Abstract

Mara, known also by names such as Samsara-guru and Kamadeva, embodies psychopathology and evil as conceived in the Buddhism of India and Tibet. Buddhist tradition identifies Mara with pathological mental states. It characterizes mental states as pathological if they support the involvement of sentient beings in the endless round of birth and death known as the samsara. It identifies Mara with evil, and characterizes various living beings as evil to the extent that they function to support involvement in the samsara and to obstruct its transcendence. ;The dissertation uses the images and concepts of Mara found in Buddhist literary and oral traditions to develop an understanding of psychopathology and evil as conceived in Buddhism. The sources examined include the Pali canon, especially the Jataka literature; Mahayana sutras and sastras including the Prajnaparamita Sutras, Saddharmapundarika Sutra, Samdhinirmocana Sutra, Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra, Jatakamala andBodhisattvacaryavatara; and Tibetan materials including oral legends and myths of Mara-like daemons, the Milarepa literature, and the Chuzang Lama's Compendium of Demonology. Consultations with influential Tibetan and Theravadin monastic scholars provides supplementary material from oral traditions as well as traditional interpretations of literary sources. These consultations inform the analysis of traditional Buddhist views of the psychological, philosophical and social implications of these aspects of Mara. ;The dissertation also employs Western psychological paradigms to examine legends, images and concepts of Mara and to contrast Buddhist and Western views of psychology and psychopathology. The basic metaphysical assumptions of Buddhism, such as the psychological root causes of samsara are examined in light of Western notions such as the Id and the unconscious. Accounts of Maras are used as case-studies to develop a view of Buddhist psychology and to contrast its theoretical formulation and practical application with those of Western psychology