An Analytical Study of the Fetters of Death of Māra in the Pāsarāsisutta

Abstract

The objectives of the thesis are 1) to study the structure and essence of the Pāsarāsi Sutta and 2) to study and analyze Māra’s fetters of death in the Pāsarāsi Sutta. This is qualitative documentary research conducted by studying information from Theravada Buddhist scriptures and related documents, analyzing, compiling, and presenting through descriptive narration. The results of the research were: 1) The structure of Pāsarāsi Sutta appears in the Tripitaka, volume 12, that the Pāsarāsi Sutta is the great discourse that was delivered by the Buddha to an assembly of 500 monks at Jetavana Monastery in Sāvatthī. The Sutta is compared to snares for catching living beings to describe the Māra’s fetters and comprehensively compiles important Buddhist principles. Māra’s fetters in the Pāsarāsi Sutta refer to the fetters that obstruct virtue and lead beings into suffering. There are the five sensual pleasures—forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tangible objects—which captivate beings and entangle them in the cycle of rebirth (Saṃsāra). The dangers of these fetters arise from contact with pleasant objects through the six sense doors, causing delight, attachment, and clinging due to lack of mindfulness, resulting in becoming, rebirth, and suffering. Liberation from Mara's fetters requires the development of wisdom and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness to contemplate the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects, seeing their impermanence, suffering, and non-self. Analysis found that Mara's fetter affects all humans through attachment to sensual desires driven by delusion. Liberation requires maintaining mindfulness while perceiving through the six sense bases when contact arises, using the practice of concentration meditation (Samatha) and insight meditation (Vipassanā) as tools. Practitioners who achieve understanding will be liberated from the cycle of Saṃsāra, which is called attaining the Dhamma or liberation from Mara's fetter.
Keywords: Pāsarāsi Sutta; fetters of death; Kamaguna