Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This brief fragment, titled Praise of the Subduer of Māra, functions as a rhetorical address directed toward a figure who has employed an inverted or unconventional form of meditative concentration. The text begins with a standard devotional formula—homage to the Three Jewels—before shifting into a critical inquiry regarding the intent behind the subject's meditative state. The author argues that the current situation is one of vulnerability, characterized by the presence of bodiless arrows that torment sentient beings. By questioning the efficacy of the protector in this crisis, the text commits the reader to a realization of existential precariousness. It posits that if the primary guardian fails to provide protection against these subtle afflictions, there is no alternative source of refuge, thereby emphasizing the urgency of correct meditative practice and the necessity of a truly effective protector.
Provenance
About this text
A praise to the subduing of Māra, this work belongs to the Indo-Tibetan tradition. It is attributed to the Indian author Harṣadeva. The text is preserved in the Tengyur, specifically within volume ཀ, where it is situated in the Eulogy collection and spans two pages. In the classical Tibetan period, it was rendered under the title bdud btul ba la bstod pa/. The work enacts a rhetorical address that begins with homage to the Three Jewels before questioning a figure who has employed an inverted form of meditative concentration. It argues that in a state of vulnerability—marked by the torment of bodiless arrows—the failure of a protector leaves the subject in a wretched position, thereby emphasizing the precariousness of one's spiritual refuge. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific critical inquiry regarding meditative intent and the existential urgency of protection against subtle afflictions as presented in this brief fragment.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Praise of the Subduer of Māra” (Toh 1117), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1117
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its depiction of the struggle against Māra and the use of 'bodiless arrows' as a metaphor for mental or spiritual afflictions. It reflects the tradition's focus on the necessity of a protector to overcome obstacles that standard meditative concentration may not address.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Praise to the Subduing of Māra
An opening homage followed by a critique of a specific meditative state and a reflection on the lack of protection against bodiless arrows.
Themes
Meditative Concentration (1)
Protection and Vulnerability (1)
The Subduing of Māra (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
Praise to the Subduing of Māra
Homage to the Three Jewels!
What could you possibly have intended by your inverted meditative concentration? Look well with your eyes! If even the Protector who guards us—those beings tormented by the bodiless arrows—does not protect us, then there is no other person more wretched than you, who possess compassion yet have become perverted.
Though the jealous daughters of Māra spoke thus, the Victorious Protector attained awakening. Furthermore, other Māras, driven by desire, drew their bows in every direction; they were swift of hand, possessing the pleasant sound of the paṭaha drum. With brows dancing and glances flickering, they were full of coquetry, smiles, and playfulness. Yet, seeing that they were unable to move the Lord of Sages, the Protector, from his meditative concentration before he had attained awakening, they were filled with wonder. With their hair standing on end, their bodies bowed, and their supreme limbs prostrated, they paid homage.
Their matted locks were disheveled and their tongues lolling, yet the minds of the Protector were not at all confused. The hosts of Māras, the gods of desire, who were as numerous as the blades of grass, holding the finest tips of weapons and possessing faces like elephants, horses, lions, and tigers—those who were not terrified by such a vast retinue, who were the Protector, the Buddha, the Lord of Sages, the Guardian of the World, free from any trace of harm to all—this is the "Praise to the Subduing of Māra," composed by the venerable Rab dga’i lha. It is complete.