BUDDHACARITA 13.4: Four Things that Depress Māra

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Haṁsī)

asau munir niścaya-varma bibhrat sattvāyudhaṁ buddhi-śaraṁ vikṣya |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−

jigīṣur āste viṣayān madīyān tasmād ayaṁ me manaso viṣādaḥ || 13.4

13.4

“Over there a certain sage, wearing the armour of resolve,

And drawing the bow of strength of mind, with its arrow of sharpness,

Is sitting, with the intention to conquer realms that belong to me –

That is the reason for this despondency of my mind.

COMMENT:

Māra is depressed – of course – just to see the bodhisattva sitting upright in the full lotus posture. But more than that, he is depressed to see the bodhisattva's combination of resolve, strength of mind, and – last but by no means least – mental sharpness.

So the four things that Māra confesses depress him are the bodhisattva's

• niścaya, resolve, akin to armour;
• sattva, spirit or strength of mind, akin to a strongbow;
• buddhi, intelligence, reason, judgement, mental acuity, akin to an arrow; and that
• āste, being in possession of these three, he sits.

How did sitting in lotus under the bodhi tree enable the Buddha to conquer realms that Māra regarded as his own?

I suppose by sitting as the act of knowing which eliminates those doings which the dopey one does, those doings being the root of saṁsāra and the fabric of the whole edifice of suffering.

So I come back again to Nāgārjuna's conclusion to MMK Chapter 26:

The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the dopey one do. / The dopey one therefore is the doer; the wise one is not, because of reality making itself known. //MMK26.10// In the destruction of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings./ The destruction of ignorance, however, is because of the allowing-into-being of just this act of knowing.//MMK26.11// By the destruction of this one and that one, this one and that one are discontinued. / This whole edifice of suffering is thus well and truly demolished.//MMK26.12//

When Nāgāruna says “The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the dopey one do,” thus means as a function of the twelvefold inter-linkage of

1. ignorance avidyā
2. doings saṁskārāḥ
3. consciousness vijñānam
4. psychophysicality nāmarūpam
5. six senses ṣaḍ-āyatanam
6. contact saṁsparśaḥ
7. feeling vedanā
8. thirsting tṛṣṇā
9. clinging upādānam
10. becoming bhavaḥ
11. birth jātiḥ
12. the suffering of aging and death, and so on, sorrows, lamentations...                            jarā-maraṇa-duḥkhādi śokāḥ saparidevanāḥ....

So when Māra spoke of realms that belonged to him, insofar as the bodhisattva remained in the grip of unconscious doings, even the spreading compass of that great pristine fig tree might have been a realm that still belonged somewhat to Māra. But when reality made itself known and ignorance in the bodhisattva ceased, then the bodhi tree became the bodhi tree, and Māra could not get his dirty paws upon it.

VOCABULARY

asau (nom. sg. m.): that, a certain

muniḥ (nom. sg.): m. sage

niścaya-varma (acc. sg. n.): the armour of resolve

niścaya: m. resolution , resolve, fixed intention , design , purpose , aim

bibhrat = nom. sg. m. pres. part. bhṛ: to bear, wear

sattvāyudham (acc. sg. n.): the weapon of strength of character

sattva: n. true essence , nature , disposition of mind , character ; spirit ; vital breath , life , consciousness , strength of character , strength , firmness , energy , resolution , courage , self-command , good sense , wisdom , magnanimity

buddhi-śaram (acc. sg. n.): with its arrow of good sense

buddhi: f. the power of forming and retaining conceptions and general notions , intelligence , reason , intellect , mind , discernment , judgement ; thought about or meditation on (loc. or comp.) , intention , purpose , design

vikṛṣya = abs. vi- √ kṛṣ: to draw apart; to bend (a bow)

jigīṣuḥ (nom. sg. m.): being desirous of conquering

āste = 3^rd pers. sg. ās: to sit

viṣayān (acc. pl.): m. realms, objects

madīyān (acc. pl m.): mfn. my , my own , belonging to me

tasmāt: ind. from that, therefore

ayam (nom. sg. m.): this

me (gen. sg.): my

manasaḥ (gen. sg.): n. mind

viṣādaḥ (nom. sg.): m. drooping state , languor , lassitude ; dejection , depression , despondency (esp. as the result of unrequited love) ; disappointment , despair

vi- √ṣad: to sink down

世有大牟尼 身被大誓鎧
執持大我弓 智慧剛利箭 

欲戰伏衆生 破壞我境界