Original text: World Tipitaka Edition
INFO
Image generated by Imagen 4, representing the Buddha confronting his personal nemesis - Māra.
Pali text (click to view)
(32.)131. Atha kho bhagavā te bhikkhū āmantesi— “muttāhaṃ, bhikkhave, sabbapāsehi, ye dibbā ye ca mānusā. Tumhepi, bhikkhave, muttā sabbapāsehi, ye dibbā ye ca mānusā. Caratha, bhikkhave, cārikaṃ bahujanahitāya bahujanasukhāya lokānukampāya atthāya hitāya sukhāya devamanussānaṃ. Mā ekena dve agamittha. Desetha, bhikkhave, dhammaṃ ādikalyāṇaṃ majjhekalyāṇaṃ pariyosānakalyāṇaṃ sātthaṃ sabyañjanaṃ kevalaparipuṇṇaṃ parisuddhaṃ brahmacariyaṃ pakāsetha. Santi sattā apparajakkhajātikā, assavanatā dhammassa parihāyanti, bhavissanti dhammassa aññātāro. Ahampi, bhikkhave, yena uruvelā senānigamo tenupasaṅkamissāmi dhammadesanāyā”ti.
(33.)
132. Atha kho māro pāpimā yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami, upasaṅkamitvā bhagavantaṃ gāthāya ajjhabhāsi—
133. “Baddhosi sabbapāsehi,
ye dibbā ye ca mānusā;
Mahābandhanabaddhosi,
na me samaṇa mokkhasī”ti.
134. “Muttāhaṃ sabbapāsehi,
Ye dibbā ye ca mānusā;
Mahābandhanamuttomhi,
Nihato tvamasi antakā”ti.
135. “Antalikkhacaro pāso,
yvāyaṃ carati mānaso;
Tena taṃ bādhayissāmi,
na me samaṇa mokkhasī”ti.
136. “Rūpā saddā rasā gandhā,
Phoṭṭhabbā ca manoramā;
Ettha me vigato chando,
Nihato tvamasi antakā”ti.
137. Atha kho māro pāpimā— “jānāti maṃ bhagavā, jānāti maṃ sugato”ti dukkhī dummano tatthevantaradhāyīti.
138. Mārakathā niṭṭhitā.
Summary
The Buddha, declaring both himself and his bhikkhus (monks) freed from all divine and human snares, instructs them to go forth and teach the Dhamma — a teaching good in its beginning, middle, and end, leading to a perfect holy life — for the welfare and happiness of all beings, as some are ready to understand it; he himself also intends to teach. This declaration of freedom is immediately challenged by Māra, who claims the Buddha is still bound. However, the Buddha refutes Māra’s assertions, specifically stating his detachment from sensory desires (forms, sounds, tastes, smells, tangibles), which Māra intended as a “mental snare,” causing Māra to recognise his defeat and vanish in distress.
Diagram
sequenceDiagram participant Bh as Bhikkhus participant B as Bhagavā participant M as Māra note over B: declares self and Bhikkhus freed B-->>Bh: Go forth and teach Dhamma note over B: go to Uruvelā, Senānigama, to teach Dhamma note over M: approaches Bhagavā M->>B: "You will not escape me!" B->>M: "I am freed from all snares" M->>B: "I will bind you with desire" B->>M: "My desire has departed" M-->>M: "The Bhagavā knows me" note over M: disappears
Text
(32.)
131. Then the Bhagavā addressed those bhikkhus: “I am freed, bhikkhave, from all snares, both divine and human. You too, bhikkhave, are freed from all snares, both divine and human. Go forth, bhikkhave, on tour for the welfare of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good, welfare, and happiness of devas (deities) and humans. Let not two go by one way. Teach, bhikkhave, the Dhamma (doctrine) which is good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end, with its meaning and phrasing; make known the completely perfect and pure disciplined life. There are beings with little dust in their eyes; not hearing the Dhamma (doctrine), they decline; they will be understanders of the Dhamma (doctrine). I too, bhikkhave, will go to Uruvelā, to Senānigama, to teach the Dhamma (doctrine).”
(33.)
132. Then Māra the Evil One approached the Bhagavā. Having approached, he addressed the Bhagavā in verse:
133. “You are bound by all snares,
both divine and human;
You are bound by a great bond,
You will not escape me, recluse!”
134. “I am freed from all snares,
Both divine and human;
I am freed from the great bond,
You are struck down, Death!”
135. “The snare that moves in the air,
this mental one that roams;
With that I will bind you,
You will not escape me, recluse!”
136. “Forms, sounds, tastes, smells,
And delightful tangibles;
My chando (desire) for these has departed,
You are struck down, Death!”
137. Then Māra the Evil One — “The Bhagavā knows me, the Sugata knows me,” — distressed and dejected, vanished right there.
138. The story of Māra is finished.
Commentary
The narrative starts the scene by introducing the Buddha’s decision to send forth his disciples to spread the Dhamma widely. This marks a turning point in the Buddha’s teaching career - to transition from him personally teaching the Dhamma to authorising those who are liberated (‘freed from all snares, both divine and human’) to teach on his behalf.
This immediately raises the possibility and the risk that temptation may cause relapse either in the Buddha or in his disciples once they are geographically separated. The Buddha’s nemesis Māra appears before him, challenging him and raising exactly this issue.
Note that Māra personifies the internal psychological forces that resist this liberation — the inertia of habitual thought, attachment, and aversion. Rationally, Māra is the voice of the ego-construct or established patterns of intentionality that perceive this shift as a threat. His challenge, “You are bound,” is the reassertion of these old, binding structures within consciousness.
The Bhagavā’s refutation, particularly “My chando (desire) for these [sensory objects] has departed,” identifies the core of this phenomenological freedom: a detachment from the compulsive urge towards or away from sensory stimuli. While phenomena are still perceived, their power to bind through craving or aversion is extinguished. “Māra,” as the embodiment of these now-undermined internal compulsions, is “struck down” and “vanishes” when this clear, non-attached awareness is fully realised and acknowledged. His “distress” is the trace of these internal resistances losing their hold.
This narrative is highly significant because it once again implies that liberation is not permanent - residual tendencies to revert to old ways can reassert themselves, and therefore living a liberated life requires constant monitoring and assessment. This narrative signals confidence that the Buddha’s initial community is strong and should be able to resist these tendencies.
According to (Gombrich, 2006) Māra is another figure borrowed from Brahmanism:
It is very hard to tell how seriously one is supposed to take Māra. In fact I suppose that there is no one answer to this: that different authors and compilers had different opinions and attitudes. Since all the world around us, including the hells beneath us and the heavens of the gods (deva) above us, are within the plane of desire (kāmâvacara), Māra is allegorically said to reside in the highest of those heavens, so that he presides over the world of which human beings are at the centre and holds it in his grasp; this is graphically depicted in Tibetan pictures of the wheel of life, in which this world is shown in the grip of a devouring demon. But the Pali texts tend to treat Māra more lightly …
and also
We must bear in mind that Māra, there called Mrtyu, figures in the Brāhmaṇas as personified Death; there of course he is taken seriously. Satirizing Māra was therefore much like satirizing Brahmā. I suspect that in both cases the original spirit of the satire may have been rather light-hearted, even when it made serious points.
Other opinions
- Gombrich - How Buddhism Began: The conditioned genesis of the early teachings (2006) (Gombrich, 2006)
Gombrich analyzes the Padhāna Sutta, an early allegorical account of the Buddha’s Enlightenment as a battle with Māra, the personification of death. It highlights a major contradiction with the later, more famous story: in this sutta, the Buddha defeats Māra through extreme asceticism, directly opposing the orthodox “middle path” narrative where he rejects such practices. The author suggests this discrepancy reflects an early internal debate within Buddhism, possibly with Jain influence, regarding the value of asceticism. The text also explores the inconsistent portrayal of Māra, contrasting his serious role as the cosmic ruler of the world of desire with his more light-hearted and even humorous treatment in other Pali texts, where he is satirized, exorcised like a common demon, and comically defeated. This satirical approach, applied to figures like Māra and Brahmā, is presented as a method early Buddhists used to make serious theological points in a light-hearted manner.
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