nathanielfirst
Member
hello I am trying to comprehend mara's role in buddhism as compared to satan in christianity... satan seems a lot worse.
specifically I am trying to see if mara desires to populate the hells with people by causing grave sins, or if he is just fine with keeping people in samsara, somewhere, even say in a pleasurable heaven.
to me I find the Christian bible merely implies things about satan, you have to add two textually seperated scriptures together to get a meaning that most christians today agree on...
the references to satan I have seen in the bible suggest that he tempts important people - Job, Zechariah, David, Jesus, much like mara himself, and sends minor servants to possess people with uncleanness, or sends major servants to lead people into false religions as a whole... to understand that satan wants every single person to sin as much as possible is an implied thing. so I am trying to gather those things stated, and implied, about satan, and mara, and compare.
satan is the author of sin, equated with the serpent in the garden. Mara is NOT the author of the realm of desire, is he?
Vivartasthāyikalpa - the eon of maintanance, starts when the first being is born in the naraka hell. does mara at any time desire for Vivartasthāyikalpa to begin, thus desire a person to be in a hell?
do mara's servant's and children and fetters attack lay nonbelievers, i.e. a man from a primitive tribe, or a member of another religion?
can a thought of lust, or anger, in a lay nonbeliever, be thought of as mara's work, considering that the thought in a member of sanga is mara's work?
sorry if I've mangled any terms or misused them.
specifically I am trying to see if mara desires to populate the hells with people by causing grave sins, or if he is just fine with keeping people in samsara, somewhere, even say in a pleasurable heaven.
to me I find the Christian bible merely implies things about satan, you have to add two textually seperated scriptures together to get a meaning that most christians today agree on...
the references to satan I have seen in the bible suggest that he tempts important people - Job, Zechariah, David, Jesus, much like mara himself, and sends minor servants to possess people with uncleanness, or sends major servants to lead people into false religions as a whole... to understand that satan wants every single person to sin as much as possible is an implied thing. so I am trying to gather those things stated, and implied, about satan, and mara, and compare.
satan is the author of sin, equated with the serpent in the garden. Mara is NOT the author of the realm of desire, is he?
Vivartasthāyikalpa - the eon of maintanance, starts when the first being is born in the naraka hell. does mara at any time desire for Vivartasthāyikalpa to begin, thus desire a person to be in a hell?
do mara's servant's and children and fetters attack lay nonbelievers, i.e. a man from a primitive tribe, or a member of another religion?
can a thought of lust, or anger, in a lay nonbeliever, be thought of as mara's work, considering that the thought in a member of sanga is mara's work?
sorry if I've mangled any terms or misused them.