Marasamyutta

I'm reading the Marasamyutta in the Sumyutta Nikaya, or the Connected Discourses. In a way, Mara seems like self doubt in the pursuit of the path. I have a lot of self doubt. I've been reading back looking for it in my blog, to correct it. This is perhaps one subset of fears that the reptile mind can present to the observing mind.

In a way my willingness to doubt can be an asset, no personal trait is all bad or all good, it's the application and appropriateness of it. But now I'm going to see it as possible Mara when it's it's just a lack of confidence, or when doubt feels pathological.

As a leader you need to take on a confidence because you can't endlessly deliberate. We are attracted to leaders who have confidence in their instincts. Taking on doubt could save a lot of leaders from making huge mistakes.

You can invite your demons, befriend them and stare at them, pin them. They lose power, the shadow loses power when it is brought to the light. We are responsible to do the shadow work, so that we do not hurt other people. Stephen Batchelor has a book called Living With The Devil that I quite like.

Mara is often presented as the temptation of sense pleasure, and that is easily represented as women for me. Their bodies, their love, their care. In my last post, I was discussing the terror woman face as objects of desire merely walking on the streets, outside. There's a kind of unfairness to women to have to be obsessed with safety by merely being out in public. The unfair projections, acted on, create suffering in women.

Some men can get down on themselves for these unfair projections and objectifying. I read an article in the National Geographic that when men look at women in bikinis it activates the tool use part of their brains. But the things you can't change, need to just be understood and can still be negotiated skillfully. You don't act on these kinds of urges. Know this shadow, and remember your vision, the hope for a fair society for all genders. The hatred of the oppression of women. Accept that in men that would lead to oppression of women, know it, and don't act on it.

Rules can be blunt instruments, and the rule for a Theravadin monk to not touch women doesn't apply in all cases, like helping an old aunt down stairs. The Buddha said to drop the lesser rules when he was at the end of his life, but the debate about what those rules are continues. I like the approach where you apply principles, it gives you flexibility and focuses on the goals.

I can't help but think of the gruesome Therigatha story (Subhā of Jīvaka's Mango-grove (71/73)) of the beautiful woman who tore out her eye to no longer be attractive to men, so they would stop bothering her. (The Therigatha is perhaps the first female spiritual classic, and is among my favorite memories of reading the Pali Canon. I read it on a retreat, and it really left a mark on my mind.)

Leaders can get a little power and exploit the situation like in Brad Warner's video of the top 10 Buddhist scandals. It might be a little better to choose leaders who don't want the power. Or to not need a leader to hope they can do everything for you. To trust your own truth, your own potency, your own effectualness. Don't allow a "spiritual teacher" to override you instincts. Maybe read Sex and the Spiritual Teacher by Scott Edelstein when you begin the spiritual path.

So while self doubt can be Mara, controlling the shadow is also important and overconfidence can be something one might wish to inhibit if it's going to lead to hurting others. Befriend your demons and do shadow work.

Ditto for racism, speciesism, classism, nationalism and all other ideas that put down others, or allow you to exploit others. Even my hetrosexual presumption that all men are tempted by women. We're all interconnected and when we hurt others, we hurt ourselves.