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By Dead Jellyfish

Majutsu is the word for Magick in Japanese. This word has a very interesting history and I would like to shed some dark light onto this word. Majutsu is a compound of two Japanese pictograph characters (kanji): "Ma" and "Jutsu."

Ma:

Ma is a particularly interesting Japanese character. It is composed of two radicals: oni and asa . Oni refers to a demon or devil. Oni depicts a person crouching and wearing a death-mask, worn in religious rituals for contacting spirits of the dead. Over time these spirits were ascribed a malicious temperament by tradition and the character came to represent a demon or devil. Asa is the character for hemp. It is used here as a phonetic marker, giving the kanji ma its sound. It is not intended to have a literal meaning within the kanji ma. When these characters are combined into the kanji ma they refer to the Buddhist demon Mara, since they form the first character of his name. Through its association with the demon Mara this kanji refers to any demon of a malicious temperament.

In Japan, Mara's name can be used as a slang word for penis - although its use is a bit archaic and it is rather uncommon to hear it used in such a manner these days.

In India, prior to the advent of Buddhism, Mara was a God of Love in Vedic mythology. His name is in the language of Sanskrit and literally means death. He is a God of both Sex and Death. It is the act of love that brings a person into the world and death terminates a person. Thus, this god of death and love could be interpreted as a symbol for samsara, the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. By conquering Mara the Buddha is in effect conquering samsara. Occasionally, he is refered to as the Prince of Darkness in Buddhism.

Also, one could interpret Mara as representing an 'Anti-Buddha' - as the opposite of everything the Buddha represents, "the enemy of the Good Law." Buddhism advocates the Middle Path in between indulgence and asceticism, while Mara is a representative of the carnal pleasures. The Buddha stands for the end of death while Mara is death. Mara is violent. Sakyamuni Buddha is peaceful.

The Buddha's encounter with Mara begins with Prince Siddhartha meditating under the Bodhi Tree. The possibility of Siddhartha becoming a Buddha and being liberated from the Earthly realm was not something that Mara desired. Mara decided to lure Shakyamuni away from his quest for enlightenment. He beseeched the Prince to follow his duties of father, ruler and husband and to abandon the quest for liberation from the material world. It is not proper for a king to renounce the world that he rules. The best life, Mara claimed, is to "subdue the world both with arrows and with sacrifices, and from the world obtain the world of Vsava." (Buddhacarita Canto 13:9) Mara threatened the Prince with his bow and arrow stating that he spares those who indulge in carnal pleasures. Even when the arrow was shot, Sakyamuni stirred not. After failing to lead Gautama to the path of sensual gratification Mara utilized fear in his attempt to make Sakyamuni run away from the search for liberation. Mara gathered his fiendish minions from the deepest pits to wage war with Prince Siddhartha. The ten chief Sins, the children of Mara, were sent into the fray: Attavâda the Sin of Self, Doubt, Slabbat-paramâsa the Dark Sorceress, Kama the tempter, Patigha the Sin of Hate, Ruparaga the "Lust of Days," Aruparaga the Daring Warrior, Mano the Sin of Pride, Uddhachcha the Sin of Self-Righteousness and Avidya the Hideous Hag of Ignorance. After each Sin failed in subverting Shakyamuni, Mara sent forth the Lords of Hell from a thousand Limbos. The weather was turbulent, mirroring the anarchic behaviour of the demons and the turmoil of the conflict.

Mara the 'Prince of Darkness' has many similarities to the Dark Prince of Judeo-Christian thought. Etymologically the word Satan in Hebrew means opposer or adversary. Satan represents an inversion of everything that God is and represents. This relationship between God and Satan is similar to the relationship between the Buddha and Mara. Like Mara, Satan is portrayed in the Bible as having control over this world: "the whole world lies under the power of the evil one." (1 John 5:19) Satan, like Mara, uses temptation to lead people away from the religious life, such as when he tried to tempt Jesus. (Matthew 4:8-9) Satan also uses physical force to subvert people like Mara did in the Buddha Legend. (Job 1:6-12) Mara fills a similar role in Buddhism as the adversary of the Buddha.

While the Buddha represents self-sacrifice and self-annihilation, Mara is self-indulgence and self exaltation. He represents kingship and mastery of the world.

Jutsu:

The etymology of the latter half of Majutsu is much simpler. Like Ma, Jutsu has two parts. The former part generally means 'to go,' but in this case it refers to a path or a road. The latter part means 'to adhere.' However, it also acts phonetically in this kanji to represent 'twisting.' Together, this kanji means 'the twisting path to which one adheres.' (Kenneth G. Henshall, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters).

Thus, the Japanese word Majutsu can be rendered as 'adhering to the twisting path of Mara.' Or more loosely, 'adhering to the twisting path of the Dark Prince.' As such, the Japanese word for Magick is an appropriate description of what Magick is -- especially for those of us walking the Left Hand Path.