armies flee. This episode, known as the Maravijaya,or
“defeat of Mara,” became one of the most common
modes of representing the Buddha in many parts of
the Buddhist world, conveying as it does his defeat of
the forces of temptation, lust, greed, avarice, torpor
and sloth, and, ultimately, death itself. Mara also fig-
ures in the postenlightenment of the Buddha, when he
deludes ANANDAat the moment when the Buddha’s
disciple is about to entreat the Buddha to remain on
earth, preventing Ananda from requesting that the
Buddha stay until the end of the eon to teach. Mara
then reminds the Buddha that he had promised to de-
part once the dharma and SAN ̇GHAwere established,
and so the Buddha agrees that this will be his final life.
Mara becomes a ubiquitous presence in Buddhist
texts and iconography, standing as he does as the em-
bodiment of trsna,the grasping that fundamentally
leads to further rebirth and, thus, further suffering. In
Southeast Asia, it is the saint UPAGUPTAwho defeats
Mara, binding him with his own snares and convert-
ing him to Buddhism. In the Pure Land text, the
Bhaisajyaguruvaiduryaprabharaja-sutra(Sutra of the
Royal Lapis Healing Buddha), the “healing Buddha”
vows to free all beings caught by Mara’s “heretical en-
trapments” and instill in them the correct views.
See also:Buddha, Life of the; Divinities; Evil
Bibliography
Boyd, James W. Satan and Mara: Christian and Buddhist Sym-
bols.Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1975.
Ling, Trevor O. Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil: A Study in
Theravada Buddhism.London: Allen and Unwin, 1962.
JACOBN. KINNARDMARATHON MONKS. SeeShugendo
MAR PA (MARPA)
Mar pa (Mar pa Chos kyi blo gros, 1002/1012–1097)
was a renowned translator and lay Buddhist master. He
is revered as the Tibetan founder of the BKA’ BRGYUD
(KAGYU) sect of Tibetan Buddhism. According to many
traditional Bka’ brgyud texts, Mar pa is the reincarna-
tion of the Indian MAHASIDDHA, or great adept, Dom-
bHeruka (ca. ninth–tenth century B.C.E.). Born in
Tibet to wealthy landowning parents in the southern
Tibetan region of Lho brag, Mar pa was a precocious
child, characterized in his traditional biographies as
having a volatile, though inwardly compassionate,
personality. His parents addressed both qualities by
sending the boy to study Sanskrit and Indian vernac-
ular languages under the learned translator ’Brog mi
Lotsava S ́akya ye shes (ca. 992/993–1043/1072) in
western Tibet.
Because the resources for studying Buddhism in Ti-
bet at the time were limited, Mar pa decided to seek
instruction in India, a journey he would make three
times over the course of his life. He first spent three
years in Nepal, acclimating to the new environment
and continuing his study of local languages. There he
met two Nepalese teachers, Chitherpa and Paindapa,
who offered many religious instructions but also en-
couraged Mar pa to seek out the master who would
become his chief guru, the great siddha NAROPA
(1016–1100).
Naropa first submitted Mar pa to a series of ardu-
ous trials, finally judging this perspicacious Tibetan to
be a fit disciple. He studied under Naropa at the for-
est retreat of Pullahari, receiving initiations and teach-
ings of several important tantric lineages. Among
these instructions is a collection known in Tibetan as
the Six Doctrines of Naropa (Naro chos drug). This
elaborate system of tantric ritual and meditative dis-
ciplines includes the yogic practices of: (1) inner heat
(gtum mo); (2) the illusory body (sgyu lus); (3) dreams
(rmi lam); (4) radiant light (’od gsal); (5) the inter-
mediate state (bar do); and (6) transference of con-
sciousness (’pho ba).
Mar pa’s second great master was the Indian siddha
Maitrpa (ca. 1007–1085), from whom he received in-
struction in the MAHAMUDRAteachings and the tradi-
tion of doha,or songs of spiritual realization. Although
later disseminated in different forms among various
Tibetan Buddhist sects, the Six Doctrines of Naropa
and mahamudra became central meditation systems
for the Bka’ brgyud. Mar pa received other tantric
transmissions from Indian masters, such as Jñana-
garbha and Kukkurpa, as well.
Mar pa then returned to Tibet, where he married
several wives (the most well known is Bdag med ma,
who figures prominently in the life story of the
renowned yogin MI LA RAS PA[Milarepa; 1028/40–
1111/23]), established a home, and began his career as
a Buddhist teacher and translator who was at the same
time a landowner and farmer. Mar pa had planned toMAR PA(MARPA)