Forty-six Faults That Cause Interference for Spiritual Study and Practice

Alexander Berzin

In A Filigree of Realizations (mNgon-rtogs rgyan, Skt. Abhisamayalamkara), Maitreya

enumerates forty-six faults that cause interference for developing the wisdoms applicable to
bodhisattvas (sbyor-bai skyon). These faults can occur up to the seventh-level bhumi mind of an
arya bodhisattva, as formulated in the Svatantrika scheme. Although they are formulated in terms
of studying the Prajnaparamita (Far-reaching Discriminating Awareness, Perfection of Wisdom)
literature, these faults can pertain to other aspects of Dharma study and practice as well.
Twenty Faults Concerning Just Students
Twelve General Faults Concerning Students
(1) Having to spend a long time with great difficulty to understand Prajnaparamita. This refers to
both internal and external obstacles causing this fault.
(2) Learning very quickly, and feeling arrogant about that, but neglecting to learn the details.
(3) When writing down the Prajnaparamita teachings, or painting a thanka, experiencing
physical obstacles such as yawning, laughing, joking, or making fun of it.
(4) When writing down the Prajnaparamita teachings, experiencing mental obstacles such as
doing a sloppy job, only paying half attention, while the rest of our mind is attracted to a person
or other things.
(5) Experiencing obstacles of speech, such as reciting a sutra or doing a puja just to gain
respect, money, or personal service.
(6) Turning away from Mahayana practice to another tradition, when we are already following
Mahayana and we see its correct, but then getting discouraged when no Buddha predicts where
and when we will become enlightened.
(7) Decreasing our confidence in the Mahayana path when first we have great enthusiasm for it,
but then getting discouraged when we see how difficult it is and how long it will take.
(8) Instead of getting a proper taste of Buddhas teachings on Prajnaparamita, having deep
involvement in (tasting deeply) worldly things.
(9) Trying to find the omniscient awareness of a Buddha by means of practicing Hinayana.
(10) After having understood the main points of the Mahayana teachings, instead of following
them, changing to Hinayana because it is easier.
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(11) Believing that from following just the Hinayana teachings, we can gain enlightenment.
(12) Believing that Hinayana and Mahayana are the same and bring the same results.
Eight Faults that Cause Mental Wandering
(13) Acquiring many biased, predisposed, or prejudiced thoughts because of being attracted to
certain desirable sense objects.
(14) When copying or writing down books, such as Prajnaparamita, instead of regarding the
book itself as just as a book, regarding the book itself as the true wisdom of the Buddhas.
(15) Trying to find security in unimputedly existing phenomena, such as books.
(16) Having attraction to and attachment for printed books in general.
(17) Having attraction to and attachment for oral teachings and recitations as the actual wisdom
of the Buddhas.
(18) Having attraction to and attachment for beautiful places and sights, and for money.
(19) Experiencing satisfaction at being praised or flattered, and mentally wandering about how
wonderful we are.
(20) Seeking liberation by following the words of mara (demonic forces), who take the form of
monks and teach falsely.
Twenty-three Faults Concerning both Students and Their Teachers
These faults pertain to after we, as students, have thoroughly examined a spiritual teacher and
taken him or her as our teacher, then finding and becoming obsessed with thinking about the
following faults in the teacher, in comparison to us. Obviously, if we find these faults in a teacher
before accepting him or her as our teacher, we need to avoid such a teacher.
Fourteen Faults on the Side of the Teacher in Comparison to the Student
(21) We, as the student, have great admiration and enthusiasm for Prajnaparamita, but the teacher
is lazy and doesnt make an effort to teach it. The teacher isnt interested in teaching it and
always postpones.
(22) The student wants to learn Prajnaparamita, but the teacher wants to teach something else.
The teacher is insensitive to what the students want or need to learn, and only wants to teach
what he or she likes. This can also be that the student wants to study at one location, and the
teacher at another.
(23) The student is content, but the teacher is filled with desires for sensory objects.
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(24) The student follows the twelve positive trainings, such as living in cemeteries, not under a
roof, and so on, but the teacher does not.
(25) The student has positive qualities such as confident belief, but the teacher does not.
(26) The student is generous, but the teacher is miserly.
(27) The student wants to make many offerings to the teacher, but the teacher refuses to accept
them.
(28) The student can understand and learn things with just a brief mention of a topic, but the
teacher requires extensive and expansive explanations.
(29) The student has scriptural knowledge of the twelve scriptural categories, but the teacher
does not.
(30) The student has developed the six far-reaching attitudes (six perfections), but the teacher
has not.
(31) The student is expert in ways to attain enlightenment, while the teacher is expert in ways to
attain worldly goals. In other words, the student knows more and better methods for reaching
enlightenment than the teacher does.
(32) The student has the ability to remember the teachings very well, but the teacher does not.
(33) The student wants to write down all the Prajnaparamita teachings, but the teacher is
reluctant to write them down or to allow them to be written down.
(34) The student has overcome the problems of everyday interferences such as sleepiness,
doubts, regret, pride, conceit, and mental wandering about such things as beautiful scenery, but
the teacher has not.
Three Faults on the Side of the Student in Comparison to the Teacher
(35) The teacher speaks about the joyless hell realms, and the student freaks out and withdraws
from wanting ever to be reborn there in order help the beings trapped in those realms.
(36) The teacher speaks about the joys of the divine heavenly realms, and the student develops
desire for them and wants to be reborn there.
(37) The teacher wants to teach a small group of students, but the student brings a large crowd
of other students with him or her, going against the teachers wishes.

Six Faults on Both Sides

(38) The teacher is unfair, such as wanting the student not to study with any other teachers, and
the student disagrees and goes and studies with others.
(39) The teacher wants and demands certain things from the student, and the student doesnt
want to give them.
(40) The teacher wants to go to a place that is dangerous to life and wants the student to come
with, and the student disagrees and wont go.
(41) The teacher wants to go to a place where there is a great famine, and the student wont
come with.
(42) The teacher wants to go to a place where there are many thieves and robbers, and the
student wont come with.
(43) The teacher wants to go to a place where people make plentiful offerings and donations,
and the student wont come with.
Three Faults Concerning So-Called Teachers Who Are Actually Misleading Teachers
(44) When we are studying the authentic Prajnaparamita teachings and a so-called teacher comes
and says, What youre studying is no good. Come study with me, when what he or she will
teach instead are so-called Prajnaparamita teachings, which he or she has in fact made up.
(45) When we are meditating properly on voidness and a so-called teacher comes and says,
Dont meditate like that. Meditate instead on the ugly aspects of the body, or other such things,
in order to gain the insight of voidness. In general, this means meeting a so-called teacher who
tells us that our correct methods of meditating are wrong.
(46) Mistakenly believing that a so-called teacher a manifestation of mara is actually an
enlightened being.

The Fourteen Questions to Which Buddha Remained Silent

There are fourteen unspecified points (lung-du ma-bstan-pa bcu-bzhi), which are points about
which Buddha did not specify an answer when asked. Often this set of fourteen is referred to as
the fourteen questions to which Buddha remained silent.
The Mahayana Version
To those who believe in a true findably existent me or self (bdag, Skt. atman) and a true
findably existent universe, Buddha did not answer when they asked are the I or the self and
the universe:

eternal,

not eternal, since they undergo gross impermanence at the time of their destruction,

as both, in the sense that some beings and their environments, like the Creator Brahma
and his heaven, are eternal; while all else, such as his creations, are not eternal and end at
the time of their destruction,

neither, since it is impossible to know?

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Are Is or selves and the universe:

finite,

infinite,

both finite and infinite, in the sense that limited beings (sentient beings) are infinite in
number, but the universe is finite in size,

neither, since it is impossible to know?

Does the I or the self of a Buddha:

continue to exist after death,

not continue after death,

both, in the sense that the body does not continue, but the life-force (srog) does,

neither?

Buddha did not answer these because there is no such thing as a true findably existent me or
self for either limited beings (sentient beings) or a Buddha, and no such thing as a true findably
existent universe. Therefore, there can be no question whether such things are eternal or not
eternal, or finite or infinite. It is like asking do rabbit-horns, turtle-hair or chicken-lips last
forever or only a limited time. If Buddha said the me, and so on are eternal, these people
would fall to the position of eternalism. If he said they are not eternal, they would fall to the
position of nihilism, since they would not understand his answer. Therefore, it was more skillful
not to specify an answer at all.
To those who believe in a true findably existent body and life-force, Buddha did not answer
when they asked are the body and life-force:

the same entity,

totally separate and different entities?

He remained silent for a similar reason, since they would only misunderstand anything he said.
The Theravada Version
An earlier, abbreviated list of ten unspecified points appears in the Pali canon in the Sutta of
Shorter (Instructions) to Malunkya (Pali: Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta, within the The Collection of
Middle-Length Discourses (Pali: Majjhima Nikaya). In this version, the monk Malunkyaputta
was continuously distracted by metaphysical speculation during his meditation. In order to turn
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him back to his intensive meditation practice, Buddha remained silent when Malunkyaputta
asked whether:

the universe is eternal,

the universe is not eternal,

the universe is finite,

the universe is infinite,

after death, a Buddha continues to exist,

after death, a Buddha does not continue to exist,

after death, a Buddha both continues to exist and not to exist,

after death, a Buddha neither continues to exist or not to exist,

the body and the self are the same entity,

the body and the self are totally separate and different entities.

The Sixty-two Wrong Views

The Net of Brahma Sutra (Tshangs-pai drva-bai mdo, Skt. Brahmajvala Sutra), both in its
Mahayana and Theravada versions, presents sixty-two wrong views (lta-ba ngan-pa, bad views)
propounded by the eighteen non-Buddhist extremists (mu-stegs, Skt. tirthika). Although the two
versions present slightly different lists, all sixty-two wrong views are based on considering the
self or soul of a person (gang-zag-gi bdag) to be self-sufficiently knowable (rang-rkya thubpai rdzas-yod) and the universe to be truly existent. (bden-par grub-pa).
The Eighteen Wrong Views Concerning the Past and the Present
Eighteen of the sixty-two wrong views concern the past and the present, which arises from the
past. Looking to the past and depending on how far in the past the various proponents can see, or
which realms they can see, there are:
(1) Four proponents that the self in its current rebirth state (for instance, as a long-lived god)
and the universe are eternal (have no end).
(2) Four proponents that some beings in their specific rebirth states and some aspects of
universe have no end and some have an end.
(3) Two proponents that selves in their current rebirth state and the universe have no cause. The
Pali version explains that they assert that these occur just by chance.
(4) Four proponents that the universe: is finite, infinite, both, or neither.
(5) Four proponents who wriggle like an eel and give irrelevant answers. When asked whether
constructive actions are what have brought happiness and destructive actions suffering, they say
that the self when in a pure realm doesnt need to rid itself of (abandon) anything anymore. The
Pali version explains these as those who are evasive because they do not know the answer and
are afraid of debate.
The Forty-four Wrong Views Concerning the Future
Then, there are forty-four wrong views concerning the future. There are:
(6) Sixteen proponents of a self-sufficiently knowable self that, after death, has awareness.
Their positions are that such a self, after death,
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has form (Pali: is material), no form (immaterial), both, or neither;

has an end (is not eternal), no end (is eternal), both, or neither;

has pleasure, no pleasure (only pain), both, or neither;

has cognition of just one thing and is uniform, or has cognition of many things and is
varied in other words, it has perception that is limited, or perception that is unlimited.

(7) Eight proponents of a self-sufficiently knowable self that, after death, has no awareness.
Their positions are that such a self, after death,

has form (Pali: is material), no form, both, or neither;

has an end (Pali: is not eternal), no end, both, or neither.

(8) Eight proponents of a self-sufficiently knowable self that, after death, has neither awareness
nor no awareness. Their positions are that such a self, after death,

has form (Pali: is material), no form, both, or neither;

has an end (Pali: is not eternal), no end, both, or neither.

(9) Seven proponents of annihilation of a self-sufficiently knowable self. Their positions are that
such a self becomes totally nonexistent only after a rebirth as

a human,

a divine being (a god) of the plane of sensory desire (Desire Ream),

a divine being of the plane of ethereal forms (Form Realm),

a divine being in each of the four divisions of the plane of formless beings (Formless
Realm).

(10) Five proponents of release in this lifetime

through indulging in desirable sense objects in this lifetime,

through attaining each of the four states of mental stability (four dhyanas).

The Four Maras

(The Four Demonic Forces)
Mara in Hindu Mythology
In Hindu mythology, Mara (bdud) is equivalent to Kama ( dod-pai lha), the god of desire. This
equivalence is accepted in Buddhism as well. The Kalachakra Buddha figure, for example, has
Kama under his right foot, representing all four maras. Kama was one of the sons of Krishna and
Rukmini, and Kamas wife was Rati. The gods had sent Kama to rouse Shiva from his meditation
so that Shiva would take interest in Parvati and have a child Karttikeya, who was prophesied to
be able, when he would be seven days old, to kill the demon Taraka. To rouse Shiva, Kama shot
five arrows from his bow. These arrows were
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to make one ecstatic (dga-byed),

to make one crave (sred-byed),

to make one stupefied (rmongs-byed), which perhaps suggests making one spaced out or
senile ,

to make one thin, emaciated and dried out (skem-byed), which, in this context, could
mean worn out, hungry, and thirsty, so that one gives up meditation. In other contexts,
perhaps it is the work of Mara that we become dried out and have no moisture of
compassion.

to make one dead (chi-byed), which, in this context, could perhaps make Shiva worry
that he will die while meditating, so being afraid of that, he would get up.

These five are called the five types of troubles that are the work of Mara.
Shiva was annoyed, and burned Kama to a crisp with fire from his third eye. But, then, at the
request of Rati, Shiva allowed Kama to be reborn as Pradyumna. When Pradyumna was six years
old, he was stolen by the demon Shambara who threw him in the sea, since there was a prophecy
that Pradyumna would kill Shambara. Pradyumna was swallowed by fish, but a fisherman caught
the fish, and gave the boy inside its stomach to Shambharas mistress Mayavati, who raised him.
Mayavati developed desire for Pradyumnas beauty, but Pradyumna reproached her since he
thought she was his mother. She revealed to him that he was the son of Krishna and Rukmini,
and that Shambara had thrown him in the sea. Pradyumna got angry at Shambara, and killed him
using his power of emanations. Then Mayavati took him to the house of Krishna, and Pradyumna
and Mayavati became husband and wife.
Thus, Mara can be personified in the form of a divine being. In Buddhist cosmology, he resides
in the highest of the divine realms of the plane of sensory desires (Desire Realm), on top of
Mount Meru. This is called the Heaven of Those Who Have the Power of Emanations over
Others (gZhan- phrul dbang-byed, Skt. Paranirmita-vashavartin). Buddhists usually explain
this heaven as where gods have the power to enjoy the emanations of others, but the Tibetan and
Sanskrit terms make more sense when they are understood in accord with the Hindu myth.
Mara in Buddhist Mythology
In Buddhism, Mara then personifies incorrect non-Buddhist views, which were the final thing
Buddha needed to overcome with the third-eye of wisdom. This is analogous to the account in
Hindu mythology that when Kama tried to disturb Shiva, Shiva destroyed him with the fire of his
third eye.
Several accounts in various sutras describe Buddhas defeat of Mara. For example, in The
Striving Sutta (Padhana Sutta) in the Pali canon, Mara comes to Shakyamuni when Shakyamuni
is doing ascetic practices, and says, You are so thin and pale. Dont seek liberation and release
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which would mean leaving the world but stay in the world and do good. In other words, he
enjoins Shakyamuni to lead a worldly life, albeit one that is involved with helping others. Mara
sends an army to defeat Shakyamuni. Shakyamuni enumerates the armies of Mara as: sensual
desire, discontent, hunger and thirst, craving, laziness, fear, indecisive wavering (doubt),
restlessness, longing for the transitory things in life (gain, praise, honor, and fame), and praising
oneself and belittling others. Buddha saw that to overcome all of these, he must stop identifying
with thoughts of these things.
Later, Mara appears as a poor farmer and as an old wheezing brahmin symbolizing the world.
Shakyamuni recognizes Mara is in all the aggregates that appear, but he tells Mara that he cannot
hide. Shakyamuni sees him for the pathetic creature that he is, as is symbolized by the pathetic
form of the farmer and the brahmin. Mara then appears as natural disasters and dangerous wild
beasts. But Shakyamuni has no fear of death. Mara then sends his three daughters to try to
seduce Shakyamuni, but to no avail. Mara then tries to trick Shakyamuni by agreeing that death
is nothing to fear, and therefore one can ignore it. But based on that reasoning, he tries to
convince Shakyamuni that life is long and so just enjoy life. Shakyamuni says no, the life span is
short, so one needs to live as if ones head is on fire which means to ignore personal danger.
Since life can end abruptly at any time, one needs to take advantage immediately of ones
precious human life. Mara then gives up and slinks away.
The Four Maras
The term mara derives from the Sanskrit root mr, to murder. Thus, mara is what murders or
causes interference to us limited beings and to our constructive actions leading to the three
spiritual goals of one of the better rebirths, liberation, and enlightenment. Mara is also explained
as what puts an end (mthar-byed, Skt. antaka) that which puts an end to spiritual practice.
There are four types of mara:

the mara of death (the Lord of Death),

the mara of disturbing emotions and attitudes,

the mara of the aggregate factors of experience (the five aggregates),

the Mara who is the son of the gods.

The Mara of Death

Death, of course, causes the greatest interference to our spiritual practice. It is not certain that in
our next lives we will have precious human rebirths with all the respites and enrichments
allowing us the most unhindered practice. Even with such a rebirth, we need to start our spiritual
path once more as a child. Moreover, death recurs uncontrollably at the end of each lifetime.

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Thus, Mara is also considered Yama (gShin-rje), the Lord of Death ( Chi-bdag); while in the
anuttarayoga tantra system, Buddha is Yamantaka (gShin-rje gshed), the One Who Puts an End to
Yama. In tantra, however, Yama is not simply death itself, but rather there are three levels of
Yama, which detail three levels of what is involved with death:

outer Yama is death itself,

inner Yama is the disturbing emotions and attitudes, which activate karmic aftermath and
thus propel us into a subsequent rebirth and perpetuate the birth and death cycle.

hidden or secret Yama is the three subtlest conceptual minds that make appearances of
true existence: threshold (nyer-thob, near attainment, black appearance), light diffusion
(mched, increase, red appearance), and appearance congealment (snang, appearance,
white appearance). Each rebirth begins with these three subtlest conceptual minds making
appearances of true existence. Based on unawareness, we believe that the appearances
they make correspond to reality, and thus we have grasping for true existence and all the
disturbing emotions and attitudes based on that unawareness and grasping.

There are six shortcomings of not being mindful of death, which cause interference to our
spiritual study and practice.

We will not be mindful of the Dharma measures.

Even if we are mindful of them, we will not put them into practice,

Even if we do put the Dharma into practice, we will not do so purely.

We will lose our determination to practice earnestly at all times.

By our destructive actions, we will disable ourselves from gaining liberation.

At the time of our death, we will have to die with regrets.

We dont practice the Dharma purely because, being unmindful of death, we get caught up in the
eight transitory things of this life ( jig-rten-pai chos-brgyad, the eight worldly Dharmas). We
are pleased and delighted with the first of each of the following pairs and displeased, depressed,
or disappointed with the second:

praise or criticism,

hearing good or bad news including hearing or not hearing from our loved ones, and
hearing pleasant sounds or unpleasant noise,

gains or losses such as of money or possessions,

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things going well or poorly such as being healthy and happy or being sick and
depressed.

[See: Dispelling Discomfort at the Eight Transitory Things in Life.]

We can gain equanimity toward the eight transitory things in life through adopting the ten gemlike innermost attitudes from the Kadam Tradition (bka-gdams phugs-nor bcu). These are the
four trusting acceptances (gtad-pa bzhi), the three diamond-strong convictions (rdo-rje gsum),
and the mature attitudes toward being expelled, finding and attaining (bud-rnyed-thob gsum).
The first four trusting acceptances are:

as our innermost outlook on life, being willing to accept with total trust the Dharma
measures,

as our innermost attitude towards the Dharma measures, being willing to accept with total
trust even becoming a beggar,

as our innermost attitude towards becoming a beggar, being willing to accept with total
trust even having to die,

as our innermost attitude towards death, being willing to accept with total trust even
having to die friendless and alone in an empty cave.

The three diamond-strong convictions are

to go ahead with our Dharma practice without consideration for what others think about
our doing so,

to keep the constant company of deep awareness and our commitments,

to carry on continuously without getting caught up in useless concerns.

The mature attitudes toward being expelled, finding and attaining are

being willing to be expelled from the ranks of so-called normal people,

being willing to find ourselves regarded among the ranks of dogs,

being completely involved in attaining the divine rank of a Buddha.

On a deeper level, of course, we can only overcome the mara of death with the understanding of
voidness (emptiness), so that we gain liberation and are no longer subject to samsaric death and
rebirth.
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The Mara of the Disturbing Emotions and Attitudes

When we develop the disturbing emotions and attitudes (nyon- mongs, Skt. klesha), they cause
enormous interference to our spiritual study and practice. The major ones are longing desire or
attachment, hostility or anger, naivety, pride, disturbing indecisive wavering, and disturbing
attitudes with an outlook, such as a deluded view toward a transitory network.
[See: Mind and Mental Factors: The Fifty-one Types of Subsidiary Awareness.]
When we have any of these disturbing emotions or attitudes strongly, we can practice tonglen
(gtong-len, giving and taking). We think of all others who have the same disturbing emotion or
attitude, and how this is a problem not only for us, but for everyone. Thinking in this way is
reasonable because, since this is a problem of all samsaric beings and we are one those beings,
we need to tackle this general problem for everyone. It is like if we are a woman facing prejudice
in the work place, prejudice against women is not just our problem; it is the problem of all
women. Therefore, to get rid of our problem with prejudice against us as a woman, we need to
take on the problem of prejudice against all women.
[See: Accepting Suffering and Giving Happiness.]
In the Seven-Point Attitude-Training (Blo-sbyong don-bdun-ma) by Geshe Chaykawa (dGebshes Chad-kha-ba), one of the four actions (sbyor-ba bzhi), in the point concerning
transforming adverse conditions into path to enlightenment, is to make offerings to harmful
spirits (maras) and ask them to give us more difficult circumstances. So, this practice of feeding
the demon is somewhat like tonglen. But here, we practice giving first and then we ask the
demon to help us take on more suffering from others.
[See:General Explanation of Seven-Point Attitude Training, Part 1: The First Four Points.]
In Vajrayogini and some other tantric offering rituals, feeding the demon is part of making
offerings to various guests: specifically, to guests who are our enemies.
The Mara of the Aggregates
The mara of the aggregates refers to the tainted aggregates (zag-bcas-kyi phung-po,
contaminated aggregates), as the example of the all-pervasively affecting suffering (khyab-byedkyi sdug-bsngal) of samsara. Remember, in the Pali Sutta, Shakyamuni identified Mara as being
in all the aggregates.
In Treasure-House of Special Topics of Knowledge (Chos mngon-pai mdzod,
Skt. Abhidharmakosha), Vasubandhu defines tainted phenomena as nonstatic phenomena that
derive from a disturbing emotion or attitude. When such items are the objects cognized by either
our own or someone elses limited mind, the result is further disturbing emotions or attitudes on
the mental continuum that cognizes them. Also tainted are the five aggregate factors that are in
the company of disturbing emotions or attitudes. Thus, Vasubandhu specifies tainted phenomena
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to be all nonstatic (impermanent) phenomena other than those that constitute the fourth noble
truth.
In Anthology of Special Topics of Knowledge (Chos mngon-pa kun-las btus-pa,
Skt. Abhidharmasamuccaya), Asanga elaborates, with Vasubandhus definition being just one
category of tainted phenomena. He includes aggregate factors that are thrown by craving, and
those that bring further samsaric situations. So, this is the situation that the aggregate factors of
our experience derive from craving and unawareness (which activate throwing karma), they
contain unawareness, and they perpetuate unawareness.
Thus, the hardware of our aggregates our limited bodies and minds is the mara of
aggregates because they limit us with more and more suffering and kill our chances for
liberation.
The Mara That Is the Son of the Gods
In origin, the Mara that is the son of the gods seems to refer back to Mara as Kama, who was the
son the god Krishna, and his trying to cause interference to Shiva. Buddhism takes this mara to
be the deluded views of the non-Buddhists, or from the Prasangika viewpoint, even the views of
the lower Buddhist tenet systems, which although helpful, need to be overcome.
This mara can also refer to the sixty-two wrong views (lta-ba ngan-pa, bad views) propounded
by the eighteen non-Buddhist extremists (mu-stegs, Skt. tirthika).
Further, in A Filigree of Realizations (mNgon-rtogs-rgyan, Skt. Abhisamayalamkara), Maitreya
enumerates forty-six faults that cause interference to developing the wisdoms applicable to
bodhisattvas (sbyor-bai skyon). These faults are also considered the work of the Mara who is the
son of the gods.
The Four Maras According to Kalachakra
In Notes on the Supreme Mandala of Glorious Kalachakra, Source of All Good Qualities (dPal
dus-kyi khor-loi dkyil-chog yon-tan kun-byung-gi zin-bris), Buton (Bu-ston Rin-chen grub)
explains that the four maras in Kalachakra have the following significance:

The mara of the aggregates refers to the obscurations of the body, which are imputable on
the subtle creative energy-drop of the awake occasion.

The mara of the disturbing attitudes refers to the obscurations of speech, which are
imputable on the subtle creative energy-drop of the dream occasion.

The mara of the Lord of Death refers to the obscurations of the mind, which are
imputable on the subtle creative energy-drop of the dreamless deep sleep occasion.

The mara who is the son of the gods refers to entering externally into unawareness (phyirol-gyi ma-rig-pa la jug-pa), which perhaps refers to the obscurations associated with
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the subtle creative energy-drop of the fourth occasion, the peak occasion of bliss. Perhaps
this refers to the obscurations of unawareness that cause us to emit our subtle energies
with the bliss of orgasm. When we achieve unchanging blissful awareness of voidness,
then we possess the celibate behavior of reality (de-kho-na nyid-gyi tshangs-spyod), with
which we never have any shift from unchanging bliss (mi-gyur-bai bde-ba) and never
have the bliss of orgasmic emission (dzag-bde). This is because our minds remain
absorbed in the clear light realization of voidness and do not leave it with the generation
of the three subtlest appearance-making conceptual minds, which are analogous with
orgasmic emission. This attainment is referred to as having a vajra stick (rdo-rje dbyugpa) for overcoming the maras. To possess such a vajra stick is one of the ten qualities of a
vajra master, according to Kalachakra.

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