!”
“In the midst of the jungle, when the lion is not there,
Yet when they hear the lion’s frightening roar,
They flee in panic in all directions.
“In the same way, these ignorant sons of
Māra,
As long as they have not heard the voice of the perfect man,
Raise their voices, opinionated and impudent,
While the lion of men remains silent.”
“Whatever I wish for is quickly accomplished,
So why does he not look at us with circumspection?
He must be either deluded or ignorant
Since he does not rise up quickly and flee.”
“He is neither a fool nor a weakling;
You yourselves are the fools, so extremely careless.
You have no idea about his valor;
The power of his insight will conquer you all.
“Even with the strength of demonic sons
Equal in number to the grains of sand in the river
Ganges,
You would not be able to bend a single hair on his head,
So how much less could you kill him?
“Do not corrupt your minds;
Instead you should respect him with devotion.
He is about to become king of the three realms;
Turn back and do not make war.”
In this way a thousand of Māra’s sons, both good and bad, each further addressed Māra, the evil one, in verses. [315] At the end, Bhadrasena, the general of Māra, spoke these verses to him:
“All those who normally follow you, such as
Śakra,
The guardians, the hordes of half
kinnaras,
Now they all join their palms and bow to the
Bodhisattva.
“So what need is there to mention those who do not follow you,
They, too, all bow to him.
“Even those of your sons who are wise,
Who are powerful and smart,
In accord with his essence.
“This army of
yakṣas and other beings,
Is seen in full by the All-Seeing One,
With a clear mind and without hatred.
“Since he is neither taken aback nor stirred
When seeing this wild and fierce army,
So hideous and frightening,
His victory is certain now.
“Wherever this army is found,
The cries of the jackal and the owl are heard.
When the calls of the crow and the donkey ring out,
It is wise to quickly retreat.
Clever curlews, swans, cuckoos, and peacocks
It is certain that today the victory will be his.
“Wherever this army is found,
Dust and soot rain from the sky.
So heed my words and turn back!
“Wherever this army is found,
The ground is uneven and filled with thorns and prickles.
So it is better for the wise to retreat.
Will now come true. If you do not retreat,
He will reduce this army to dust,
Just as countries are destroyed by the
sages.
[316]
“When the supreme, masterful
sage
So that for many years no grass would grow.
And practice austerities,
He is supreme among them,
For he does not harm any living being.
“Have you not heard before
That the one whose body blazes with all the marks
And who walks away from his home
Will conquer disturbing emotions and attain awakening?
“The sons of the victors manifest such great powers
For isn’t the Supreme Being
A worthy recipient of the best of offering rites?
“Since the immaculate hair between his eyebrows
He will surely conquer
Māra’s army.
“Since the
gods at the peak of existence
Are unable to see the crown of his head,
[F.155.a]
So, surely, without being taught by others,
He will attain omniscience.
“Since Mount
Meru and the surrounding ranges,
All the trees, and the best of mountains
“It is certain that the one with the power of
merit,
The powers of knowledge and
wisdom,
Will render
Māra’s factions powerless.
“Like an elephant stepping on a fresh clay pot,
Or a lion fighting a fox,
Or the sun effacing a firefly,
Upon hearing these words, another son of Māra became enraged and, with bloodshot eyes, he said:
“Your praise for this lone person
What could that single man be capable of?
Can’t you see this great and terrifying army?”
“It is not necessary to help the sun in this world,
Surely does not need any helpers.”
At that point, in order to weaken the strength of the demons, the Bodhisattva turned his face, which resembled a blooming lotus with one hundred petals, toward them. Upon seeing the Bodhisattva’s face, Māra took flight. But while fleeing, he had the thought that his army could withstand the sight of the Bodhisattva’s face, and he once again turned back.
Assisted by his followers, he now began to hurl various weapons upon the Bodhisattva. However, even when they threw mountains as big as the central mountain at the Bodhisattva, the mountains all turned into flower canopies and celestial palaces. Those with poisonous gazes, those with poisonous snakes, and those with poisonous breath shot flames of fire at the Bodhisattva. Yet this circle of fire just turned into what seemed to be the Bodhisattva’s halo of light.
The Bodhisattva now touched his right hand to his head. Māra perceived that the Bodhisattva was brandishing a sword in his hand, and so he fled toward the south. However, thinking that it could not be true after all, he again returned. [F.155.b] When he came back, the demons began to hurl all sorts of terrifying weapons at the Bodhisattva. They threw swords, arrows, darts, lances, axes, clubs, javelins, bludgeons, discuses, vajras, hammers, uprooted trees, rocks, lassos, and iron balls. However, as soon as the demons released the weapons, the weapons turned into garlands and canopies of flowers, and a cooling rain of flower petals fell on the ground. The flower garlands hung as adornments on the Bodhi tree.
When Māra, the evil one, witnessed the Bodhisattva’s power and the displays that he performed, his mind was disturbed with jealousy and avarice. He called out to the Bodhisattva, “Listen, young prince, get up! Get up and relish your kingship—your virtue lies precisely in doing that! On what grounds could you ever attain liberation?” [318]
The Bodhisattva answered Māra, the evil one, with words that were firm, profound, vast, gentle, and sweet:
“You, evil one! Through just a single unstinting act of giving, you have become lord of the desire realm. I, on the other hand, have performed trillions of unstinting acts of giving. I have cut off my hands, legs, eyes, and my head, and given them to beggars. With the intention to liberate sentient beings, I have often given beggars my house, wealth, grains, beds, clothes, and parks.”
Māra, the evil one, replied with this verse:
“Previously I made a wholesome act of giving;
It was an unstinting act, and you are my witness.
But you have no witness to your acts,
So there is no point in speaking of them, and instead you will be conquered.”
The Bodhisattva replied, “Evil one, the earth here is my witness.”
He then embraced Māra, the evil one, and his demonic retinue with thoughts of love and compassion. Like a lion, he was without fear, fright, anxiety, timidity, [F.156.a] disturbance, and perturbation. He had no goose bumps, which indicate fear. He now let his right hand slide over his entire body and then gracefully tapped on the earth—the hand that had the contours of a conch, a victory banner, a fish, a vase, a swastika, an iron hook, and a wheel. The hand’s fingers were connected by a web. Its nails were exquisite and copper colored. Soft and supple, it looked perfectly youthful. All this was the result of limitless eons of gathering the accumulations of basic goodness. He then spoke this verse:
“This earth supports all beings;
She is impartial and unbiased toward all, whether moving or still.
She is my witness that I speak no lies;
So may she bear my witness.”
As soon as the Bodhisattva touched this great earth, it shook in six different ways. It quivered, trembled, and quaked, and it boomed, thundered, and roared. Just as a Magadhan brass cauldron, when struck with a wooden log, chimes and reverberates, [319] so did this great earth sound and reverberate when struck by the Bodhisattva with his hand. [B14]
Then the earth goddess in this great trichiliocosm who is called Sthāvarā, along with her retinue of one billion earth goddesses, began to shake the entire great earth. Not far from where the Bodhisattva was sitting, she broke through the earth’s surface and revealed her upper body, adorned with all sorts of jewels. She bowed toward the Bodhisattva, joined her palms, and said to him, “You are right. Great Being, you are right. It is just as you say. We bear witness to this. But still, my Lord, you alone are the supreme witness in the worlds of gods and humans and the supreme authority.” [F.156.b]
Having spoken thus, the earth goddess Sthāvarā rebuked Māra, the evil one, in many ways, and praised the Bodhisattva again and again. She made a great display of her myriad powers and then disappeared together with her following there and then.
When the wicked one and his army heard that sound from the earth,
Frightened and disheartened, they all fled,
Just like jackals in the forest hearing the lion’s roar,
Or crows taking flight when a rock is thrown.
Now Māra, the evil one, felt unhappy and full of suffering. Still, even though he was miserable and ashamed of himself, he was overpowered by pride to such an extent that he could not leave; he could not turn back and flee. Therefore, he turned to his men and spoke:
“All of you! Wait a while until we find out whether it is possible to arouse the Bodhisattva by polite persuasion. Such a jewel of a being should not be killed outright.” [320]
Then Māra, the evil one, spoke to his daughters: “Girls, you must go now to the seat of awakening and examine the Bodhisattva. Does he have desires or not? Is he deluded or intelligent? Is he like a blind man, or does he know the country and seek advantage? And is he weak or strong?”
When they heard these words, these divine maidens went to the seat of awakening where the Bodhisattva was. They assembled in front of the Bodhisattva and began displaying the thirty-two ways of female trickery. What are these thirty-two ways? They are as follows:
1. Some of the girls partially covered their faces.
2. Some showed off their firm and voluptuous breasts.
3. Some smiled at him and flashed their teeth.
4. Some lifted their arms, waving them in the air to reveal their armpits.
5. Some flaunted their lips, red like bimba fruit.
6. Some looked at the Bodhisattva through half-closed eyes and then quickly closed their eyes.
7. Some showed off their half-covered breasts. [F.157.a]
8. Some loosened their clothes to reveal their hips adorned with girdles.
9. Some wore fine, transparent clothes that revealed their hips and their girdles.
10. Some made clinking sounds with their anklets.
11. Some showed their breasts adorned with strings of pearls.
12. Some showed off their half-naked thighs.
13. Some displayed jays, parrots, and myna birds sitting on their heads and shoulders.
15. Some wore good clothes, yet let them hang improperly.
16. Some made the chains on their hips shake and twinkle.
17. Some mischievously moved back and forth in a flirtatious manner.
20. Some flirted and acted shy.
21. Some shook their thighs like a palm tree moved by the wind.
22. Some let out deep moans. [321]
23. Some dressed in transparent cloth with bells hanging from the string at their waist and walked around giggling.
24. Some stripped off all their clothes and jewelry.
25. Some showed off all their jewelry, both the secret and the apparent.
26. Some showed their arms, which had been rubbed with perfume.
27. Some displayed their earrings anointed with perfume.
28. Some covered their face with a veil and then suddenly revealed it.
29. Some laughed, played, and had fun, trying to attract each other’s attention. But then they again pretended to be shy.
30. Some of them showed off their virgin bodies that had never given birth.
31. Some tried to lure the Bodhisattva with offers of love.
Standing before the Bodhisattva, they pondered what his thoughts might be as they looked at his face. Did he look at them with his senses aroused? [F.157.b] Or did he look into the distance? They looked to see if he was excited or not.
The face of the Bodhisattva, however, remained as pure and stainless as the orb of the full moon when it escapes the mouth of Rāhu, or the sun rising in the early dawn, or a golden pillar, or a blooming thousand-petaled lotus, or a sacrificial fire sprinkled with oil. Like the central mountain, it remained unmoving. Like the surrounding mountains, it was truly elevated. He guarded his senses well and, like the elephant, his look was that of someone with a mind well tamed.
Now the daughters of Māra, in a further attempt to arouse the Bodhisattva’s desires, spoke these verses to him:
“Springtime is here, the best of seasons;
Let us frolic, dear, while the trees are in bloom.
Your body is so beautiful and attractive;
It is enticing, has auspicious marks, and is well adorned. [322]
“We were born beautiful and with perfect curves;
We are here to please
gods and humans and grant complete satisfaction.
Awakening is hard to gain, so change your mind;
Quick, stand up and enjoy the prime of youth!
“It is for your sake that we have come here, all dressed up and adorned;
Come now, take a look at these divine girls so beautifully adorned.
Who would not be thrilled when enjoying the passion of love?
Even a decayed tree would be brought back to life!
“Our voices are soft and our scent is delicious;
Our faces look their best with diadems, earrings, and makeup.
Our faces have beautiful brows and are well anointed;
Our beautiful eyes are as pure and large as lotuses.
“Our faces resemble the full moon;
Our lips are like ripe
bimba fruit;
So, O Beloved, look at us who ardently desire pleasure.
“Look at our firm and voluptuous breasts,
The beautiful three folds on our bellies,
And our broad and beautiful hips.
Lord, look at us, such beautiful maidens.
“Our thighs resemble the trunk of an elephant;
[F.158.a]
Our arms are bedecked with abutting bracelets; [323]
Our hips are adorned with beautiful chains.
Lord, look at us, your servants.
“With the gait of a swan, we gently approach you;
Soft and beautiful, we talk of amorous love.
Beautifully adorned as we are,
We are experts in divine pleasures.
“We are well trained in singing, playing instruments, and theatrical performance;
We are born with perfect bodies for the sake of pleasure.
If you don’t accept us now, as we crave pleasure,
You will quickly become a loser in this world.
“What man would run away when he sees a treasure?
You will be exactly like that, ignorant of the treasure, which is love,
If you remain ignorant of amorous passion
And fail to enjoy these young girls, who have come of their own will.”
Monks, the Bodhisattva just smiled with unblinking eyes. He sat there smiling, with calm senses, physically at ease, resplendent, without attachment, free from anger, and without delusion. Like the king of mountains he was immutable, confident, unconfused, and untroubled. Since he had totally abandoned, all by himself, all disturbing emotions through his well-established intelligence and wisdom, he now spoke with soft and pleasant words in a tone that exceeded even the voice of Brahmā. His voice was like that of a cuckoo, pleasant and sweet sounding, as he addressed Māra’s daughters with these verses:
“Desire results in a great deal of suffering; it is the root of suffering.
For the unwise, desire ruins their concentration, magical ability, and austerities;
The wise say that chasing women brings no satisfaction. [324]
I will satisfy the unskillful ones with
wisdom.
“The thirst of someone who pursues desires increases evermore,
Just like one feels after drinking salty water.
If I were to engage in that, there would be no benefit to me or to others,
And I delight in being useful to both myself and to others.
“Your beauty is like water bubbles or foam;
[F.158.b]
Like magical colors, it is merely mentally created.
Like a play or a dream, it is unstable and impermanent;
It deludes the minds of childish beings.
“The eyes are like water bubbles—they are enclosed in a membrane,
Like clotted blood is enclosed in a suppurating ulcer.
The belly is one big load of urine and excrement, excreting filth;
This mechanism of suffering has emerged from karma and disturbing emotions.
“It is the deluded people with childish minds, not the wise ones,
Who mistakenly perceive the body as beautiful.
This makes them spin for a long time in cyclic existence, the source of suffering;
Their suffering, experienced in hell, is extremely painful.
“From the crotch, awful smells are leaked;
The thighs, the calves, and the feet are joined together like a mechanical contraption.
When I examine you, I see that you are like an illusion,
Which has deceptively emerged from causes and conditions. [325]
“When seeing that sensual enjoyments are without good qualities,
And that they lead away from the noble path of
wisdom,
And that they are the same as poisonous plants or fires, or like angry vipers,
Only fools would call them ‘happiness.’
“Whoever becomes a slave of women through desire
Will stray from
discipline, from concentration, and lose common sense.
Wallowing in pleasure, he will be far removed from
wisdom
If he discards his
joy in the Dharma and delights in desire.
“I have neither attachment nor anger;
I do not perceive anything permanent, attractive, or with a self.
I do not feel dislike or
joy;
My mind is free, like the wind in the sky.
“Even if the whole world were filled with the likes of you
Who besieged me here, for
eons on end,
I would not feel anger, attachment, or delusion,
They all live in great fear
Since they lack permanence and cannot endure.”
At that point Māra’s daughters, skilled as they were in female deception, felt even greater lust, haughtiness, and pride. They displayed love gestures, showed off their adorned bodies, and tried even further female trickery in their attempts to seduce the Bodhisattva. [326]
On this topic, it is said:
These three graceful ones hastily arrived, sent by
Māra.
They danced like the shoots of young creepers on a tree blowing in the breeze
To stir lust in the prince sitting under the tree branches.
Among all seasons, springtime is the best;
At this time men and women frolic, and darkness and dust disappear.
Cuckoos, swans, and peacocks call out, and flocks of birds fill the air;
The time to experience the
joys of pleasure has arrived.
For thousands of
eons he delighted in
discipline, austerities, and hardships;
He is immutable like the king of mountains, with a body like the rising sun.
Like roaring thunder, his beautiful voice resounds like that of the king of beasts;
This person, who benefits others, utters only meaningful words.
Desire, disputes, hostility, and strife bring the fear of death;
Ignorant fools engage in them continually, yet the skilled ones renounce them.
After many magical displays, they said, “You, with your lotus-like face, listen to us.
You will become a king, a supreme ruler, a powerful master of the earth;
Flocks of beautiful women will play thousands of instruments for you.
Of what use is the dress of a
sage to you? Give that up and enjoy pleasures instead.”
“I will be the master of the three realms, venerated by
gods and humans;
[F.159.b]
I will be a king who travels by the wheel of Dharma, endowed with
ten powers.
A million seekers, and those with no more need for learning, will always bow to me;
Because I enjoy the Dharma, I no longer seek joyful objects.”
“For as long as your youth has not passed and you are in your prime,
For as long as disease has not struck you and you are not old and gray haired,
For as long as you have your beauty and youth, and we, too, are happy,
For so long you should enjoy the pleasures of love with a smile on your face.”
“Until I attain perfect freedom and immortality, so difficult to attain,
Until I am rid of the suffering and bondage in the realms of
gods and
demigods,
Until old age, disease, and death show their angry faces,
For so long I will train on the auspicious path that leads to the city of fearlessness.”
“In the divine realm you, like
Śakra, will be surrounded by divine maidens;
In the realm of
Māra, enthralled by amorous women, you will find the pleasures of love;
Relish playing with us—it will bring great pleasure!”
“Desire is ephemeral like dew on the tip of grass, or like autumn clouds;
Desire is terrifying like the wrath of the
nāga girls.
Desire plagues all ignoble ones, so how could anyone rejoice in that?”
“Look at these beautiful trees with fresh leaves and blooming flowers;
On the ground grows fresh green grass, so soft and thick;
Will you, the lion of men, enjoy yourself with us young girls in a
pleasure grove?”
“All of these trees produce shoots and flowers according to seasons,
And bees also seek out flowers because of suffering from hunger and thirst.
Since everything that grows from the ground will wither under the sun,
[F.160.a]
I have resolved to actualize the nectar that all
victorious ones have enjoyed.”
Māra’s daughters insisted:
“Look at us! Our faces are like the moon and like fresh lotus flowers;
Our speech is soft and pleasant, and our teeth as white as snow or silver.
Such beauties are rare among the
gods, so how about among humans?
These women that you have here are even desired by the highest of
gods.”
“I see the body as impure, filled with masses of worms;
It easily breaks and perishes, and is thoroughly without pleasure. [329]
Yet I will attain that imperishable state, venerated by the wise,
The state that brings ultimate happiness to the animate and inanimate worlds.”
The daughters now put on sixty-four displays of amorous behavior;
They rang their anklets and girdles and let their clothes slip off.
Struck with the arrow of desire, infatuated, with smiles on their faces, they said,
“Lord, do we appear so ugly to you that you don’t share our love?”
Knowing the faults in all of saṃsāra, the Stainless One replied,
“Desire is like a sword, a spear, a trident, or a razor blade smeared with honey;
It is like the head of a viper or a fire pit—that much I have realized.
So, since women steal one’s virtues, I have abandoned their company.”
With all the billions of skills that induce amorous infatuation,
The girls were unable to seduce the
Well-Gone One who has the gait of a young elephant.
So with shame and embarrassment, they now bowed to the feet of the
Sage;
Giving rise to respect,
joy, and love, they praised the Benefactor:
“Your face is like the spotless center of a lotus, or the harvest moon;
Your luster is like the flames of a sacrificial fire, or the shine of the golden mountain.
May your wishes and vows, which you have made in hundreds of lives, be fulfilled;
Now that you yourself have crossed, please liberate all suffering beings.”
They circumambulated the Supreme Being, who was immutable like a majestic mountain.
Returning, they bowed their heads to their father and told him,
“Father, this master of
gods and humans has no fear or anger.
[330]
“With a smiling face he looks on with eyes like lotus petals;
Never does he look at others with attachment or a frown.
Mount
Meru may tremble, the oceans dry up, and the sun and moon fall,
But never will He Who Sees the Faults of the Three Existences come under the sway of amorous women.”
When Māra, the evil one, heard these words, he felt even more miserable and unhappy. Angry and disappointed, he told his daughters, “Oh my, that stupid fool, so ignorant that he doesn’t see your beauty and good looks! How can it be that we are unable to get him away from the seat of awakening?”
Then once again, the daughters of Māra spoke to their father in verse:
“Although we speak to him softly and lovingly, he does not get aroused;
Even though we show him the most secret of things, he does not get hostile.
No matter what acts he witnesses, he remains without delusion;
Although he sees the entire body, his thoughts remain profound.
“He clearly realizes the faults of women;
He is far removed from lust and has no desire.
Neither in divine abodes, nor here on earth, is there a human or a
god
Capable of gauging his mind and actions.
“Father, we tried every female trick on him!
With all our lust, surely his heart should have melted!
Yet, although he saw it all, his mind wasn’t distracted even once;
Like the foremost king of mountains, he was immutable. [331]
“He accumulated the splendors of hundreds of virtues and qualities;
The
gods and
Brahmā, pure beings possessing the splendor of virtue,
Pay homage to him and touch their heads to his feet.
“Once he conquers
Māra’s army,
Father, he does not seek fights or quarrels with us;
Even though our forces are powerful, our task would be a difficult one.
“Father, look at the sky, where millions of perfect
Bodhisattvas,
With jewels on the top of their heads, respectfully wait.
On their limbs these sources of wealth are adorned with flower garlands;
They possess the
ten powers and have come here to venerate him.
“Everything animate, and even the inanimate, too,
All bow down to that mountain of qualities.
Father, it would be better to leave him alone today.”
One will not cross where one cannot reach the end;
One will not dig where one cannot pull out the root.
One cannot make him angry, or even make him suffer with forbearance;
One can do nothing that would make him unhappy.”
Monks, at that point the eight goddesses dwelling in the tree of awakening—Śrī, Vṛddhi, Tapā, Śreyasī, Vidu, Ojobalā, Satyavādinī, and Samaṅginī—[332] honored the Bodhisattva, glorified him evoking the sixteen types of splendor, and praised him:
“Sacred One, you are beautiful,
Like the moon during the bright fortnight.
With your pure mind, you are radiant,
“Pure Being, you have bloomed,
Like a lion with a mane, moving in the jungle.
“Supreme Being, you shine forth,
Like the king of mountains in the middle of the ocean.
Pure Being, you are elevated,
Like the ring of surrounding mountains.
“Supreme Being, you are hard to fathom,
Like the ocean rich in jewels.
Protector of the World, your mind is vast,
“Pure Being, your mind is firm;
Like the earth, you sustain all beings.
[F.161.b]
Supreme Being, your mind is never turbid;
Like the lake
Anavapta, it is always calm.
“Supreme Being, your mind is without a fixed abode;
Like wind, it never lingers anywhere in the world.
Supreme Being, you are hard to meet with;
Like the king of brightness, you are free from all conceit.
“Sacred One, you are very powerful;
Protector of the World, your resolve is firm;
“Like a lightning bolt released from the hand of
Indra,
Supreme Being, you cannot be turned back.
Supreme Being, you will attain your aim in full;
Soon you will be endowed with the complete
ten powers.”
Monks, at that moment the gods of the pure realms tried to discourage Māra in sixteen different ways. What were these sixteen? They were: [333]
You are brooding like an old crane.
Evil one, you are powerless,
Like an old elephant sinking in a swamp.
“Evil one, you are on your own,
Like a loser pretending to be a hero.
Evil one, you have no one with you,
Like someone suffering from a contagious disease, abandoned in a forest.
Like a young bull pained by a heavy load.
Evil one, you are thrown on your back,
Like a tree tossed about by the wind.
“Evil one, you are on the wrong path,
Like a traveler who has lost his way.
Evil one, you are the lowest of the low,
Like a poor man who gets envious.
“Evil one, you are garrulous,
Evil one, you are overcome with
pride,
Like an ungrateful ruffian.
“Evil one, today you will flee,
Like a jackal at the sound of a lion’s roar.
[F.162.a]
Evil one, today you will be scattered about,
Like a bird tossed around by the roaring wind.
“Evil one, not knowing when the time is right,
You are like a beggar whose
merit has run out.
Evil one, today you will be abandoned,
Like a broken pot full of dust.
“Evil one, today you will be restrained by the
Bodhisattva,
Evil one, you are completely powerless,
Like Uruṇḍa, who lost his arms and legs.”
“Evil one, today you will be defeated by the
Bodhisattva,
Like an enemy soldier by a hero. [334]
Evil one, today you will be held down by the
Bodhisattva,
Like a weak wrestler by a powerful one.
“Evil one, today you will be outmatched by the
Bodhisattva,
Like a firefly by the sun.
Evil one, today you will be scattered by the
Bodhisattva,
Like a handful of chaff by a strong wind.
“Evil one, today you will be terrified by the
Bodhisattva,
Like a great
sāl tree whose roots have been cut.
“Evil one, today you will be destroyed by the
Bodhisattva,
Like a hostile city by a great king.
Evil one, today you will be dried up by the
Bodhisattva,
Like the water-filled footprint of a cow.
Like a criminal escaping execution.
Evil one, today you will be sent swirling by the
Bodhisattva,
Like a swarm of bees by the heat of fire.
Like a lawful king who has lost his kingdom.
Evil one, today you will brood because of the
Bodhisattva,
Like an old crane with clipped wings.
[F.162.b] [335]
“Evil one, today you will be deprived of livelihood by the
Bodhisattva,
Like a weary traveler without provisions in a wilderness.
Evil one, today you will be weeping because of the
Bodhisattva,
Like someone shipwrecked at sea.
“Evil one, today you will be depleted of life force by the
Bodhisattva,
Like grass and trees by the fire at the end of an
eon.
Evil one, today you will be crushed by the
Bodhisattva,
Like a mountaintop by a mighty thunderbolt.”
Monks, although the gods who attended upon the Bodhisattva tried to discourage Māra, the evil one, in these sixteen ways, Māra would not be deterred.
On this topic, it is said:
Although hosts of deities ask him to turn back,
Antaka does not pay heed;
Instead he says, “Tear him up! Beat him! Destroy him! Don’t let him escape alive!
If he is liberated, he will liberate my realm and other realms as well;
But the only liberation in store for this mendicant is to get up and flee.”
“The king of mountains, Mount
Meru, may move and all beings may cease to be;
All the stars, the planets, and the moon may fall from the sky to the earth;
It is possible that all beings may think and act in unison and the great oceans may dry out;
But it is impossible that someone like me would ever move from the king of trees.”
“I am lord of desires and master of the universe.
All of them fall under my control.
So get up! Since you are in my realm, follow my orders!”
“If you are master of sense pleasures, you are clearly not a master at all;
Look who I am in reality—I am master of the Dharma.
If you are the master of sense pleasures, you should not go to the
lower realms;
While you watch powerlessly, I shall attain awakening.”
“
Monk, what are you doing here in the wilderness on your own?
It is not an easy task to find that which you seek.
Did not attain that supreme state, so forget about you, an ordinary man.”
“With a mind possessed by anger and full of desire for the divine realms,
And a belief that the self is either permanent or impermanent,
And the thought that liberation is a place you can go to,
With such mistaken preconceptions, past
sages practiced austerities.
“Not knowing the truth, they preached the existence of a soul,
Variously claiming that this soul is all-pervasive, confined to locations, eternal,
With form, without form, with qualities, without qualities, [337]
An agent, and not an agent. This is what they claimed.
“But today, sitting here on this seat, I will attain stainless awakening;
I will defeat you,
Māra, and repel your army and soldiers.
I will explain to the world about the origin and arising of things,
And also about nirvāṇa, the cool state where suffering is pacified.”
Māra, upset, angry, and furious, shouted harsh words:
“Catch that
Gautama, who sits alone in the wilderness, and bring him quickly to me!
Take him to my palace, shackle, fetter, and yoke him, and make him my gatekeeper!
I will watch him suffer and cry out uncontrollably in many different ways, a slave of the
gods.”
“It is possible that someone can make drawings in the empty sky,
Or catch the blowing wind with a lasso,
Or make the bright sun and moon fall from the sky to the earth,
Yet you, or countless beings like you, will never force me away from this tree.”
The powerful army of
demons came forth.
With wild cries, playing conches and various drums, they asked,
“When you see this terrifying army of
Māra,
Oh, our son, our dear child, are you not annihilated already?
“You are as bright as gold from the
Jambū River, or the pericarp of the
campaka flower;
You are youthful, praised and honored by
gods and humans.
[338]
But today you will meet your doom in this great battle;
You will come under the control of
Māra, like the moon seized by the
demigod.”
“He who hopes to remove someone like me from this perfect tree
Is a fool who tries to frighten space itself.
“No one can harm me here beneath this tree,
Not even someone who can destroy the trichiliocosm and count its motes of dust,
Not even someone who can draw all the water in the oceans through a single straw,
Not even someone who can split the supreme diamond mountain in a single instant.”
Māra, being thus restrained, became angry;
He held aloft his unsheathed, sharp sword.
“
Monk, quick, get up and do as I tell you,
Or I will cut you right away like a bamboo twig or dūrvā grass.”
“Even if this trichiliocosm were filled with
demons,
And each of them brandished a sword as large as Mount
Meru,
They could not bend a hair on my body, let alone kill me.
Do not disbelieve me; I am reminding you of my firm resolve.” [339]
With faces of camels, oxen, and elephants, and terrifying eyes,
With venomous snakes for arms, with horrible poisonous eyes,
They hurled erupting volcanoes at him,
As well as trees with their roots, and copper and iron.
They gathered like clouds from the four directions,
Roaring and raining down bolts of lightning, iron balls,
Swords, spears, sharp axes, and poisoned arrows.
They shattered the earth’s surface and pulverized trees.
Some had one hundred hands and shot one hundred arrows.
From their mouths they shot out poisonous snakes and fire,
While seizing crocodiles and other aquatic creatures from the ocean.
Some transformed into
garuḍas and pounced at snakes.
Infuriated, some hurled iron balls the size of Mount
Meru,
As well as blazing mountain peaks.
Hitting the ground, they made the earth quake
And stirred up the underground masses of water.
Some jumped in front of him and some attacked him from behind;
Yelling out, “You child!” they attacked from the left and from the right.
Their hands and feet were turned the wrong way, and their heads were afire;
Blazing lightning bolts sprang forth from their eyes.
As he witnessed this army of
demons, ugly with unnatural forms,
This pure being understood that they were like an illusion.
[F.164.a]
“There is no
Māra here, no army, no being, and also
no self;
Like the moon reflected in a pond, so does this threefold universe revolve. [340]
“There is no eye, no man, no woman, and
no self;
There is no ear, no nose, no tongue, and no body.
No one created these phenomena and no one experiences them;
They arise in dependency and are empty both from within and without.”
As he proclaimed the truth that phenomena are empty,
Perceived the weapons in their hands to be flower garlands.
Such was the result of the words spoken by the One Who Always Speaks the Truth.
He gracefully ran his right hand over his body from head to toe—
The hand, which was adorned with a fine web,
Which had beautiful copper-colored nails, sparkling like gold from the
Jambū River,
And was marked with a thousand-spoked wheel, and was auspicious with the
merit of virtue.
He stretched out his hand, like a lightning bolt striking from the sky,
And said, “This earth is my witness.
In the past I have made millions of elaborate sacrifices
And never denied those who petitioned me.
“Water and fire and wind are my witnesses,
And so are
Brahmā, the lord of beings, the moon, the sun, and the stars.
The
buddhas in the ten directions are my witnesses;
Diligence, concentration, and knowledge,
[341]
The four limitless contemplations, and the five higher knowledges are my witnesses.
In fact all the gradual practices of awakening are my witnesses.
“However many beings there are in the ten directions,
And all their many unrestricted sacrifices,
They do not equal even a hundredth of the qualities in a single hair of mine.”
He gracefully touched his hand to the earth
So that the earth resounded like a copper vase.
As
Māra heard this, he fell to the ground,
And then heard the words, “Strike! Catch this friend of darkness.”
As
Māra’s body started to sweat, his splendor disappeared and his face grew pale;
Māra now saw himself overcome by old age.
He beat his chest and cried out in fear, with no protector in sight;
Māra’s mind was confused and his thoughts befuddled.
His elephants, horses, conveyances, and chariots all fell to the ground;
Disoriented, they could not find their way, and without resting place or protection,
[F.164.b]
They fled like birds seeing a forest fire.
Parents, children, sisters, and brothers asked about them:
“Where were they seen? Where have they gone?”
And in this way they started to argue and fight with each other:
“Such suffering has befallen us, and there are no prospects for living.” [342]
The great army of
demons, so utterly unshakable,
Was now all gone, dispersed, and no more together.
For seven days they did not see each other,
And when they finally did see their phantasmal forms, they said, “Great to see you alive.”
The
goddess in the tree felt compassion;
She took her vase with water and sprinkled the friend of darkness.
“Quick, get up! You must depart without delay!
For this is what happens to those who pay no heed to the words of the Master.”
“I did not listen to the kind and helpful advice of my sons,
And offended against a perfectly pure being.
Therefore I now reap suffering, fear, misfortune, grief, ruin,
Lamentation, loss of honor, and this miserable state.”
“A fool who offends against those who are faultless
Shall himself meet with many troubles—
Fear, suffering, calamities, misery,
Lamentation, murder, and bondage.”
“You have conquered
Māra’s army! Hero of the World, be victorious!”
They offered garlands of pearls, crescent moons, parasols,
flags, and banners,
And showered him with flowers and powders of aloe,
tagara, and sandalwood.
[343]
They played music and sang,
“Sit at the tree, O Hero, O Lion Who Conquers His Enemies.
“At this supreme seat, you have conquered with love the wicked army of
demons.
Hero, today you shall attain awakening!
The
ten powers, the unique qualities, the distinct realizations,
And the experiences of a
buddha you shall attain today.
“In order to tame
Māra, you entered this battle.
There were 360 million beings who witnessed
And 240 million who formed the wish for the perfect awakening of a
buddha!”
This concludes the twenty-first chapter, on conquering Māra. [F.165.a]
