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Sympathy for the Devil

 Sympathy  for the Devil 'But what's puzzling you  Is the nature of my game' Actually, the nature of Lucifer’s game, or Mara as he is known in the Buddhist world, is not puzzling at all. Buddha and God, we can argue, are somehow different, but the nature of the Devil is very much the same — a great ego, the greatest ego imaginable. There is nothing else to his game. Actually, I am not sure why I am being sexist here. It seems that traditionally in major religions the demonic nature has often been identified as male. I guess it is because men are more associated with doing and showing off along the way. Nowadays, with women taking a more prominent role in the art of showing off, there is no need for discrimination. We can even say that Mara sounds very feminine in Slavic languages. So Luciferette and Mara can be female as well. In fact, in the films ‘The Passion of Christ’ and ‘The Ninth Gate’ Satan was played by a woman and I think that looked rather powerful. Whether a w...
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In the Spur of the Moment


Did Seneca write this for us, the dharma people, visiting Buddhist teachings, by any chance? Why does this sound so familiar?


'Some come not to learn but just to hear him, in the same way as we are drawn to a theatre, for the sake of entertainment. You’ll find that a large proportion of the philosopher’s audience is made up of this element, which regards his lecture-hall as a place of lodging for periods of leisure. They’re not concerned to rid themselves of any faults there, but simply to enjoy the full pleasure the ear has to offer. ... Some of them are stirred by the noble sentiments they hear; their faces and spirits light up and they enter into the emotion of the speaker, going into a transport just like the eunuch priests who work themselves into a frenzy, to order, at the sound of a Phrygian flute. They are captivated and aroused not by a din of empty words, but by the splendour of the actual content of the speaker’s words – any expression of bold or spirited defiance of death or fortune making you keen to translate what you’ve heard into action straight away. They are deeply affected by the words and become the persons they are told to be – or would if the impression on their minds were to last, if this magnificent enthusiasm were not immediately intercepted by that discourager of noble conduct, the crowd: very few succeed in getting home in the same frame of mind.'

Seneca, Letters to Lucullus, Letter CVIII.

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