Nyanatiloka Buddhist Dictionary

death. Later Páli literature often speaks of a 'fivefold Mára' (pañca-mára): 1. M. as a deity (devaputta-mára),2. the M. of defilements (kilesa-m.), 3. the M. of the aggregates (khandha-m.), 4. the M. of thekarma-formations (kamma-m.), and 5. Mára as death (maccu-m.).As a real person, M. is regarded as the deity ruling over the highest heaven of the sensuous sphere(kámávacara), that of the paranimmitavasavatti-devas, the 'deities wielding power over the creations ofothers' (Com. to M. 1). According to tradition, when the Bodhisatta was seated under the Bodhi-tree, Máratried in vain to obstruct his attainment of Enlightenment, first by frightening him through his hosts ofdemons, etc., and then by his 3 daughters' allurements. This episode is called 'Mára's war' (mára-yuddha). For7 years M. had followed the Buddha, looking for any weakness in him; that is, 6 years before theEnlightenment and one year after it (Sn. v. 446). He also tried to induce the Buddha to pass away intoParinibbána without proclaiming the Dhamma, and also when the time for the Buddha's Parinibbána hadcome, he urged him on. But the Buddha acted on his own insight in both cases. See D. 16.For (3) M. as the aggregates, s. S. XXIII, 1, 11, 12, 23. See Padhána Sutta (Sn. v. 425ff.); Mára Samyutta (S.IV).marana: 'death', in ordinary usage, means the disappearance of the vital faculty confined to a single life-time,and therewith of the psycho-physical life-process conventionally called 'man, animal, personality, ego', etc.Strictly speaking, however, death is the continually repeated dissolution and vanishing of each momentaryphysical-mental combination, and thus it takes place every moment. About this momentaneity of existence, itis said in Vis.M. VIII:"In the absolute sense, beings have only a very short moment to live, life lasting as long as a single momentof consciousness lasts. Just as a cart-wheel, whether rolling or whether at a standstill, at all times only restson a single point of its periphery, even so the life of a living being lasts only for the duration of a singlemoment of consciousness. As soon as that moment ceases, the being also ceases. For it is said: 'The being ofthe past moment of consciousness has lived, but does not live now, nor will it live in future. The being of thefuture moment has not yet lived, nor does it live now, but it will live in the future. The being of the presentmoment has not lived, it does live just now, but it will not live in the future.' "In another sense, the coming to an end of the psycho-physical life-process of the Arahat, or perfectly HolyOne, at the moment of his passing away may be called the final and ultimate death, as up to that moment thepsycho-physical life-process was still going on from life to life.Death, in the ordinary sense, combined with old age, forms the 12th link in the formula of dependentorigination (paticca-samuppáda q.v.).For death as a subject of meditation, s. maranánussati; as a function of consciousness, s. viññána-kicca.maranásanna-kamma: s. karma.maranánussati: 'recollection of death', is one of the 10 recollections treated in detail in Vis.M. VIII:''Recollection of death, developed and frequently practised, yields great reward, great blessing, hasDeathlessness as its goal and object. But how may such recollection be developed?"As soon as the day declines, or as the night vanishes and the day is breaking, the monk thus reflects: 'Truly,there are many possibilities for me to die: I may be bitten by a serpent, or be stung by a scorpion or acentipede, and thereby I may lose my life. But this would be an obstacle for me. Or I may stumble and fall tothe ground, or the food eaten by me may not agree with my health; or bile, phlegm and piercing body gasesmay become disturbing, or men or ghosts may attack me, and thus I may lose my life. But this would be anobstacle for me.' Then the monk has to consider thus: 'Are there still to be found in me unsubdued evil,unwholesome things which, if I should die today or tonight, might lead me to suffering?' Now, if heunderstands that this is the case, he should use his utmost resolution, energy, effort, endeavour, steadfastness,attentiveness and clear-mindedness in order to overcome these evil, unwholesome things" (A VIII, 74).