Mara – Demons

 Mara are demonic influences that create obstacles for practice and enlightenment. Mara symbolises one’s own ego-clinging (consciousness-clinging) and preoccupation with the eight worldly concerns:

 Attachment to gain, pleasure, praise and fame.
Aversion to loss, pain, blame and bad reputation.

 When experiencing bliss, clarity and non-thought in meditation, fixation on these will plant seeds for rebirth in the three realms of desire, form and formless*.

 Without fixation on bliss, clarity and non-thought, meditation experiences become adornments of the three Kayas – Dharmakaya, Samboghakaya and Nirmanakaya:

 As Ground, they are – essence, nature and expression.
As Path, they are – bliss, clarity and non-thought
As Fruition, they are – three Kayas of Buddhahood.

Ground is our essential nature.
Path is the confusion about that essential nature.
Fruition is recognising the the Path never existed, and the Ground was there all the time.

 This is a complicated way of saying,
love without any expectations.
It’s the expectations that are the demons!

“Do aliens know that they are in Samsaric realms?”
“Buddha knows!!”

*Three realms:
Desire realm – experiencing human desire, frustration and suffering.

Form realm – a subtle divine state of Samsaric existence between desire and formless realms. Bodies of light without sense organs, living long lives without pain.

Formless realm – the most subtle state of Samsaric existence. Without any physical form at all, lacking even mental pleasure. Unenlightened beings dwelling in unchanging equanimity for a long period, after which they return to lower realms.