Mara proclaims his dominion over the sensory world, but the Buddha explains that he (Buddha) dwells in the one place that Mara can never go. As is explained to a king in DN, Dhamma isnt perceived with the human eyes. With which eye then,the Third Eye?
We have to ascend from below(sexual) to above (Heavenly) to trancend toward Dhamma Eye (Pineal)
Heaven of Thirty-Three refers to our spinal cord. Where Buddha went to teach, symbolise the process that happens from our spinal cord to the pineal gland. Which is heaven. The top of our body.
Mars certainly has dominion over sensuality in as much as he is banging venus, who is married to invention in the form of Vulcan…
There are definitely parallels that run suprisingly deep between various mythologies and cosmologies around the world.
This fathom long body is also in some sense the whole world according to the buddha.
All in all tho i think that the esoteric side of things is best left to one side most of the time, while basic dhamma is instead studied and discussed.
I am sure there must be good sources for this sort of thing in the indian tradition.
I am a big fan of Frances Yates and DP Walker andso on when it comes to European esotericism, check them out if your interested.
Does anyone have any recommendations for indian astological symbolism in an academic vien?
The word for ‘fathom-long’ is used for the size of the altar in certain Brahmanical texts, which was understood as the ātman (self; body) of the sacrificer and of the whole world. The cosmos conceived in terms of a man is mirrored in the human and in the altar. The Buddha, removing the ātman and metaphysical absolute of reality, is left only with the body of the person which encompasses the whole world. Moreover, one’s self is said to be one’s lóka, and this word is often used to represent domains of experience in Brahmanical tradition as well.
Apologies for the lack of citation; I’m on mobile. I haven’t seen this discussed much though.
For it is in this fathom-long carcass with its perception and mind that I describe the world, its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation.
