Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil: A Study in Theravāda Buddhism

The book begins by surveying popular mythologies of evil in ancient India, including beliefs in demons, yakkhas, pisācas, rakkhasas, asuras, hostile spirits, disease-demons, and the practical measures used to avoid or propitiate them. It then turns to “Buddhism without mythology,” showing how the Buddha’s teaching offers a radical analysis of human bondage that does not depend on popular demonological explanations. The central chapters examine the Buddhist symbol of Māra, presenting him as the Evil One who opposes awakening and represents forces such as desire, death, fear, attachment, and spiritual delusion. The study then explains the special value of the Māra-symbol as a bridge between popular belief and Buddhist doctrine: Māra allows Buddhism to retain contact with ordinary religious imagination while redirecting it toward the path of liberation. The final chapter moves beyond mythology to consider religion and the demonic more broadly, showing how Buddhist insight transforms the idea of evil from an external supernatural threat into a profound existential and spiritual problem.