Taming of the Demon, Mara
After renouncing his ascetic practice, Siddhartha ate food offered by Sujata, a local village girl and regained his strength. Then he prepared for his final battle for enlightenment. Under the foot of a fig tree, Siddhartha spread out a carpet of fragrant fresh cut grass. He seated himself cross-legged upon this grass and resolved not to arise until he attained absolute wisdom.
Siddhartha remained seated throughout the long hours of a day and night without moving a single hair. He had entered into a deep meditative state. In this state, Siddhartha eradicated numerous delusions, desires and all useless thoughts from his mind. Mara, the demon who rules over the realm of desire, tempted the Buddha with all the pleasures he could muster. However, the charms of wealth, power and beautiful women had little effect on Siddhartha. Even Mara’s demon armies were rendered powerless for Siddhartha had overcome every kind of desire and doubt. Eventually even Mara, himself, was forced to surrender to the seated Siddhartha.
In the early hours of the dawn, Siddhartha attained absolute wisdom and perfect enlightenment. From that moment on, Siddhartha was known as the Buddha, meaning the “enlightened one.” The fig tree which the Buddha sat under during his struggles with Mara, was dubbed the Bodhi Tree meaning the “tree of wisdom”.
Under the Bodhi Tree, the Buddha realized that proper insight into the principle of Dependent Origination(link) would lead to freedom from suffering. The Buddha also attained “three knowledges” upon his enlightenment. That means the Buddha gained knowledge of his past lives, could discern the past and future rebirths of other sentient beings, and knew that he had overcome the cycle of death and rebirth. In his victory over Mara, the Buddha unleashed the potential that all sentient beings possess. He showed us the way to enlightenment.
No comments:
Post a Comment