Maras' Lifespan

[pelletboy]

Hi it is said that the current Mara was the nephew of Maha Mogallana before he took hos last birth and was the head Mara at the time of the Buddha before Gotama Buddha. He went to heel after doing some evil to an arhat and his nephew replaced him and now the he is the current head Mara. Are Maras' lifespan that long that the nephew could encounter 2 Buddhas? Is is stated anywhere how long they live? And what other devas live that long?

[yamaka]

Dear Palletboy,

Base on the information(The 31 planes of existence)

(11) Devas Wielding Power over the Creation of Others (paranimmita-vasavatti deva)
Which their lifespan could up to 16,000 Celestial years, 1 day = 1,600 human years


Somewhere I have heard too the Buddha recollected his past life(91? kappas, could somebody clarify this?) and only discovered 7 Sammasambuddhas. Imagine averagely every 13 kappas only have occurred 1 Sammasambuddha.

[anjali]

Somewhere I have heard too the Buddha recollected his past life(91? kappas, could somebody clarify this?) and only discovered 7 Sammasambuddhas. Imagine averagely every 13 kappas only have occurred 1 Sammasambuddha.

Can't comment on the lifespan of a Mara or the number of past lives recollected by the Buddha. I've always heard that we have lived countless past lives--literally. There is no beginning. To paraphrase a famed expression (it's turtles all the way down), it's past lives all the way back. So, it would seem that if someone should remember all their past lives, it would be infinite regress. I would have expected the Buddha to have discovered infinitely many Sammasambuddhas! Has there ever been a claim by anyone to have remembered infinitely many past lives?

[alan]

It was not meant to be taken literally. Mara is a metaphor.

[rowboat]

It was not meant to be taken literally. Mara is a metaphor.

That's an unsupported assertion. Do you have an suttas that support this claim?

[whynotme]

Dear Palletboy,

Base on the information(The 31 planes of existence)

(11) Devas Wielding Power over the Creation of Others (paranimmita-vasavatti deva)
Which their lifespan could up to 16,000 Celestial years, 1 day = 1,600 human years


Somewhere I have heard too the Buddha recollected his past life(91? kappas, could somebody clarify this?) and only discovered 7 Sammasambuddhas. Imagine averagely every 13 kappas only have occurred 1 Sammasambuddha.

>9,000,000,000 (nine billion) human years, so he is older than the Sun.

At the end, heaven isn't seemed so hard, even someone as cruel as Mara could attain it, while we stuck with this Earth. I want come back to heaven

[Ben]

I want come back to heaven

Be careful what you wish for.

[manas]

I want come back to heaven

Be careful what you wish for.

Heaven isn't necessarily a bad place, though. If one has 'entered the stream', one's stay in heaven is not the same as for a worldling, so I read recently. One can even still progress in the Dhamma (depending on where one has gone, of course). But no, I would not want to be reborn in Mara's heaven, but then if one was a sincere practising Buddhist, I doubt that one would end up there, even temporarily!



PS It might take me a while to re-find the sutta references about heaven not being an obstacle for ariyas as it can be for worldlings, but now that this subject is here, I'm curious again to read about it, and will post a link to it here (if I can locate it).

[whynotme]

I just want what ever kind of heaven. To be honest, I want to reborn as human but I don't mind if reborn in Mara realm. Hey, I will scare all of you, it is a great thing to do. But reborn as human is like cheating, you could slow down time, while other players have a day, you have 1600 years to do most of the things you want

Oh and I want to reborn as human while dhamma still exists.

Ben, why should I be careful?

Regards

[santa100]

One could wish and dream all they want, but without concrete actions to generate good kammas, s/he won't get anywhere. There's a sutta (couldn't find the reference at the moment) which the Buddha used the analogy of oil and heavy stone. Something like, whether one wishes to be reborn to a certain realm, if s/he created bad kammas, s/he'd be like a heavy stone that automatically sinks to the bottom of the lake no matter what. Vice versa, if one created good kammas, s/he would naturally float on top of the lake just like oil..

[pelletboy]

Dear Palletboy,

Base on the information(The 31 planes of existence)

(11) Devas Wielding Power over the Creation of Others (paranimmita-vasavatti deva)
Which their lifespan could up to 16,000 Celestial years, 1 day = 1,600 human years


Somewhere I have heard too the Buddha recollected his past life(91? kappas, could somebody clarify this?) and only discovered 7 Sammasambuddhas. Imagine averagely every 13 kappas only have occurred 1 Sammasambuddha.

>9,000,000,000 (nine billion) human years, so he is older than the Sun.

At the end, heaven isn't seemed so hard, even someone as cruel as Mara could attain it, while we stuck with this Earth. I want come back to heaven

There is a distinction between Devas Wielding Power over the Creation of Others and Maras though they share the same realm.

[pelletboy]

I want come back to heaven

Be careful what you wish for.

Heaven isn't necessarily a bad place, though. If one has 'entered the stream', one's stay in heaven is not the same as for a worldling, so I read recently. One can even still progress in the Dhamma (depending on where one has gone, of course). But no, I would not want to be reborn in Mara's heaven, but then if one was a sincere practising Buddhist, I doubt that one would end up there, even temporarily!



PS It might take me a while to re-find the sutta references about heaven not being an obstacle for ariyas as it can be for worldlings, but now that this subject is here, I'm curious again to read about it, and will post a link to it here (if I can locate it).

What do you mean by stream-enterers "can still progress in the Dhamma?" Can they continue on to achieve higher fruits after death where there is Dhamma?

[yamaka]

Dear Palletboy,

Base on the information(The 31 planes of existence)

(11) Devas Wielding Power over the Creation of Others (paranimmita-vasavatti deva)
Which their lifespan could up to 16,000 Celestial years, 1 day = 1,600 human years


Somewhere I have heard too the Buddha recollected his past life(91? kappas, could somebody clarify this?) and only discovered 7 Sammasambuddhas. Imagine averagely every 13 kappas only have occurred 1 Sammasambuddha.

>9,000,000,000 (nine billion) human years, so he is older than the Sun.

At the end, heaven isn't seemed so hard, even someone as cruel as Mara could attain it, while we stuck with this Earth. I want come back to heaven

Dear Whynotme,

Yes, there are many ways to reborn as a Deva(Celestial being) by following the Dhamma practice e.g:

1.Uposatha Observance (The Eight Precepts)
2.Dasa Kusala Dhamma(The Ten Wholesome Actions)
3.Panca Sila(The Five Precepts)
4.Meditation

[yamaka]

It was not meant to be taken literally. Mara is a metaphor.

According to the Buddhism's term, there are four types of Mara, namely:

1. the mara of death (the Lord of Death),
2. the mara of disturbing emotions and attitudes,
3.the mara of the aggregate factors of experience (the five aggregates),
4. the Mara who is the son of the gods. (Devaputta Mara)

[whynotme]

Dear Palletboy,

Base on the information(The 31 planes of existence)

(11) Devas Wielding Power over the Creation of Others (paranimmita-vasavatti deva)
Which their lifespan could up to 16,000 Celestial years, 1 day = 1,600 human years


Somewhere I have heard too the Buddha recollected his past life(91? kappas, could somebody clarify this?) and only discovered 7 Sammasambuddhas. Imagine averagely every 13 kappas only have occurred 1 Sammasambuddha.

>9,000,000,000 (nine billion) human years, so he is older than the Sun.

At the end, heaven isn't seemed so hard, even someone as cruel as Mara could attain it, while we stuck with this Earth. I want come back to heaven

Dear Whynotme,

Yes, there are many ways to reborn as a Deva(Celestial being) by following the Dhamma practice e.g:

1.Uposatha Observance (The Eight Precepts)
2.Dasa Kusala Dhamma(The Ten Wholesome Actions)
3.Panca Sila(The Five Precepts)
4.Meditation

Thanks,

You might forgot one of the most important things: dana. Maybe most of asuras and maras were because of dana.

Regards