“The Old Bandit Gautama Entered Mara’s Lair"

A Dōgen Verse Each Day of Rōhatsu to Commemorate Buddha's Enlightenment

An image of Mara, the demon that torments Siddhartha Gautama on the cusp of his enlightenment. Mara is associated with death, rebirth, and desire. Nyanaponika Thera has described Mara as "the personification of the forces antagonistic to enlightenment."

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“The old bandit Gautama entered Mara’s lair,

Where he stirred humans and gods with outrage.

Their eyeballs were poked out, so they could not find any place to go—

Yet plum blossoms open anew on the same branch every year.” 

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Heine, Steven. Wisdom Within Words. Oxford University Press, 2022. (Verse 92, p. 156)