The Psychology Of Wisdom And Demons

The activity of Wisdom and Demons is Buddhist psychology.

All sentient beings are Buddhas, but aren’t aware of it.
1. Our essence is uncontaminated emptiness.
2. Our nature is cognisant consciousness.
3. Our expression is compassionate energy.

These, if unnoticed, become the demonic activities:
1. Ignorance.
2. Desire/attraction/grasping.
3. Aversion/hatred.

This is a description of the four enlightened activities of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, and the way in which the dark forces (Maras-Demons) can pervert these within us.

Mara is the likes and dislikes in the mind. When we like or dislike, we fall prey to these emotions, which can attract additional negativity. Understanding the emotions is the key to sanity.

The following may seem a little complex, but it is meant for those who like the idea of being spiritual engineers.

THE FOUR ENLIGHTENED ACTIVITIES
We have to be aware that there is another side to these activities; every action can be distorted by the ego! Our level of understanding will attract a specific quality – as we sow, so we reap.

An enlightened person will manifest certain qualities when a particular situation arises. These qualities are pacifying, enriching, magnetising and destroying.

Pacifying accommodates everything. It reveals that there are no problems, and that aggression from the ego is unnecessary.
Enriching brings to light the process of growth, and allows the development of knowledge.
Magnetising bypasses conventional reality. In conventional reality, we continually try to draw desired situations towards ourselves, and fend off undesirable ones. A realised person simply remains as he or she is, attracting naturally without this ego intervention.
Destroying is connected to compassion, and is aimed at ego’s manipulations.

THE DISTORTIONS OF EGO = THE FOUR MARAS
These four demonic activities are directed at building and fortifying our concept of ‘self.’

The Mara of pacifying attempts to make peace by using pleasure and security to eliminate whatever is unpleasant. It is an imitation of genuine pacifying, which is beyond any self-serving strategy, such as “There, there – it will be all right, trust me”.

The Mara of enriching is the Mara of accumulating. Ego takes natural growth and turns it into its own ground. It hijacks the richness, and turns it into my wealth – “See how clever I am?”.

The Mara of magnetising attempts to attract, in order to feed one’s ego with whatever is desirable, based on the possessive emotions – “I enjoy praying for others”.

The Mara of destroying obliterates everything, rather than just whatever needs to be destroyed. Trungpa Rinpoche wrote, “It begins to get inspired in the wrong way, and uproots the whole tree…and that is the karmic quality of destruction gone wild, unnecessarily”, as in “You’re talking total rubbish!”.

Be aware that worldly demons use these very principles to twist our minds, and divert consciousness.

Understanding these two aspects of our psychology reveals that reality is nothing other than wisdom. We need to look closely at the world we inhabit, and contemplate our most ordinary experiences.

If we do this
– if we let go of what we think and simply let the true being of what we are show itself –
we will discover that it is nothing other than
primordial immaculate wisdom.

This is the blueprint of everything that happens in the world.