Talk:Tokugawa Kaiten Meikyū - Ōoku/@comment-27904100-20190402020526/@comment-5246403-20190402041407

the evil kama is actually Mara.

Many supernatural creatures populate Buddhist literature, but among these Mara is unique. The deva of the sensuous realm, who tries to prevent Gautama Buddha from attaining liberation from the cycle of rebirth on the night of the Buddha´s enlightenment. He is one of the earliest non-human beings to appear in Buddhist scriptures. He is a demon, sometimes called the Lord of Death, who plays a role in many stories of the Buddha and his monks.

Mara is best known for his part in the historical Buddha's enlightenment. This story came to be mythologized as a great battle with Mara, whose name means "destruction" and who represents the passions that snare and delude us.

There are several versions of this story; some fairly straightforward, some elaborate, some phantasmagorical. Here is a plain version:

As the about-to-be Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, sat in meditation, Mara brought his most beautiful daughters to seduce Siddhartha. Siddhartha, however, remained in meditation. Then Mara sent vast armies of monsters to attack him. Yet Siddhartha sat still and untouched.

Mara claimed that the seat of enlightenment rightfully belonged to him and not to the mortal Siddhartha. Mara's monstrous soldiers cried out together, "I am his witness!" Mara challenged Siddhartha, who will speak for you?

Then Siddhartha reached out his right hand to touch the earth, and the earth itself spoke: "I bear you witness!" Mara disappeared. And as the morning star rose in the sky, Siddhartha Gautama realized enlightenment and became a Buddha.

now your probably wondering, what is Mara connection to Kama. You can thank Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987).

Joseph Campbell's retelling of the Buddha's enlightenment story is different from any I've heard elsewhere, but I like it anyway. In Campbell's version, Mara appeared as three different characters. The first was Kama, or Lust, and he brought with him his three daughters, named Desire, Fulfillment, and Regret.

When Kama and his daughters failed to distract Siddhartha, Kama became Mara, Lord of Death, and he brought an army of demons. And when the army of demons failed to harm Siddhartha (they turned into flowers in his presence) Mara became Dharma, meaning (in Campbell's context) "duty."

Young man, Dharma said, the events of the world require your attention. And at this point, Siddhartha touched the earth, and the earth said, "This is my beloved son who has, through innumerable lifetimes, so given of himself, there is no body here." An interesting retelling, I think.