We arrive now at the fourth and final Part of this series on Patrül Rinpoche’s nineteenth century reworking of a twelfth century text by Kadampa master Chegompa, which explains how Buddhist practitioners can identify and respond to the influence of Mara or maras in their spiritual practice and lives (see here, here, and here for Parts I, II, and III respectively). In this concluding section of the text, Chegompa outlines the methods that Buddhist practitioners can use to treat and prevent mara-obstacles (as in previous posts, I have alternated between translating dü བདུད་ as singular ‘Mara’ with a capital M and as lower case m ‘mara’ in the singular or ‘maras’ in the plural. I’ve also translated the term neljor, nenjor རྣལ་འབྱོར་ as ‘yogic practitioner/s’ or ‘yogis and yoginis’ even thought this term is not explicitly feminized in Chegompa’s text. See Part I for a brief introduction to the Buddhist concept of Mara/maras).

The good news about Chegompa’s recommendations for treating and preventing mara-obstacles is that they are already fundamental elements of Buddhist spiritual practice. Some of the most interesting aspects of this closing section are also the reflections Chegompa offers on the fact that maras themselves are not the problem. What ultimately matters is how practitioners of tantric yoga orient themselves to ‘demonic’ adversaries and obstacles more broadly. As before, let’s dive into the text and I’ll share some observations at the end.