What Is the Purpose of Mara Disrupting Sentient Beings' Spiritual Practice?

The fifty kinds of demonic states described later in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra—each and every one possesses immense supernatural powers, far beyond the reach of ordinary beings, who admire them intensely. Yet these are all demonic realms; ordinary, unremarkable people cannot enter such states, nor are they deemed worthy by the demons. Those whom the demons select and empower become immensely powerful, nearly attaining the state of a Buddha. Unaware of the truth, sentient beings cling greedily to these states, mistaking what is extraordinary and seemingly supreme for a good state, one that appears to possess meditative concentration, so-called wisdom, and psychic powers. Yet this is precisely the demonic realm, the result of demonic empowerment. The outcome is that these immensely powerful beings become inseparable from the demons, becoming their demonic retinue.

Why do demons possess such great spiritual power? First, they possess immense merit and virtue, meditative concentration, and supernatural powers. Second, they understand the Buddha Dharma—they comprehend it intellectually, but have not realized it. This level of understanding alone is already extraordinary, sufficient to damage the Dharma and undermine Buddhism. The sutras record that whenever the Buddha expounded the Dharma, Māra (Pāpīyas) knew what sutra the Buddha would teach, understood its importance, and knew the karmic results sentient beings would attain after hearing it. Desperately unwilling to let beings attain liberation and escape his control, he would transform into various identities and forms to secretly disrupt the Dharma assemblies. Māra would also manifest supernatural powers to attract beings, expounding the Buddha Dharma to them as if to liberate them, but in reality, he was luring them into various afflictions and cravings, preventing their liberation.

A hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, the Fourth Patriarch of the Chan school, the Venerable Upagupta, appeared to propagate the Dharma. Whenever the Patriarch reached a crucial point in his Dharma talks, just as beings were on the verge of realizing the non-self and attaining fruition, the Demon King would secretly cause disruption—raining down gold, silver, jewels, and other treasures from the sky to distract the assembly. Disturbed by such great interference, the beings could not realize the non-self and attain fruition. When the Patriarch entered meditative absorption, the Demon King, seeking to disrupt his concentration, would manifest various monstrous and bizarre forms to harass and entangle him. However, the Patriarch saw through them all and broke the Demon King's powers. The Demon King also repeatedly harassed the Arhats, but each time he was subdued by the Arhats with their supernatural powers and retreated in defeat.

Now, in this Dharma-ending age, no matter what identity or form Māra assumes, sentient beings lack the discernment to see through it. Most are easily deceived, and it is difficult to prevent. When demonic power arrives, beings are almost entirely defenseless; they submit obediently, prostrate themselves in worship, and revere it to the utmost. When Māra seeks to disturb practitioners, he invariably expounds seemingly profound Dharma that appears correct but is actually false. Only practitioners who have attained genuine realization can discern demonic teachings; ordinary people are likely to be drawn to Māra's words, believing his Dharma to be profound.

Most people assume that since Māra is a demon, disruptive and obstructive, he must not understand the Buddha Dharma, must be an evil being who does no good deeds. In truth, those who do not understand the Buddha Dharma absolutely cannot become demons; those who do no good deeds absolutely cannot become demons. A demon who does not understand the Dharma could never disturb practitioners or damage the Dharma; a demon who does no good deeds lacks merit and has no karmic fortune to support his evil acts, nor can he gather sentient beings to become his demonic offspring. The reason the Demon King can interfere with and damage Buddhism, and gather sentient beings to himself, is precisely because of his immense merit and virtue. To satisfy his craving for a retinue and prevent beings from learning the Buddha Dharma, practicing, and liberating themselves from the desire realm, escaping his control—since beings can only transcend the desire realm through meditative concentration, and only by attaining fruition and seeing the path can they leave the desire realm—Māra specifically targets these two kinds of people for interference, leading them onto deviant paths. He ignores other beings, knowing they all belong to him, are his retinue—including beings practicing wholesome Dharma—he does not interfere with them.

Therefore, in the initial stages of learning the Buddha Dharma, sentient beings are not bothered by Māra and do not encounter demonic disturbances. Shallow, elementary Dharma is also not worth Māra's effort to sabotage. Only the Dharma and people nearing the boundary of liberation from the desire realm will Māra seek to interfere with and damage, infiltrating critical points with deviant views and adding errors, preventing beings from attaining genuine realization. This is how he achieves his aim.

Thus, Māra also expounds the Dharma, but he does not teach shallow, elementary Dharma. He invariably teaches Dharma pertaining to the threshold of liberation, adulterated with specious errors, casting a mist to blind the masses. Although the masses receive this teaching, they cannot realize it genuinely, cannot attain liberation, and cannot escape the desire realm. When beings aspire to reach the Pure Land, Māra's karmic influence prevents it; he devises strategies to delude their minds, ensuring they cannot be reborn in the Pure Land but remain trapped in the cycle of birth and death within the Sahā World's desire realm—either in the human realm or the three evil destinies—controlled by the Demon King. Yet sentient beings, ignorant and lacking discernment—without Fiery Golden Eyes like Sun Wukong—fail to perceive this. Most are deceived, offering boundless gratitude while remaining stubbornly deluded.