Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
124At t his point , Māra approached Go t a ma and engaged him in a st range
c onversation. He t old Go t a ma to ‘arise from t his seat; it does not belong to you,
but to me .’ Gotama, Māra thought, had transc ended the world; he was invulnerable
to all external opposition. But Māra was the Lord of t his world, and it was he, the
cakkavatti, who should sit at it s pivot al center. He did not realize that the rage,
hat red and violenc e that he had just exhibit ed disqualified him from t aking up his
posit ion under the bodhi tree, whic h belongs only to the ma n who lives by
compassion. Go t a ma point ed out that Māra was quit e unprepared for
enlightenment; he had never ma d e any spirit ual efforts, had never given a lms , had
never practiced yoga. So, Go t a ma c onc luded, ‘t his seat does not belong to you but
to me .’ He went on to add that in his previous lives he had given away all his
possessions and had even laid down his life for ot hers. What had Māra done? Could
he produce witnesses to testify that he had performed suc h compassionate deeds?
At onc e, Māra’s soldiers c ried as one ma n : ‘I am his witness!’ And^ Māra turned^
triumphantly to Go t a ma and asked him to validat e his own c laims. But Go t a ma was
alone; he had no human being or god on his side who c ould act as his wit ness to
his long preparat ion for enlightenment. He t herefore did something that no
cakkavatti would ever do: he asked for help. Reac hing out wit h his right hand to
touc h the ground, he begged the eart h to testify to his past acts of compassion.
Wit h a shattering roar, the eart h replied: ‘I bear you witness!’ In t error, Māra’s
elephant fell to it s knees and his soldiers deserted, running in fear in all direc t ions.
The eart h-wit nessing post ure, whic h shows the Buddha sit t ing in the c ross-legged
āsana posit ion, touc hing the ground wit h his right hand, is a favorit e ic on in
Buddhist art. It not only symbolizes Gotama’s rejection of Māra’s st erile ma c h is mo ,
but ma ke s the profound point that a Buddha does indeed belong to the world. The
Dh a mma is exac t ing, but it is not against nature. T here is a deep affinit y between
the eart h and the selfless human being, something that Go t a ma had sensed when
he rec alled his t ranc e under the rose-apple tree. The ma n or w o ma n who seeks
enlightenment is in tune wit h the fundamental st ruc t ure of the universe. Even
though the world seems to be rul ed by the violenc e of Māra and his a rmy , it is the
compassionate Buddha who is mo s t t ruly in tune wit h the basic laws of existence.
After t his vic t ory over Māra, whic h was really a vic t ory over himself, t here was
nothing to hold Go t a ma bac k. The gods ret urned from the heavens and wait ed
breat hlessly for him to ac hieve his final release, for they needed his help as mu c h
as did any human being. Now Go t a ma entered the first jhāna and penetrated the
inner world of his psyc he; when he finally reached the peace of Nibbāna all the
worlds of the Buddhist cosmos were c onvulsed, the heavens and hells shook, and
the bodhi t ree rained down red floret s on the enlightened ma n. Throughout all the
worlds, the flowering trees bloomed; the fruit trees were weighed down by the
burden of t heir fruit; the trunk lot uses bloomed on the trunks of trees ... The
system of ten thousand worlds was like a bouquet of flowers sent whirling through
the air.
The ocean lost it s salt y taste, the blind and the deaf were able to see and
hear; c ripples c ould walk and th e fetters of prisoners fell to the ground. Everything
suddenly glimpsed new freedom and potenc y; for a few mo me n t s , each form of life
was able to b e c o me mo re fully it self.