A Manual of the Excellent Man

Select a linkContentsEditor's ForewordPreface to the First EditionVenerable Ledi Sayadaw's ReplyThe PerfectionsSignificance of the Five AggregatesThe Element of DeliveranceTwo Types of Ordinary PersonFour NobleTruthsThe Five MarasTaking RefugeFour Types of BuddhistEssentials to be UnderstoodGreat Opportunities

Chapter Six

The sixth request pertains to the Buddha’s victory over the five māras; the definition, characteristics and significance of the five māras; and the difference between the body of Prince Siddhattha, the bodhisatta, and that of the Buddha. Here are my answers:

The Five Māras

1. Māra Devaputta, the celestial villain of the sixth devaloka, the “Tempter” and the embodiment of evil.
2. Kilesas, the ten defilements.
3. Abhisaṅkhāra, kamma or volitional action.
4. Khandha, continued existence.
5. Maccu, death.

By “māra” is meant “the killer.” The world is ravaged by five killers. The first one is the evil deva whose abode is in Paranimittavasavattī Devaloka. His hordes are not only in his celestial abode, but spread all over, including the human abode.

Buddha’s Victory over Māra Devaputta

Many people adhere to wrong beliefs. To escape from such a perverse world one has to face opposition from such people. Seeing the bodhisatta seated on the throne of victory, firmly resolved to remain until he won enlightenment, Māra could not leave him unopposed. He had to try to foil him, for he had often failed. He mustered all his forces and attacked the bodhisatta. He roused storms that toppled mountain tops. He employed all his means of destruction but without success. His forces spent, he approached the Buddha and made false claims on the throne of victory, not really wanting it but merely to harass the Buddha.

The Buddha told him that the throne of victory arose from the accumulation of his perfections fulfilled, but what perfections had Māra practised? Māra referred to his followers in witness of his right. The Buddha was alone then, since all the celestial beings had fled. So the Buddha touched the earth to bear witness to the deeds of giving he had practised when he had poured the ceremonial water onto the earth. At that instant the great earth trembled and the skies rumbled, sending Māra and his impressive army helter-skelter. Then Māra accepted defeat and returned to his celestial abode. This, in brief, is the Buddha’s victory over Māra Devaputta.

Victory over Defilements and Volitional Actions

On attaining the path knowledge of Arahantship the Buddha gained a victory over all the defilements. The volitional actions that manifest only in association with the defilements also died a natural death. Volitional actions, good or bad, are called abhisaṅkhāra, one of the five “killers.” These actions do not germinate as fresh becoming when deprived of craving, for once the craving for existence is gone, kamma loses its potential to reproduce, just like boiled grains. With the exhaustion of greed, hatred, and delusion, all immoral actions cease absolutely. All moral actions do not have kammic force in them and remain inoperative (kiriya). This is how victory over defilements and volitional action was won by the Buddha.

What remained was the five aggregates, which were the result of kamma done before the defilements were extinguished, and psychophysical phenomena due to the four causes before enlightenment, but free from defilements since then. The existence of the five aggregates presupposes the results of past actions, both wholesome and unwholesome. This occurrence of results continued until the moment of the Buddha’s passing away. Since the five aggregates still existed after his enlightenment, the effects of past kamma were felt. In other words, because the kammic forces of the past still remained, the five aggregates persisted. The existence of the Buddha’s five aggregates allowed the release of the multitude from suffering.

This is stated in different ways for fear that you might make a wrong interpretation regarding the exhaustion of kammic forces.

Victory over the Five Aggregates

The Buddha’s aggregate of psychophysical phenomena is called the Buddha’s aggregates (khandha). His parinibbāna or moment of decease is called death (maccu). These two “killers” are overcome only while abiding in nibbāna or at the moment of parinibbāna. This is according to the commentaries: “On the throne of victory under the bodhi tree, only the three māras were vanquished.”

A Different Interpretation in the Subcommentary

The author of the subcommentary on the Dhātukathā has a different interpretation. He says that all the five māras were vanquished on attainment of enlightenment. His explanation runs as follows:

On the first three māras, no explanation is needed. On the aggregates and death he says, “If craving, the cause of the five aggregates, is present, fresh arising of the aggregates is bound to follow. Once the truth of the cause has been realized and craving extinguished, all future existences die out automatically. Along with the extinction of future existences, the liability to death also vanishes altogether.” This final extinction of all future aggregates and of the accompanying deaths, the author contends, amounts to victory over the aggregates and death, which took place on the Buddha’s attaining the Eye of the Dhamma.

With respect to the present aggregates and the present death, the Buddha had vanquished them there and then because, whereas the aggregates had previously been seen as a person — thereby leading to the unfortunate cycle of rebirth — on attaining enlightenment this delusion was gone, so the aggregates could no longer oppress or “kill” him. The phenomenon of death was also understood and so death lost its sting. Thereafter no fear of death remained. No fuel remained for it to consume. Thus death was vanquished too.

Let us make an illustration. A wicked demoness who liked to feed on excrement and putridity possessed a good man. She drove him out of his senses so that the poor man was subject to her will, and he roamed about in cemeteries and such places to feed on excrement and putrefied corpses. After years of subjugation, the man was cured of the curse by a magician who brought him back to his senses. With the help of the magician’s powers, i.e. by making use of the divine eye in a magic formula, he saw the demoness within him. He could now clearly assess the situation. He had conquered the demoness, but after many years of co-existence he could not drive her out at once. Besides, he saw some benefit of her presence; he could put her to his use. The extraordinary physical powers she had would be useful for his own purposes. He could perform miracles, harnessing her powers in the service of humanity.

The analogy is this. The demoness is like the five aggregates. The proper sense of the man is like the non-causative type of good deeds. Cemeteries and such places are like the three realms of existence. The divine eye, the magician’s formula, is the Eye of the Dhamma. Continued upkeep of the demoness within is like the continued existence of the Buddha, which could not cease at once because it was his long-cherished wish to help the multitude in their struggle for release from suffering. In fact, the Buddha and the Noble Ones, after attaining Arahantship, live on only for the good of others.

This is how the subcommentary explains the Buddha’s victories over the aggregates and death even at the time of his enlightenment.

The Five Māras Defined

1. Māra Devaputta: explained above.
2. Kilesa: The basic defilements are greed, hatred, and delusion.
3. Abhisaṅkhāra: The ten moral kammas and the ten immoral kammas. It also includes all volitional actions that are dependent on the cycle of rebirth such as giving, virtue, meditation, reverence, sharing one’s merits, rejoicing in the merits of others, etc.
4. Khandha: The five aggregates manifested in the existences as humans, devas, brahmās, etc.
5. Maccu: Death, the phenomenon of mortality.

The Nature of the Five Māras

The word “māra” means “killer” or “destroyer.” It destroys life in the physical sense, and also in the moral sense. Life means and includes:

1. The life-faculty (jīvitindriya);
2. Pure or virtuous qualities such as confidence, morality, etc.;
3. Non-causative or non-kammic merits or practice of the ten perfections such as giving, virtue, etc.

The life-faculty means the ability to sustain an existence as water sustains the lotus. The life-faculty sustains the aggregates in each existence. When the life-faculty is destroyed, the aggregates break up and the existence ends, which we call the death of a being. Virtue is the “life” of a good person. When one’s virtue is broken, one’s “life” is destroyed. Although one is physically alive one is morally dead. Non-causative or non-kammic merit is the very life of a bodhisatta. Until an aspirant to Buddhahood receives formal recognition and assurance from a living Buddha, the aspiration is still in danger. For the aspirant is still susceptible to wrong views, which are the antithesis of enlightenment. One’s life as a bodhisatta is thereby destroyed, and so one reverts to being an ordinary person.

The Significance of the Five Māras

Māra, the Wicked One, is the destroyer of what is virtuous in living beings. Any higher aspirations to supramundane merits are his prime objects of destruction. Therefore he is called Māra, the “destroyer.”

The phenomenon of death is the destroyer of the life-faculty. It destroys all living beings, hence its name — maccu.

Defilements such as greed, hatred, delusion, conceit, wrong view, etc., destroy virtue and the aspiration for non-kammic action. Kammic actions such as almsgiving, virtue, etc., that have causative merit, inevitably cause new existences. The aggregates of existence thus produced have death as an inherent factor. Not only is the fire of death inherent, so too are the defilements, the “destroyers.” That is why merits and demerits are called abhisaṅkhāra, the “destroyers.” The five aggregates, being subject to decay, destroy the life-faculty. By harbouring the defilements, they cause the destruction of virtue and the aspiration to non-causative merit. This is how the five māras destroy.

How Defilements Destroy

To put it in a different way, take greed, for instance. Greed in a bhikkhu destroys his precepts, his dignified training, his nobility. Greed in a layman destroys his morality, his dignity, and his reputation. Again, greed in a bhikkhu destroys the real well-being of a bhikkhu that lies in forsaking worldly interests and possessions. It destroys the attainments in concentration and spiritual powers. Greed in a layman causes undue loss of property, and even loss of life, limbs or sense organs, or premature death. All these evils befall one who succumbs to greed. It is similar with hatred or anger.

In another sense, greed destroys generosity, hatred destroys kindness, delusion destroys wisdom. All the generosity practised over aeons of previous existences can be brought to nothing when one is overwhelmed by greed. Hatred and other defilements are the same. In the present existence too, occasional purity of the mind due to hearing (or reading) the Dhamma is destroyed in no time by greed. It is just like the darkness of night that nullifies all lightning flashes, however frequently they might occur. Understand the evils of hatred and other defilements likewise. This is how the defilements destroy all that is pure and virtuous in living beings.

How the Aggregates Destroy

The destructive nature of the five aggregates should be observed within oneself. Try to visualize the destruction of one of the four primary elements that you call your head. Similarly, observe your eye, ear, nose, cheek, teeth, tongue, mouth and throat, then down into your lungs and heart, etc.

Contemplate the deaths that occur due to seeking for the pleasures of desirable visible objects. Similarly, consider the deaths caused by the lure of some pleasant sound, scent, taste, or touch. All these are how materiality destroys.

Consider the deaths originating in one’s pursuit of pleasant sensations born of eye-contact ... pleasant sensations born of mind-contact. All these are how feeling destroys.

Consider the deaths due to pursuit of some perception regarding visible forms ... some perception regarding mind-objects. These are how perception destroys.

Death resulting from pursuing one’s faith is the destruction wrought by faith. Death resulting from keeping virtue is the destruction through virtue. Similarly, learning the Dhamma, liberality, acquisition of knowledge, and meditation are all moral volitions that can destroy. As for immoral volitions such as greed, hatred, etc., their destructiveness is obvious. All these are how mental formations destroy.

Death due to yearning for eye-consciousness is how eye-consciousness destroys ... death due to yearning for mind-consciousness is how mind-consciousness destroys. All these are how consciousness destroys. This is a brief explanation of how the four mental aggregates destroy.

How Death Destroys

Consider this, “How many of my heads have perished over the innumerable round of existences? How many eyes? How many ears? How many noses? How many tongues? How many hearts and lungs? All of them were materiality that formed the essential part of my existences.”

Consider, “How many kilograms of food and drink have I so far consumed in my present existence. How many kilograms of matter that makes up my head have been consumed during my existence? All that was sustained by nutriment only. How much of the matter that makes up my eyes, my ears, my nose, my tongue, my heart, and my lungs have so far been consumed by death?”

With respect to mental phenomena, consider how many mental phenomena have perished that had arisen at the eye-base? ... that had arisen at the mind-base? In pondering thus, concentrate on the phenomenon of death, and don’t let any personality view creep in. Don’t associate your false “self” with either the phenomena of “the consumer” or “the consumed” (the five aggregates).

The Example of the Magic Pill

I shall illustrate the swiftness of change taking place in the five aggregates. Let us say there is a charm in the form of a pill. The pills are coloured white, red, black, etc. On throwing one — say, a white one — accompanied by the appropriate incantation, an apparition the size and weight of a man suddenly appears. It is completely white. Then, another pill — this time a red one — accompanied by the appropriate incantation, is thrown into the heart-base of the apparition. Suddenly the red colour permeates the whole body of the apparition, beginning from the heart. Wherever red takes over, the previous white vanishes, and no white can be seen. The apparition is now completely red. The colour distinction is to help visualize the change that takes place. Concentrate on the merging of the red colour into the white and how the former white disappears even before your mind’s eye. This disappearance or disintegration is what is constantly happening within us.

“Though one should live a hundred years
not seeing the sublime Dhamma,
better is a single day lived by one
who sees the sublime Dhamma.” (Dhp. v 115.)

This is an explanation of how death relentlessly destroys the life-sustaining materiality from the moment each new existence comes into being. If you understand what has been said on the dangerous aspect of the aggregates, you should find no difficulty in understanding the destructiveness that is the aggregates and death.

As to the difference in the aggregates of the Buddha before and after enlightenment: before enlightenment the five aggregates of the bodhisatta contained stains of defilements and putridity of kammic actions, while after enlightenment no trace of these stains and putridity remained. The body of one who is still training to become an Arahant, having gained the three earlier stages of enlightenment, decomposes and putrefies after death. The bodies of the Buddha and Arahants do not decompose or putrefy after their parinibbāna. The difference exists even while they are still living.

Although both the Buddha and the Arahant eat the same kind of food as non-Arahants, the purity of the aggregates of mind in the former produce materiality born of pure consciousness, which is as pure and clear as sterilized cotton-wool.

The Analogy of the Wish-Fulfilling Gem

When the wish-fulfilling gem of the Universal Monarch is placed in a turbid pool, the waters instantly turn crystal-clear. Similarly, because the impulsions of the Buddha and the Arahants are always pure and clean, the aggregates of their bodies are perfectly pure and clean. No foul smell could arise from such materiality.

A king’s palace is not worthy of worshipping while it is being occupied by a king. However, were it to be converted into a temple it would be well worthy of worship, and might be a place from which one could ascend to heaven or attain nibbāna.

The body of the bodhisatta is like the king’s palace. The body of the Buddha is like the temple where the Buddha is staying. The body before enlightenment only supported the mind of Prince Siddhattha. The body since he renounced the palace to practise meditation is worth worshipping. Therefore his robes were taken and kept in Dussacetī by Suddhāvāsa Brahmā. Don’t follow the wrong view that says the body is not the Buddha, only great wisdom is the Buddha.

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