བདུད་བཞི། - The four maras.
'The four maras' correspond to the four negative influences which, taken together, maintains sentient beings in ‘samsara’ or cyclic existence.
The term 'maras' is used to refer to negativity as a force.
In ancient India this was usually personified so that 'Mara' was an entity, like the Christian idea of the 'devil', a personification of evil that always attempts to harm you, and/or divert you from good.
Hence 'Mara' refers to either 'demons / devils' or demonic forces.
'Mara' will dress itself up in whatever form is attractive in order to seduce someone away from good.
Psychologically speaking, 'mara' refers to the negative aspects of mind that attempt to seduce someone away from good and the personifications of that negativity, whatever form they take.
Hence Buddhism does not speak only of 'mara' but of བདུད་བཞི། - 'the four maras', which cover all the possibilities of negativity.
Each one is the personification of a particular type of a negative influence:
- ཕུང་པོའི་བདུད། - The mara of the skandhas. We find ourselves constantly under the influence of the Mara of the aggregates';
- ཉོན་མོངས་པའི་བདུད། - The mara of the kleshas. We find ourselves constantly under the influence of the Mara of afflictions or conflicting emotions';
- འཆི་བདག་གི་བདུད། - The mara of the Lord of Death. Death is unescapable.
- ལྷའི་བུའི་བདུད། - The mara of the son of the gods. This mara is the personification of evil forces which cause attraction to sense objects.
There are many different levels of explanations of the maras.
