{"id":193,"date":"2025-12-29T06:14:58","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T06:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/?p=193"},"modified":"2026-01-01T10:19:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T10:19:43","slug":"life-of-the-buddha-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/?p=193","title":{"rendered":"Life of the Buddha 10"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chapter 10: The Victory over M\u0101ra<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

(1)\u00a0At that time, the deity M\u0101ra,<\/strong>\u00a0the evil one, thought to himself, “This Prince Siddhattha desires to transcend my domain. I will not allow him to escape now.” M\u0101ra then sounded the call to arms and led forth his demonic army. The army of M\u0101ra was twelve\u00a0yojanas<\/em>\u00a0thick in the front, and twelve\u00a0yojanas<\/em>\u00a0thick on the left and right sides as well. The entirety of M\u0101ra\u2019s army filled the space up to the edge of the cosmos. The portion of M\u0101ra\u2019s army above extended for nine\u00a0yojanas<\/em>. The sound of M\u0101ra\u2019s war cry reverberated for a distance of one hundred thousand\u00a0yojanas<\/em>\u00a0in all directions, as if the entire earth were shaking.<\/p>\n\n

(2)\u00a0The deity M\u0101ra mounted his elephant, Girimekhala, which was one hundred and fifty\u00a0yojanas<\/em>\u00a0high,<\/strong> and he manifested a thousand arms, each holding a different weapon. As for M\u0101ra\u2019s army, they too manifested various bodies\u2014blue, yellow, and so on\u2014with hands holding different weapons. Some of M\u0101ra’s soldiers had the bodies of animals with the heads of\u00a0yakkhas<\/em>; other groups had the bodies of\u00a0yakkhas<\/em>\u00a0with the heads of beasts and birds. Their bodies were of varying heights: some were one\u00a0g\u0101vuta<\/em>\u00a0tall, some two\u00a0g\u0101vutas<\/em>, some three, and some one\u00a0yojana<\/em>\u00a0tall, as they all marched toward the seat of enlightenment.<\/p>\n\n

(3)\u00a0Before M\u0101ra and his forces had even reached the seat of enlightenment,<\/strong>\u00a0the deities throughout the ten thousand world systems who had come to surround the future Buddha, merely upon hearing the thunderous roar of M\u0101ra\u2019s advancing army, fled to other places. As for Sakka, king of the gods, he hid his Victory Conch behind his back and fled to stand on the mountains at the edge of the cosmos. The great Brahm\u0101 grabbed the top of the white parasol and flew away. The N\u0101ga king took all his maiden daughters and fled, burrowing five hundred\u00a0yojanas<\/em>\u00a0into the earth to the N\u0101ga realm, where he lay with his hands covering his face. When all the deities had fled, the future Buddha sat all alone, like a great Brahm\u0101 secure in his celestial palace, unafraid of M\u0101ra’s forces.<\/p>\n\n

(4)\u00a0Then M\u0101ra addressed his own assembly,<\/strong>\u00a0shouting to his army, \u201cO soldiers! There is no other man equal to this Siddhattha. We cannot wage war against him from the front. We can only approach from the left, the right, and from behind.\u201d The Great Being looked and saw that the three directions were empty, for the deities had fled. He saw M\u0101ra’s army advancing in a dense mass from the north. He then thought, “All these beings have abandoned me and fled, leaving me alone. I have no mother, father, siblings, or relatives here at all. My Ten Perfections\u2014these have been my entourage for a very long time.\u201d Reflecting on his Ten Perfections, he sat there, serene and unmoved.<\/p>\n\n

(5)\u00a0Then the deity M\u0101ra<\/strong>\u00a0caused a whirlwind to arise, thinking, “I will make this Siddhattha flee with this wind.” The wind was so powerful it could shatter mountain peaks, yet when it reached the Bodhisattva, it could not even stir the hem of his robe. Next, the deity M\u0101ra unleashed a great rain, a rain of stones, a rain of weapons, a rain of hot coals, a rain of hot ash, a rain of sand, and a rain of mud. He caused darkness, smoke, and fog to cover the four directions. Yet all these phenomena\u2014the wind and the others\u2014could not harm the Bodhisattva in any way; they were transformed into offerings instead.<\/p>\n\n

(6)\u00a0Thus M\u0101ra, unable<\/strong>\u00a0to make the Bodhisattva flee with these nine phenomena, including the wind and rain, then commanded his army to advance, to capture and kill the Bodhisattva, or to drive him away. As for the lord of M\u0101ras, he rode atop his elephant, holding a thousand weapons in his hands. He spurred his elephant closer and proclaimed, “O Siddhattha! Rise and leave this jeweled throne! It does not belong to you; it belongs to us!” The Bodhisattva replied to M\u0101ra, “O M\u0101ra! The thirty perfections, the five great sacrifices, the three modes of conduct\u2014you have not fulfilled them. This throne did not arise for you. This throne arose through the merit of my perfections.”<\/p>\n\n

(7)\u00a0The evil M\u0101ra, hearing this,<\/strong>\u00a0became enraged. He seized his discus-weapon, with its razor-sharp edge, and hurled it directly at the future Buddha. Yet the discus-weapon transformed into a canopy of flowers, hovering above the future Buddha. Then M\u0101ra’s followers lifted great mountain peaks and hurled them at the Bodhisattva. The mountain peaks also transformed into floral offerings. Meanwhile, the deities who had fled from the Bodhisattva stood on the mountains at the edge of the cosmos watching, thinking to themselves, “It seems Prince Siddhattha has surely been destroyed by the hand of M\u0101ra.” The Great Being thought to himself, “The throne that arises for all Bodhisattvas on the day of their enlightenment has now arisen for me.” He then asked M\u0101ra, “Who is your witness?” M\u0101ra replied, “This entire army is my witness.” The Bodhisattva responded, “M\u0101ra, your witnesses are all biased. I have no such personal witness here.” He then recalled the acts of giving he had performed in his life as Prince Vessantara. He then brought his hand out from within his robe, pointed to the earth, and replied, “M\u0101ra, this great earth is my witness.” The earth then roared with a great sound, as if to say, “We are your witness!”<\/p>\n\n

(8)\u00a0Then the Great Being<\/strong>\u00a0contemplated the perfection of giving, recalling the elephant he had given away during his life as Prince Vessantara. M\u0101ra’s elephant, N\u0101\u1e37\u0101giri, could not withstand this; it buckled at the knees and knelt upon the earth. As for M\u0101ra, he raised his thousand hands to his head and uttered this verse:<\/p>\n\n

“Namo te puris\u0101ja\u00f1\u00f1a, namo te purisuttama,<\/em>
Sadevakasmi<\/em>\u1e43 lokasmi<\/em>\u1e43, natthi te pa<\/em>\u1e6dipuggalo.<\/em>
Tuva<\/em>\u1e43 buddho tuva<\/em>\u1e43 satth\u0101, tuva<\/em>\u1e43 m\u0101r\u0101bhibh\u016b muni,<\/em>
Tuva<\/em>\u1e43 anussaye chinno, ti<\/em>\u1e47\u1e47o t\u0101rehi ma<\/em>\u1e43 paja<\/em>\u1e43.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n

“Homage to you, noble man! Homage to you, supreme among men! In this world, with its gods, there is no one who can compare to you. You are the Buddha, you are the Teacher. You are the sage who has conquered M\u0101ra. You have cut off all latent defilements. You have crossed over; now, please, lead the people across as a teacher. You are the sage who has overcome M\u0101ra. You are the one who has severed the underlying defilements. You have crossed over from the ocean of existence; please guide me, and all beings, across as well.”<\/p>\n\n

Having paid homage, M\u0101ra flew away and fled. His army also scattered in all directions. As for the deities, seeing M\u0101ra flee, they consulted one another, saying, “M\u0101ra has been defeated! He has lost to the Great Being and has fled. Our Siddhattha is victorious over M\u0101ra!” With this thought, they took fragrant flowers, flew down to the throne of enlightenment with joyous hearts, and proclaimed his victory at that very moment.<\/p>\n\n

(End of the Chapter on the Victory over M\u0101ra, Chapter 10)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Chapter 10: The Victory over M\u0101ra (1)\u00a0At that time, the deity M\u0101ra,\u00a0the evil one, thought to himself, “This Prince Siddhattha desires to transcend my domain. I will not allow him…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buddhism","tag-pandit-chhim-sumn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399,"href":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}