Buddha vs Mara

Excerpt from the film “Little Buddha“ please also watch this video After prolonged and fruitless enterprises of asceticism Gautama, adopting the “middle way“ engages in yogic meditation to explore his inner self. Here in this clip his final hindrance to enlightenment--which is nothing other the grasping of some certain truths--is portrayed. Mara, the personification of his self, simply his ego, steps forward and allures Gautama saying “You go where no one else would dare.“ referring Gautama’s quest for his subconscious. Mara cunningly tries to distract Gautama by making him declare himself indirectly to be his ego’s god which would only serve for the exaggerated self ego. Yet Gautama doesn’t fall for this kind of traps. He simply ignores his request and framing Mara as architect--which is the most convenient metaphor for Mara since he is the one one who not only constructs the the so called reality in the mind through the senses and also leads us with the basic instincts and complex desires from birth to birth in the samsara.