of originally divine beings. These beings are at first ce-
lestial, incorporeal, and entirely happy, but they de-
volve into earth-dwelling, corporeal, and ultimately
thieving, deceitful, and violent creatures. As the celes-
tial beings come to crave food and begin to taste the
savory crust of the earth, they introduce scarcity to the
world, followed by competition, thieving, and the tak-
ing up of sticks against one another. In this myth, a
world without evil can be imagined, and the “fall” of
the world into evil is attributed ultimately to sensual
desire. The chain of events that leads to the presence
of evil in the world is driven by DESIREand greed.
Another mythic complex, widely depicted in Bud-
dhist art and legend, centers on MARA, a Satan-like de-
ity of lust and death. Mara, accompanied by his legions
of demonic forces and his temptress daughters, arrives
to menace Gautama as he sits under a pipal tree on the
night of his enlightenment. Mara is able to assume
shapes and disguises and to harness all manner of de-
monic forces to oppose the Buddha’s enlightenment.
Once recognized, however, Mara is powerless, sug-
gesting perhaps that evils are illusory and defeated
when exposed. Mara symbolizes all that the Buddha
conquers: ignorance, darkness, craving, lust, and de-
struction. With the conquest of Mara, the round of re-
birth ceases, and death is vanquished.
See also:Death
Bibliography
Gregory, Peter. “The Problem of Theodicy in the Awakening of
Faith.” Religious Studies22, no. 1 (1986): 63–78.
Harvey, Peter. An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations,
Values, and Issues.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press, 2000.
Ling, Trevor Oswald. Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil: A
Study in Theravada Buddhism.London: Allen and Unwin,
1962.
Norman, K. R., trans. The Word of the Doctrine (Dhammapada).
Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1997.
Obeyesekere, Gananath. “Theodicy, Sin, and Salvation in a So-
ciology of Buddhism.” In Dialectic in Practical Religion,ed.
E. R. Leach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press,
1968.
Spiro, Melford E. Buddhism and Society: A Great Tradition and
Its Burmese Vicissitudes,2nd edition. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1982.
MARIAHEIMEXISTENCE. SeeCosmologyEXOTERIC-ESOTERIC (KENMITSU)
BUDDHISM IN JAPANKenmitsu, or exoteric-esoteric, Buddhism is a schol-
arly term for the dominant system of Buddhist thought
and practice in medieval Japan. It encompasses a wide
variety of beliefs, doctrines, rituals, deities, traditions,
and ecclesiastical structures that were characteristic of
the mainstream religious institutions of the period. At
their core were esoteric (mitsu) teachings and practices
that gave cohesion to the entire system. In addition,
there were exoteric (ken) doctrines, which differed
from one institution to another, though each consid-
ered its own doctrines to be a rational explanation of
the hidden truths found in esoteric practices. This sys-
tem emerged in Japan around the tenth century, and
it functioned as Buddhism’s medieval orthodoxy. Sub-
sumed under it were many beliefs, practices, and sites
that are now identified as Shinto. As the dominant re-
ligious worldview, Kenmitsu Buddhism gave structure
to medieval society and provided legitimacy to the rul-
ing authorities. Over time, it became diversified and
elaborated in a variety of ways. During the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries a number of reformers and dis-
senting figures began to appear and challenge its
claims. But these were inconsequential at the time, and
the Kenmitsu system endured for the most part until
the fifteenth or sixteenth century.The Kenmitsu theory
Kenmitsu Buddhism as a scholarly designation was
proposed by the Japanese historian Kuroda Toshio
(1926–1993). In doing so Kuroda sought to dislodge
the prevailing view of Buddhism’s development that
dominated scholarship in the late nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. This view was built around a
threefold historical classification: (1) Buddhism of the
Nara period (710–784), comprising six schools based
at the major temples of Nara—Kusha, Hosso, Jojitsu,
Sanron, Kegon, and Ritsu; (2) Buddhism of the Heian
period (794–1185), consisting of the Tendai school
centered on Mount Hiei near Kyoto and the Shingon
school at Toji in Kyoto and on Mount Koya near Os-
aka; and (3) Buddhism of the Kamakura period
(1185–1333), encompassing three schools of PURE
LANDBUDDHISM(Jodoshu, Jodo Shinshu, and Jishu),EXOTERIC-ESOTERIC(KENMITSU) BUDDHISM INJAPAN