Pema Chödrön - Fear and

Fearlessness with English

subtitles
omething small just one word one
dot and then from that minut beginning
it expands and that is begins with
something small just one word one dot
and then from that minut beginning it
expands so well the point I'm wanting to
make is that the expansion can go in the
direction of wakefulness and sanity and
what Trump or Emma she called
warriorship spiritual warrior ship which
means really men and women connecting
with their courage their bravery their
basic sanity their basic decency their
basic tender-hearted bravery as he
called it it can go in the direction of
chaos well it there's always chaos so
let's just say it can go in the
direction of violence and the direction
of aggression or in the direction of
sanity and non aggression and when he
taught about fear he very clearly said
that the only way to experience
fearlessness was to know the nature of
fear that fear was not something
we got rid of or that we cast out but
that we became a very intimate with and
came to know so well that the journey of
knowing fear moving closer to fear was
in fact the journey of courage the
journey of bravery in these particular
teachings on moving using coming to
know
the nature of fear as the basis the very
heart of fearlessness in these teachings
what is said is that without it being
heightened then it just drives you it
haunts you all the time and in talking
to people now who whose homes of
they've
had to move out of their homes who
where
their business the chance of losing
their job is very great or the income
that they were depending on as dried up
or the multitude of ways that people are
feeling the ubiquitous nervousness
around the their financial insecurity
and how widespread that is talking to
people this teaching on how to relate to
fear becomes I guess you could say this
is teaching that is like the teaching
that you need to be of benefit in the
21st century you want to be comfortable
and so you scramble for ground and
often
what that is is blaming somebody else
striking out at somebody else
gossiping slandering and it gets to the
point where people in the attempt really
to get some ground under their feet to
feel that they have something to hold on
to looking for security
people steal people lie people kill and
people even torture generally speaking
no one does any of these things because
they want to feel worse they do it
because the situation is what they're
feeling in the pit of their stomach is
such a groundless insecure
uncomfortable
wide-open nothing to hold on to
open-ended experience that they just
want to find something to hold on to
something that represents security and
one of the biggest ways to do it you
know along with entertainment along
with
drugs and alcohol and all the other ways
we try to find some pleasure along with
that one of the ways we also do it is to
divide the world up into with our views
and our opinions about how things
should
be and how things are supposed to be
and
we hold tightly to those views and
opinions face toward your fear leap into
your fear and my favorite was a smile at
fear but the main lesson is or the main
teaching is that you actually can stay
with it
you actually can turn towards it you
actually can leap into it rather than
having it set off this chain reaction
the fear itself is the vanguard of
wisdom or the vanguard of courage the
fear itself is the dot the dot in the
groundless ground
something arises as fear and then what
happens next
does it go in the direction of
aggression and striking out against
yourself or others or does it go in the
direction of confidence the direction of
gentleness the direction of courage and
tender-hearted bravery but the teachings
are more about being present being open
simply being open to not just the
comfortable secure pleasurable parts of
life we we want to be open and available
for that definitely but the whole parts
of ourselves and of the world
that are uncomfortable and unpleasant
being open and receptive to that so I
always needed myself to have some real
clear instructions about what to do and
over the years I've come to think that
working with fear in this this
wholehearted way of appreciating fear as
the basis of sanity appreciating fear
and the tenderness that underlies it as
the basis of of the way actually to
connect with fundamental sanity and
fundamental goodness of ourselves and
of
other people I've come to realize that
the of course meditation practice is the
main key because that is training in
staying present to whatever might arise
you sit down you have an object of
meditation which might be that
commonly
is the breath and when your mind
wanders
off you simply come back but there's a
sense of what Tremper mache always
referred to as touch what's coming up
and then let it go
so it's not like
press the difficult feelings but
actually touch them briefly and then let
them go so you don't also become kind of
overwhelmed and bogged down you need
this kind of help you need this kind of
instruction of how to actually do it
because if fear is challenging enough
and then the instruction is turn towards
it and what are you going to discover
vulnerability and the pain of tenderness
and shaky tenderness trump rachet
called
it the basic tendency is not to say oh
good I can hardly wait to experience
fear and then go into it and feel
something even worse place them fearful
mind place your fearful mind in the
cradle of loving-kindness and suckle it
or nurse it with the profound brilliant
milk of doubtless Ness and in the cool
shade of fearlessness fan it with the
fan of joy and happiness no tenderness
for ourselves translates as no kindness
on no compassion no mercy for others so
this loving kindness this atmosphere of
warmth is allowing yourself to be as you
are without justifying it or condemning
it this allowing is a process of being
here all along not just when we like how
it's going but being here all along and
as I say instead of that making you more
self-absorbed it makes you very decent
very sane
and very open to the world and other
people
Buddhism on Anxiety with English
subtitles
Doug's Secular Dharma
so today we're going to talk about
anxiety and ways to counteract it that
we find in the practices of early
Buddhism coming right up so I'm Doug
Smith I'm study director at the secular
Buddhist Association that's secular
Buddhism org if you're new to the
channel and interested in living a wiser
and a kinder and less stress filled life
consider subscribing to the channel and
if you stick around to the end I'll have
a really fun video that deals the topic
of anxiety by a great young filmmaker so
in a video of mine about loving-kindness
I got a comment from a fan Aussie
Bushman oov who mentioned the fact
that
he had issues with with anxiety in his
life and he found that his practice of
mindfulness and calming meditation was
very helpful to more could be helpful to
him rather than loving-kindness in
particular and and I think we can all
understand how a practice of
mindfulness
can be helpful to to reducing anxiety
just by making us aware of it by making
us aware perhaps that the things are in
the present not exactly as as
anxiety-provoking as we might expect
and
certainly calming meditation can help
simply by calming us down and so
making
us less reactive in that sense and
anxiety I think should remember is a
kind of it's a chronic kind of low-grade
fear that sticks with us all the time
and it can be very debilitating if we
don't deal with it anxiety is a kind of
stress and I did a recent video about
stress which I'll link up here we should
definitely focus on that because stress
is something that we really uh as much
as possible should try to reduce in our
lives particularly the chronic kind of
stress the chronic kind of anxiety and
to that in in this video I'm going to be
talking about some practices that we
find in early Buddhism and there are
other gonna be practices and other kinds
of related philosophies say stoicism
other kinds of Greek and Roman
philosophies other philosophies around
the world that are going to be probably
similar in certain respects what I'm
talking about today but we're not
talking about the most profound and
deep
kind of chronic anxiety because if it's
something that's really debilitating
it's probably something that you're
going to want to talk to a professional
about that is a psychologist
kayat rest' psychotherapist i did
another video on the difference between
psychotherapy and buddhist practice
that
i'll put here up here on the screen
because i think it's important to keep
that in mind that is this kind of
practice is going to be useful for
moderate to mild anxiety and you know
the kind of thing that we might have
from it from time to time in our daily
life a kind of a chronic but low-grade
anxiety that comes and goes but that
isn't really debilitating and so to that
end one of the reasons that I really
kind of found afanasiy Bushman of a
comment interesting is because in fact
in the early texts when the issue of
anxiety comes up I would say more than
anything it's loving-kindness that's the
practice that's that's recommended Oh
anxiety isn't isn't a big topic in the
early texts fear comes up now and then
we'll talk about that loving-kindness in
the early in early Buddhism in most
cases was a relatively thinly described
kind of practice where you were just
trying to bring up in yourself an
emotion of kindness of friendliness
towards the world and broadcast it out
in in certain directions but also one of
the most famous sutas in the early texts
is one called the Metta suta wore the
suit on loving-kindness and in that one
we get a more thickly described kind of
mental operations we're sort of supposed
to go through where we're supposed to
extend friendliness extend good feelings
extend a wish for for happiness towards
different kinds of different parts of
the world different kind of people
different kind of creatures and
eventually to everyone without exception
so the mecha-suit is one place we find
these kinds of practices there's another
place in in the early suta's in a suit
called snakes which is one that Andy
Lenski the the scholar of early Buddhism
believes may actually predate Buddhism
and maybe a kind of a a pre Buddhist
snake charm
in other words within India at that time
of course they were poisonous snakes
around dangerous snakes and people
were
obviously afraid of them and afraid of
not and didn't want to get bitten and so
one of the strategies that people would
use is a kind of a magical strategy
of certain kinds of snake charms of
having something that one kept in mind
one could say perhaps to make the snake
calm down and go away and so what we
find in this particular sutra is is
basically a carbon copy of the meta suit
in certain respects in other words what
it is what it's trying to do is to get
us to cultivate a mind of friendliness a
mind of loving kindness kindness toward
snakes towards certain kinds of snakes
all kinds of snakes in the expectation
hope that that will make them go away
and not bother us and not obviously not
bite us and clearly there's an element
of of magic to this the idea that by
making arise certain kinds of feelings
in us we may change parts of the world
but there's also and I think more
importantly a kind of a psychology to
this we're not snakes most of the time
we're not going to be dangerous so a lot
of what we're trying to do is to
counteract our own fear our own anxiety
and also a clue there's a part of it
which may actually be useful in the
sense that if we're less anxious if
we're less reactive towards animals and
particular snakes in this case we're
gonna make it perhaps less likely that
they get aggressive towards us because
if we're less anxious around them and
less reactive maybe we'll will move more
slowly we'll move with more cut with
more apparent kindness in ways that
don't seem threatening to the snake so
we can understand that there's many
many
levels on which this kind of a
quote-unquote snake charm might be
useful even if we put to one side the
potential magical claims
the one might make of it but to get to
meta in particular their commentaries to
both the meta suta and to one particular
passage in the Dhammapada which have
a
similar kind of story to them and in
this story we have are a group of monks
that the Buddha told to go rather far
away actually from where he was staying
off to someplace in the mountains to
spend a good significant amount of time
meditating and part of that meditation
would have been meditation at night
because that was a normal thing that
that monastics would do and it
peers at least the description that we
have in the commentaries is that when
these monastics were out at night in the
forest meditating they were they claimed
they were harassed by forest deities
certain kinds of supernatural creatures
the forest that caused to arise very
fearful kinds of sights and sounds and
smells the monks couldn't meditate
properly because they were scared all
the time
this commentarial material may reflect
back on an earlier suta maj amina kaya
for the by a bear of a suto or the suta
on on fear and and read where the
buddha
talks about his own history and in
particular his history before he became
awakened and the fact that when he was
in the forest at night as a bodhisattva
that is to say a person who is looking
for awakening but not yet awakened he
was also often terrorized by these kinds
of night fears in the same way I think
any of us would be it's a very human
thing to have happen to us in a forest
at night where we can't see anything
clearly any sound that we hear is
amplified in our mind and made to seem
terrible and potentially
life-threatening where any weird smell
might make us think of a bear or some
kind of large creature out to get us so
we can understand that and the Buddha
himself talks about having to basically
in meditation kind of fight these these
urges towards towards fear simply by
really in his case it seems like sort of
sheer force of will that he would just
keep doing the same thing he was doing
until that kind of fear went away but so
in this case which would have been
potentially many years later even if we
assume that this commentarial tradition
goes back to the historical but it might
not but if even if we assume that this
would have been many many many years
later when he had a large Sangha when
he
was telling monks where to go and at
this point we can we can imagine that he
would have a good deal of a deeper
understanding of this kind of fear and
what how it might arise so in any event
the monks came back in the story a long
distance to go back to the Buddha and
ask him please let us give us a
different place to meditate because in
this place that you've told us before
there are these forest deities that are
making us afraid so maybe if you pick a
better look
occasion without forest deities we can
meditate in in calm at night and we'll
have any problem and the Buddha said
told them to go back to the same place
he said I want you to go anywhere else I
want you to go to the same place but
this time I want you to keep in mind the
meta suta and to use it as what he
called a protective discourse a
discourse to keep in mind to protect
them from these forest deities he
recommended for them both to to use it
by the in a sense of reciting it to
themselves at night but also in the
sense of meditating upon the content of
the suta that is to meditate upon the
whole notion of loving-kindness of
kindness towards all things of kindness
that's indiscriminate I think that the
Metta suit is pretty clearly intended at
least partially to be a kind of a
psychological balm towards a swaging
this kind of chronic anxiety or anxiety
that that comes up and stays with us for
long periods of time without any obvious
kind of trigger now they will say that
you know the the the commentary says
that the trigger was these forest
spirits but that's I think at least we
can we can say with a modern eye
looking
back that oftentimes these kinds of
generalized anxiety were attributed to
supernatural beings like spirits or
other kinds of supernatural entities
because they didn't seem to have any
other source and to that end in another
suit called the spear some mute in some
you can nakiya the but it talks about
loving-kindness as being a way of
strengthening your mind so that it will
not be as he says overthrown or
overtaken or possessed by supernatural
or or non-human beings and he says that
the practice of loving-kindness will
make your mind like a spear in a sense
that a metal spear cannot be bent easily
with one hand it can't be bent at all in
the same way that your mind cannot
when
it's been liberated with this
loving-kindness practice cannot be bent
to the will of a supernatural being and
I think in particular with this with
this aims at is that you can't be made
to be afraid you can't be made to run a
way you can't be made to stop doing
what
you want to do because of fear of these
supernatural beings or we might say with
a more modern take you won't be ass
waged by anxiety and fear that seems to
have no no basis we won't be assailed by
chronic anxieties that is to say loving
kindness provides confidence because
we
don't feel as though we're in a position
of antagonism antagonism towards the
world if we feel that we're in a place
of antagonism that we're not prone to be
kind to other things or other beings or
other people then it puts us in a
different stance in a stance of
fight-or-flight in a stance of stress
and anxiety but if we begin with a sort
of a psychology a mind of kindness then
that that goes away and it's replaced by
confidence so in this respect we can see
that loving kindness isn't simply an
antidote towards anger and hatred which
is certainly it's probably its main
antidote but it's also an antidote
towards anxiety and fear and just as a
bit of fun here Dan mace a really great
young YouTube filmmaker and a friend of
Casey neistat's has a recent video that
he that he made about anxiety about his
own struggles with anxiety his video
take on it is really I think fantastic
and gets up close not only to the
anxiety itself but to his own ways of
breaking through it with his own kind of
confidence and so I'll put a link up to
the to that video on the screen here if
you want to watch that I think it's a
lot of fun so if you have any questions
about this practice or any of these
practices please feel free to put them
down below in the questions and
comments
I always love to read your questions and
your comments I think they're both
really useful to me and I'm sure to
other people who watch these videos
thanks so much for being here
and we'll catch you on the next
go-around so meanwhile be well and be
without anxiety
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Causes of Anxiety and Suffering

What causes anxiety and suffering?
Maybe let me tell you my own story.
It's not a nice story,
but it has a good ending, a happy ending.
My story is...
Maybe you know?
When I was young, I had anxiety disorder,
or panic disorder.
It was a big problem.
And...
When I was in three year retreat, you
know, when I was doing retreat,
at that time I was really focusing on
working with my panic.
And what I found was that
there were two causes of my anxiety.
Two causes.
First, you believe in your panic.
With any message that comes from
panic, you think,
"Yes, you're right. Yes sir."
Because you have monkey mind, yeah?
What I call monkey mind.
Blah blah blah. Yada yada yada.
Always talking, talking.
But this voice is not always nice, you
know.
It worries.
It worries too much, you know, and make
problems.
Excuse me.
"This is a problem! That is a problem!"
"He's not good! She's not good!"
"Oh, there's danger! Oh!"
And you think, "Yes! Yes! It's not good,
not good!
"This is a problem! What should I do?
Hmm! Oh!"
In this way, the problems become bigger
and bigger.
And in your brai, the scientists say -
there's a lot of neurons in your brain, and
they talk a lot!
They love gossip! Gossipy neurons.
Anf they share gossip with each other,
you know.
And then one neuron says, "Oh, there's a
problem!"
And then another neuron says, "Yes!
There's a problem!"
"Oh! Yes, yes!"
And they become bigger, and bigger, and
bigger,
like a political group, you know. They
become bigger.
Then your perception also changes.
You know, everything looks kind of
fearful.
Everything looks like it's dangerous.
You cannot sleep. Your heartbeat goes
up, also.
And...
For you, the world is…
Fearful!
Why? Because you believe in your panic.
You say, "Yes sir!"
That's why, maybe 99…
Maybe 98% of your perception is not real,
but you created it.
Your fear becomes bigger, and bigger,
and bigger.
So, if you recognize that this is my own
perception…
Some scientist said,
"99% of our worries are not going to
happen."
You know.
So this is the first cause. And the second
cause is…
After some time, maybe you don't like
your panic.
For me, also. At first, I believed the panic.
"Yes! Oh..."
Then later on, it drove me crazy, you
know.
There was a lot of problems. I didn't like
my panic.
I had fear of my panic. I had panic about
panic.
Aversion to panic, and dislike.
The fear of panic is stronger than the
panic itself sometimes.
And then, it is like,
"Hey!" You know. You're fighting with the
panic.
You're against the panic. And that also
creates more anxiety.
So behind the anxiety, there's another
anxiety,
which pushes you to develop your
anxiety.
This is why I think the best is…
the best is…
the wisdom, which makes you recognize
your own perception.
Maybe you have a little bit of a problem,
but your mind exaggerates the problem
and makes it very big.
And…
The method here is compassion and
meditation -
calm abiding meditation.
And that
gives you peace - a more peaceful
experience.
Your mind becomes calmer and more
relaxed.
With the combination of these two,
you can free yourself from your panic.
And this is not only with panic,
but also with all the other types of
sufferings, also,
and situations in our lives.
Everybody has their own sufferings.
Everybody has their own problems.
Each one has a little bit of different
problems.
Some are a little bit funny.
Some of them look like they are
meaningless.
Some look like big problems.
And some people have big problems
but they don't feel like they are having
big problems.
"I'm OK with that," you know. "Who
cares?"
So it depends on how your mind looks at
it.
Maybe you have a problem.
And it's always connected with, maybe,
"Yes sir!" Or fighting. "Hey get out!"
These two types of problems, you know.
For example...
Maybe I will use a funny problem.
What is a funny problem?
I cannot find one now.
No problems, you know.
Well...
OK, this might not be really funny,
but some people are very worried about
their stomachs.
"I look like I have a big stomach. Oh, no!"
Who knows? Hmm...
And when they look in the mirror, you
know,
"Huh? My stomach!" You know.
But...
Maybe your stomach is not that big.
But as you look in the mirror again, and
again,
then you see, "Oh I think my stomach is
big," you know.
And then that is developed in your brain.
These gossipy neurons that are talking
to each other,
"Yes! Your stomach is big! It's not good!
"You should do something! Exercise!" Or
whatever.
"Don't eat! It's too much!"
"But I want to eat!" "But it's not good!"
Your mind says, "Don't eat!
But your stomach says, "Eat!" And they
fight.
And slowly, slowly, you feel like you're
very ugly. And every day
you feel like your stomach is becoming
bigger and bigger,
although it's not!
Who knows? Maybe it's becoming
smaller!
But you feel like it's becoming bigger and
bigger, you know.
And when you walk in front of other
people, you think,
"Oh, shes's looking at my big stomach."
Or, "He's looking at my big stomach."
But actually nobody is looking at your
stomach.
But you think like that.
Then you cannot communicate with
others, you know.
You're very shy, or embarrassed, or
depressed.
And...
Then sometimes you may think,
"Oh, maybe this is not real! Maybe it's
just me thinking!
Maybe it's just me creating this, thinking
that I have a big stomach.
And you do some research.
"Maybe they are not looking at my
stomach."
And result of your research is:
Yes! They are looking at your stomach.
But actually they are not.
In that way, your belief becomes
stronger.
And you have hope and fear. Yes. No. Yes.
No.
So...
90% or 95% is not real.
So if you recognize, "Oh, this is just my
own perception.
"Maybe my stomach is a little bit big, but
it's not that big.
"And they are not looking at my
stomach,"
then you can get rid of —
you can be liberated from this problem.
And that's what we call wisdom.
If you can maintain that recognition,
especially with meditation, it's better.
Or if meditating is something you cannot
do,
then with mindfulness, and with
awareness,
it's even better.
That's how wisdom and method come
together.
Thank you!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Monk Radio: Calming Down, Panic

Attack with English subtitles

I
have anxiety panic attacks at least one
time per day.
How can I calm down? I mean if I think
on what's happening the panic becomes
worse.
Help.
This is one that I answer a lot in various
forms,
but it is especially good to answer these
questions because this is a
This is a real life important question. It's
not like what would happen if all
everyone became buddhist and
so on and so on.
Because it's actually pertinent today. It's
actually an important question. It's not
such an important question to know what
would happen if x
Not to really
not to poke fun too much, but
this is an important question no because
you have anxiety and that's causing real
problems in your life.
So you have to ask yourself is the anxiety
really a problem? Is the problem really
the anxiety?
Because if it is then clearly looking at it
is not the answer right because when
you look at it, it gets stronger,
it becomes clearer. You get even more
focused on the anxiety.
But let's step back a second and really
ask ourselves. What happens when
you're anxious? What does it do?
Probably it
tenses up the stomach, tenses up the
head, tenses up the shoulders and makes
you feel really bad and
prevents you from
interacting with other people, from
carrying out your life it might even lead
you to do something desperate -
hurt yourself, hurt other people, it'll
cause you to
it'll prevent you from living an ordinary
life.
But what is actually going on there?
When you have the anxiety,
what is it that is
preventing you from,
what is it that is actually preventing you
from carrying out your life in an ordinary
manner.
When you look - what I'm trying to say
here in bit of an awkward way is that
when you look at the anxiety,
you'll see that actually
It really isn't objectively a very big
problem at all
Anxiety is a state of mind that causes
physical reactions
Tensing and so on but it really stops
there a simple anxiety and panic attack
stops there. It has effects in the mind it
has effects in the body, but
Unless we react to it in a negative way
it doesn't have
a
massive
impact or a significant impact on our
lives. It doesn't have to have a significant
impact on our lives in any way.
I used to have very strong panic attacks
when I had to give a talk when I had to
get up on stage or
anything like that
and
this was an issue as a
Buddhist monk because you know people
think you're in robes and well, you must
know something so they want you to give
a talk
And so you get up on stage and
sometimes in front of hundreds or I don't
know hundreds of people anyway
and
it can create a real panic attack that is a
clear example of how people who don't
have a strong tendency to panic can
really panic
and what I found through the meditation
was
The heart the hardest part of it was that
noting didn't help meditation didn't help
Because I would acknowledge and I
would say to myself
"afraid, afraid" or "feeling, feeling" then
the tension in the stomach and so on and
it wouldn't go away
Sometimes it would get even worse
But what I found
was that by
doing it anyway by noting anyway
regardless of whether it was going away
by trying and trying and trying and really
putting my heart into the noting and
Every moment to be aware of what's
going on
that the panic, the
panic attack in general didn't get in my
way, surprisingly enough, didn't get in my
way
in giving the talk and sometimes I
actually gave a better talk than when I
was relaxed.
I've seen motivational speakers because
when I was young I would go to all these
these motivation or these leadership
conferences
and they'd have motivational speakers. I
saw one
motivational speaker twice, and it's
something I'll always remember
the first time he gave the
speech, I didn't know him or I wasn't
in close contact with him, but it was a
big deal. He'd never been to this
leadership conference before this was
his first time being invited
And so it seemed like he took it very
seriously, and it was a brilliant talk.
It was really something that inspired us
all.
The second time he came back to give a
talk again, and I was at that point
it was my second time or third time or
whatever and I was one of the
organizers and so I was talking with him,
and I was really impressed by this guy,
so I was sitting with him and
he was so it seemed so high on his last
appearance
that he got so he got overconfident
he was sitting there telling me about how
you just get up there and talk you know
and
you know it doesn't matter what you say
it always comes out right if you just let
yourself talk and so on.
And he got up and he bombed
totally he really fell flat because he was
expecting people to just
he was expecting a positive reaction, and
so he wasn't trying.
He wasn't putting any effort into it
He wasn't being mindful you might say of
course he didn't have a great knowledge
of mindfulness.
When you're worried
When you have stress, it's often easier to
be mindful than when you're happy, right
This is why people come to Buddhism
when they're suffering because they
really feel like they need an answer.
and so
This surprising thing led me to or helped
me to understand
which what I've come to understand
through in general through the
meditation practice is that the biggest
problem is not the
experiences even be they
inherently negative experiences, it's our
tendency to react to them
React negatively to a negative
experience.
The truth of it is
When you focus on the anxiety when or
not just focus on it when you recognize
the anxiety as anxiety
the anxiety itself disappears.
The anxious mind state is replaced by a
mindful mind state.
What doesn't disappear and what fools
you into thinking that you're still anxious
is the physical results of it,
the physical manifestations of it,
because
they are
They are not directly connected to
one state of mind. It's like
you've already set the ball rolling and
now you're feeling the effects of it; now
you're feeling
the effects of the anxiety in the stomach,
in the head, in the shoulders, feeling all
tense and
that's what doesn't go away.
The problem is we don't see that and we
lose our confidence in the meditation
practice when we give it up
and we feel anxious again. We get
worried about it.
We say it's not going away, and then we
get anxious again.
It's really.. this isn't the.. I don't have an
answer. I don't know what to do
I still don't have a solution, and so it
makes us anxious again the anxiety
comes up again
and we try to be mindful again, and we
find that
yes, the the effects of it are still there
and so we think the anxiety is still there
and so on and so on.
If we are
Obs.. what is the word observant,
we will be able to notice the difference,
and you should try to notice the
difference
Often that you need this you need a
teacher to point it out to you that the
physical and mental are two different
things.
It's the first stage of knowledge that a
person comes to.
The difference between the physical and
the mental and the separation between
them two and in fact, that's what you're
realizing
That's what this is showing to you.
It's showing you the difference between
the physical and mental because when
you say oh
"anxious, anxious" or "worried, worried"
the worry is already gone at that moment
you're not worried,
you're focused and mindful and clearly
aware.
The physical
is not affected by that. The physical will
continue to.. the physical is
something
separate from this.
It is something that has already been
affected by the past anxiety.
What you should do at that point
when you still feel the
effects of the anxiousness is you should
see them as physical and note them as
well the feeling in
the stomach "feeling, feeling" "tense,
tense" if you react to it,
disliking it, you should focus on this new
mind state that has arisen
"disliking, disliking", but this is what's
going on.
An anxiety attack is not just
anxiousness. You know. There's this
entity that is there
continuously
It's a whole bunch of things going on for
a moment a moment. Anxious -
physical feeling - disliking the physical
feeling - anxious again, and so on and so
on and so many different things involved
in there.
There can be ego, the attachment to it.
I'm anxious..
there can be
desire the desire to be confident and to
impress other people and so on
But certainly the meditation is working.
The meditation is helping you to see that
these things are not under your control
the
neither the physical nor the mental is
subject to your control.
The more you cling to it, the more you
try to fix it or try to
avoid it and try to change it try to make
things better, the more suffering, stress
and
disappointment you'll create for yourself
the bigger the problem will become so
when the anxiety comes, it is correct to
say to yourself "anxious, anxious" to
focus on it, to be mindful of it to let
yourself quote-unquote "be anxious"
because the anxiety is
not what's the problem the problem is
your reaction to
generally physical states that are caused
by the anxiety.
Anxiety is just a moment.
It's something that occurs in the
moment, and then it's gone.
At the moment when you're mindful
it's already gone.
All that's left is the physical experiences
which should be noted as well.
And if you can be thorough with this and
note everything note the anxiety when
it's there or not the physical
sensations, note the disliking going back
and forth and be thorough and
complete in your noting,
you'll begin to get the hang of it, and you
will realize that it doesn't matter what
arises.
Nothing has the power to hurt you until
you react to it.
Not even negative mind states can hurt
you until you react
to them, so
Just be a little more patient with it
And you'll see for yourself all the things
that I'm explaining to you.
If you're a little more patient with the
anxiety, you know,
noting it even though the anxiety doesn't
seem to go away
And noting moreover the physical
sensations, the disliking of the anxiety
and so on and so on every
physical and mental experience that
arises from moment to moment
You will see and you'll be able to break
these things apart
and you'll cease to be disturbed by them
because you'll see that they don't have
any power over you and
that it doesn't really matter what occurs
Doesn't matter whether you get afraid, it
doesn't matter whether you're anxious. It
doesn't even matter whether it
inhibits your ability to perform in life.
It doesn't matter if people think you're a
fool and useless and
incompetent, it doesn't really matter. It
doesn't matter if you're thrown out on the
street doesn't matter if you die
When you come to this realization, this is
what really
overcomes anxiety. I mean I guess I had
real anxiety problems even as a monk
and it's something that
through practice really
is really easy to solve actually.
I think anxiety and fear are really easy
ones to solve and it may not be
eradicated
quickly, but the solution comes fairly
quickly when you realize that it doesn't
really matter.
Yeah, you can be anxious yeah, you can
be afraid
and these are the of course acceptance
which is the opposite of anxiety you
know and
that destroys them I think
Anybody wanna chime in there?
Marion, you have something to add?
Um I was just ganna say I thought how
you answered on this problem
And and with the emphasis on patience
and realizing that you know all these
petty little
feelings that we have are just, you know,
not that important.
I was thinking of you when I said getting
thrown out on the street.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Buddhism The Cure For Anxiety?

with English subtitles
in Buddhism the main goal is the end of
suffering there's one form of suffering
in particular that Blake's most people
at some point in their lives which is
called anxiety in this video I will
explore what we can learn from
Buddhism
in regards to fighting this destructive
emotion
[Music]
anxiety and panic disorders are very
common these days which are basically
manifestations of anxiety getting out of
control for most people the first
reaction towards anxiety is trying to
fight it but according to Buddhism an
important step for fighting anxiety is
not fighting it the teachings of the
Buddha are geared towards acceptance
fighting anxiety will lead to even more
anxiety because you are resisting
something that already is which is kind
of insane when you think of it so what
can Buddhism offer to ease anxiety in
order to answer this question let's find
out what anxiety actually is we live in
a fear-based
society we're never safe enough so we
comply with laws that restrict our
freedom promising that we'll be safer
we're never beautiful enough so we
spend
a fortune on liposuction Botox and
anabolic steroids we're never rich
enough so we neglect our mental and
physical health to chase the money a
phenomenon called status anxiety which
is extensively talked about by British
philosopher Alain de Botton makes us
worry all the time about our jobs our
bank accounts and keeping up with the
Joneses also we need to keep track of
our Instagram followers our likes on
Facebook and yes our channel stats in
the YouTube creator studio with all
these things to worry about we often
experience anxiety common coping
mechanisms for this anxiety are alcohol
drugs porn food and different forms of
entertainment we want to escape the
suffering caused by anxiety and so we
numb our minds this phenomenon
already
implies that it's not the outside world
but it's the mind that produces anxiety
anxiety and panic both start in the mind
that engages in excess of thinking to
the point that the physical symptoms of
anxiety occur the Buddhists refer to the
excessive thinking patterns
as the monkey might I've made a video
about the dangers of excessive thinking
which you will find below a great
mistake we make as human beings is
that
we are easily fooled by the mind we
believe the mind but the mind is a great
fabricator of fantasies about the future
lies about the present and baloney about
the past many times our mind isn't our
friend at all therefore we shouldn't
believe everything our mind presents to
us especially when it's one big deluge
of negativity but when we do the monkey
minds generates anxiety what often
happens when we experience the
uncomfortable feeling of anxiety is that
we start to worry about anxiety by
worrying about anxiety we fall into a
vicious cycle
Buddhism offers a wisdom and practice
to
ease anxiety wisdom means that we
understand what anxiety is where it
comes from and how to treat it a simple
but effective lesson by the Buddhists is
that worrying is pointless the eighth
century Buddhist monk named shanti
devi
says about this and i quote if the
problem can be solved why worry if the
problem cannot be solved worrying will
do you no good and quote if you have a
problem that you can solve you either
focus on a problem entirely in the
present moment or you don't if you
cannot solve it then drop it many things
we worry about are beyond our control
and it's completely useless to spend our
time and energy thinking about them
unfortunately our monkey mind loves
worrying probably because it loves
solving puzzles but most of the puzzles
that our minds come up with don't have
to be solved because they are based on
irrational fears fantasies and just
plain nonsense when it comes to
excessive thinking we should focus on
dissolvent
rather than resolvement this is where
practice comes in the Buddhist method
to
achieve this is called meditation
meditation is a way to focus on the
present moment and watch your
thoughts
passing by like clouds in the sky in
stead of engaging with them this
practice calms the monkey might without
fighting
but with acceptance there are many
different forms of meditation I've made
a video about the meditative effects of
cleaning which you will find below let
me know if you're interested in making
more videos about different forms of
meditation or about what Buddhism can
do
to live a happier life and I'll see what
I can do thank you for watching
[Music]
++++++++++++++++++

Guided Mindfulness Meditation on

Overcoming Anxiety and Fear HD
with English subtitles

this meditation will instantly reduce

the anxiety and fear that you are
feeling right now make sure that you are
sitting comfortably resting your hands
gently on your legs or in whatever
position is most comfortable for you if
you like allow your eyes to gently close
or focus them on an object in the room
just let yourself become as comfortable
and relaxed as possible
as you begin to settle in to this
meditative state focus your attention on
your breath feel the air move through
your nostrils as you simply let your
breath continue to flow in and out ever
so naturally
and as you breathe you may want to also
turn your attention to the air and your
lungs as you slowly push your belly in
and out along with your breath
just gently focus on this now
now as you relax and feel so pleasant
and comfortable soon we will begin to
speak some simple mantras that will
instantly help to calm your fear anxiety
or sense of panic
when you begin you may have felt some
uncomfortable feelings and you may feel
some of these uncomfortable feelings
still perhaps a tightness in your chest
or quickening of your heartbeat as you
continue through this session you will
feel your heart rate settle and a
wonderful sense of inner calm will
slowly come over you as you hear these
mantras slowly repeat them back to
yourself one by one
you can say them in your mind or if it
helps repeat them out loud whichever is
best for you
dedicate one or two full relaxed breaths
to each mantra and feel the powerful
weight of each word as you repeat them
continue to feel the air of your breath
gently move in and out as we begin now
either silently or outloud repeat after
me
as I breathe in and out I am aware of my
breath
I am aware of my heartbeat I am aware
of
my body
you
as I breathe in and out I am aware of
the anxiety within me
I am aware of my fears
I am aware of any tightness in my chest
as I breathe in and out I am aware of my
negative thoughts
now I calm my negative thoughts
now I release my negative thoughts
as I breathe in and out I calm my
anxiety I calm my fear I release the
tightness in my chest
as I breathe in and out I relax my mind
I relax my body I slow down my thoughts
as I breathe in and out I release my
fears
I become free of my anxiety
I become free of suffering
I find peace
as I breathe in and out I let go
I like to go
I let go
very good
you should now feel a wonderful sense of
calm throughout your body and in your
mind you are now liberated and free
if you like you may listen once again to
tell yourself these mantras and
reinforce them but for now take a few
more moments to breathe in and out and
relax in this moment of peace and
stillness
you
you
you
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Positive affirmations to release anxiety
and fears

hello everyone and welcome we are

about
to do some wonderful affirmations to
release any fears or anxieties that you
may have and align you with your truth
to receive all that is good
Peace Love joy and relaxation remember
there are no accidents and you have
been
divinely guided here and starting now
any fears doubts worries or concerns
that you have had consciously or
subconsciously will simply fade away
you
are now surrounded by pure positive
energy there is nothing that you need to
do right now there is nothing you need
to worry about or think about right now
all you need to do is simply sit back
relax and listen to my voice take a deep
breath as you exhale I want you to
visualize the stress and tension leaving
your body
as you inhale see yourself breathing in
beautiful positive white light now let's
begin
my life is wonderful
everything is happening exactly as it is
supposed to for my highest good
there is nothing I need to do right now
it is okay for me to relax and have some
fun I am safe and divinely protected
I let go of any negative thoughts
worries or fears and I am surrounded by
love
I breathe in relaxation and I let go of
tension
I am attracting positive energy into my
body and my life
I have everything I need for a happy and
joyful life everything is going my way
now
I am healthy wealthy prosperous and
loved
I already feel more peaceful and
blissful inside
I can feel the warm light of positive
energy surrounding me
me my loved ones and my home are
divinely protected safe and secure at
all times
you
I am always well supported and well
provided for
everything I need comes to me easily
and
at the perfect time
God wants only the best for me
and I am happy with where I am right
now
I am blessed in every situation in my
life and I am blessed by everyone that I
interact with only the best happens to
me
I love myself unconditionally
all of my relationships are healthy and
strong
I am confident in body mind and spirit
I am comfortable in all environments
with all people as I am always divinely
guided by God
I focus on the blessings in my life I am
so blessed
I am control of my thoughts and all of
my thoughts are positive
my thoughts attract amazing
experiences
in my life
all of my interactions are peaceful fun
and beneficial
I am loving and lovable
my life is improving every day
there is nothing I need to worry about
everything is working out for me I am
grateful for my wonderful life
my health and wellness is improving
every day
I'm supposed to be happy and I'm
supposed to feel good now God and the
angels always have my back
the universe provides me with all that I
need
life gives me only the best
I am safe and all is well in my world
peace and harmony surround me at all
times
I am perfect exactly as I am now
God is with me at all times and I trust
my inner guidance I am always led to my
highest good
I feel free and I am surrounded by pure
positive energy I let go of the need to
be perfect because I am perfect exactly
as I am now
I am open to the light and love of God
you
I am open to receive God's good God's
love and God's guidance
I have a wonderful life and my life
keeps getting better and better
thank you all for listening to these
affirmations by now you should be
completely cleared of any stress anxiety
or negative energy you should be proud
of yourself for committing a part of
your day to do something kind and
beneficial for your soul if you like
these videos please remember to
subscribe for more

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++
Troubled by Fear? Just Change
Your Channel! – Sadhguru
Questioner: Many times in my daily life
fear stops me from doing small things
and bigger things
fear from failure,
fear from
maybe from rejection sometimes.
How to overcome this fear?
Sadhguru: You cannot overcome
something which does not exist.
Right now, are you in fear?
Right now,
that I may say something damaging?
Is that the fear? (Laughs)
Every moment of your life, you are in
fear?
No.
So, when you are not in fear,
just stay like that
because to create fear,
you have to use excessive imagination.
To not be in fear, you don’t have to do
anything.
Fear is happening because of excessive
imagination
things that have not happened, you are
creating.
What may happen in your mind
happens in thousand different formats
and most probably it never happens.
The things that you have feared
Take hundred things that you have
feared.
Probably ninety nine of them never
happened, isn’t it?
Yes?
So, your fear is always about that which
does not exist.
You cannot fight or you cannot overcome
that which does not exist.
We can overcome something which…
that exists.
You cannot overcome that which does
not exist.
We just have to give up that effort.
Enjoy the fear.
After all, it’s your making.
You like horror movies?
Yes.
I mean, you are saying no
but you are producing them.
Just they are not making money, that’s
all.
Fear means you’re producing horror
movies in your mind.
Nobody else is willing to watch.
That’s bad for the producer,
but you are producing them.
So, you produce something else
produce a comedy, a love story,
suspense thriller
try and see today.
Just sit down, produce a love story,
a suspense thriller,
a comedy -
five five minutes movies you make in
your mind,
really.
Start using your mind differently.
It’s just gotten into your pattern.
It’s just gotten into your pattern of
just creating horror movies all the time.
You have watched enough horror movies,
they’re boring.
Create something else.
Even… It’s not that if you produce these
movies,
those things will happen in your life.
Still they may not happen.
At least you enjoy the movie. (Laughs)
In reality, it may not happen,
so what?
At least you enjoy what’s happening in
your mind
if you cannot enjoy what’s happening in
the world, isn’t it?
That much privilege every human being
deserves. Isn’t it so?
Even if the world is not kind to him,
at least his own mind should be kind to
him
so produce some nice movies. (Laughs)
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Don’t Let Fear of Suffering Limit Your
Possibility – Sadhguru
Sadhguru: If you try to control the variety
of situations that may pop up in your
face tomorrow morning,
all that’ll happen is you will become a
very limited life.
You would step out into the world and do
whatever that needs to be done only if
you have an assurance –
no matter what you walk into, you will
not lose yourself.
You will walk full stride, otherwise you’ll
only be a half a step.
Most human beings are half steps
because the fear of suffering,
“If this happens, what’ll happen to me?
That happens, what’ll happen to me?”
If you are well-managed within yourself –
you know how to manage your thought,
you know how to manage your emotion,
you know how to manage your body, your
chemistry, your energy,
if you know how to manage all this –
what does it matter if you walk into hell,
I’m asking?
If you are well-managed, if you are a
heaven within you, what does it matter
where you go?
Hell also will be an interesting place to
go.
But if you are ill-managed,
then you want to be in a nice place all
the time, you will not step out into
anything.
I’m not saying this is wrong.
This is against nature because in nature,
every life is aspiring to be as much as it
can be, isn’t it?
Every life is naturally aspiring – this is
not a philosophy, this is not an ideology
that you must do this or that.
It is natural and intrinsic for every life
that it will do as much as it can.
From an earthworm…
From a worm to an insect to a bird to an
animal to a tree, every one of them are
trying to be full-fledged life.
If you go against this
simply because of the fear of suffering,
then all possibilities of exploring the
nature of being human,
the tremendous immensity of being
human is just lost upon humanity.
Today you will see this everywhere, when
people say,
“I am only human”, they are talking about
the limitations of being human,
they are not talking about the
possibilities of being human, isn’t it?
When… If we are the most intelligent
species on the planet,
if we are the most capable species on
the planet,
should we be talking about our
possibilities or should we be talking
about our limitations?
Whenever anybody writes or says, “Oh,
we are human”,
they are always referring to their
limitations, never to the possibilities of
being human.
This is because they… the most
fundamental things have not been taught
in our education systems –
how to handle your thought and your
emotion. Tch,
your psychological drama has gone out
of control (Laughs).
It’s a badly directed drama, believe me
(Laughs).
If it was a well-directed drama, you
would take it to the conclusion that you
want, isn’t it?
Because it’s a badly directed drama, just
about anybody can take charge of it.
Who is the director of your psychological
drama?
Just about anybody, isn’t it?
Anybody can make it into a tragedy
(Laughs).
The reason why people have not even
learnt to manage their thought and
emotion…
By the time you’re ten, you should have
learnt it.
At sixty, people still don’t know how to
manage their thought and emotion.
They’re standing up like ghosts in their
life.
They don’t need anybody’s help, they can
go on endlessly creating suffering for
themselves.
Now, suppose you did not know how…
You have normal hands and you do not
know how to use it, what would you call
yourself?
No, you tell yourself, don’t tell me, it’s
okay (Few laugh).
Whatever you think…
If you have a normal process of mental
faculty and you do not know how to use
it,
it means the same thing.
Yes or no?
Participants: Yes
Sadhguru: Does it mean the same thing
or no?
Tch, you don’t have a normal hand, then
you can’t use it, that’s different, we will
look at you compassionately.
But you have a normal hand and you
don’t know how to use it –
whatever word you used to call yourself,
don’t tell me,
but the same thing goes if you don’t
know how to use your thought and
emotion
towards your well-being, isn’t it?
Because ill-managed,
because the fundamentals of life are not
grasped.
“What is the nature of my existence?” if
you don’t know this, how do you manage
it?
Only if you grasp the nature of
something, then you learn to manage it,
isn’t it?
You don’t even see what it is, how to
manage it?
There is no way to manage it.
So the first and foremost thing that’s
why is called realization.
You must understand this (Laughs).
In this country, in this culture,
we never referred to any kind of spiritual
realization as an attainment; we’ve only
said it is a realization.
Realization means...
you simply saw what is already there.
You did not invent anything.
You did not climb the top of a mountain.
You’re beginning to see everything just
the way it is.
But that has become such a rarity
(Laughs)
that it is being hugely valued.
Someone was asking me three days ago I
was in Kerala
“Sadhguru, you seem to know
everything.”
I said, “See, there is only one thing I
know.
I know this one thing (Referring to
oneself) from its origin to its ultimate”
(Applause).
Hey, why? I said only one thing and what
are you clapping your hands for
(Laughter)?
I know only this one thing (Referring to
oneself).
But because the nature of human
experience is such,
you know everything only through this
one (Referring to oneself), isn’t it?
++++++++++++++++++
Sogyal Rinpoche ~ Overcoming Fear
and Anxiety
Buddha said, “All fear and anxiety come
from a mind that is untamed.”
And he further said, “There’s nothing to
fear except your untamed mind.”
Whenever we have anxiety about things,
or worry, it may be about things, but they
primarily
manifest because our mind is untamed,
not in a good state.
So if you transform instead of trying to
solve the cause of your worry
and anxiety, which you might not be able
to do because there are a lot of things,
but instead if you knew how to transform
the mind, then what happens?
That the anxiety and fear is transformed.
And thereby, even once your fear and
anxiety is transformed, then you can
tackle problems,
difficulties, with more composure, more
wisdom, more insight.
His Holiness Dalai Lama often quotes,
and this is his, this is a kind of a maxim
he goes by.
It was said by a great master, he said, “If
you can do something to solve a problem,
then there is no need to worry about it.
But if you cannot do anything to solve a
problem, it doesn’t help to worry about it
either.”
In both cases, worry is extra,
unnecessary worry.
In Tibetan we call it—the worry is sem
né, mind sickness.
Instead of worry, instead of worry, is
really if you try to do what you can.
If you can do something to solve a
problem, then there is...
Where as if we cannot do something,
then it doesn’t help to worry about it
either.
But to be able to do that, if you are able
to transform your mind, then as you have
less fear and anxiety, because if you are
too nervous, too anxious about it, then
you
won’t be able to do anything.
Anything, kind of—you know, you are
always worried.
Once you are able to transform your
mind, then you can tackle—do whatever
is necessary to do.
Is that clear?
In fact, the poet John Milton said in his
Paradise Lost,
he said, “Mind is
its own place and in itself can make a
heaven of hell and hell of heaven.”
Shakespeare said also, he said, “There is
nothing either good or bad, but thinking
makes it so."
How you interpret.
Main thing is about our perception,
transforming our perception.
Perception.
Do you understand?
The great master Padmasambhava, or
Guru Rinpoche, 'Precious master' as
Tibetans call him affectionately,
who brought the teaching of Buddha to
Tibet and who is the author of
The Tibetan Book of the Dead and the
teaching on the bardos which are
teaching on life and death.
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, in
the line of Padmasambhava's teachings.
He said, the main thing for this life, what
to do in this life, to keep it very simple,
main thing in this life is to work with the
mind, to purify our perception and realise
the essence of mind, nature of mind and
compassionate mind.
Because as Dalai Lama, I think once
quoted in Zürich, in year 2005, he was
quoting the
founder of the cognitive therapy, who
said that, you see, when you for example
like, have anger,
or one strong negative emotion, often
that really stains 90% of your perception.
Is stained by anger; only 10% you see
reality.
Basically 90% projection and 10% reality.
Do you understand?
So seeing is not believing.
What you are seeing is only your
projection.
That is why we need to purify our mind.
In the highest Buddhist philosophy—or in
the practice—is a principle of what is
called shunyata.
Great emptiness.
The emptiness is not nothing-ness.
But rather what does emptiness mean?
Empty of concepts, empty of the
projection.
So that you begin to see things more, you
see more reality.
Do you understand?
So through practice of meditation, nature
of mind, mind is more purified of its
projection.
You begin the see things clearly.
And as you see more clearly, there is
less afflictive emotions, because
sometimes emotions
are very entangled, we are so much
caught up in the emotions and it makes
us very much suffer.
Once you become more clear, once you
become more in control, more
understand our emotions,
emotions can still arise, but we are no
longer swayed by them.
We no longer are subject to that.
Rather we can understand emotions with
more compassion.
And transform it and realise it's
workable, it’s not impossible.
Mind is very workable, really and then
mind can be very pliable.
If you know, if you train, if you work with,
mind can be very pliable.
Pliable means it’s like—it’s really flexible,
not hard, not rigid but pliable like a
dough,
dough, like a—if you make with flour, a
dough, mind becomes very pliable.
Pliable.
But to all this the key lies in
understanding the essence of mind,
coming to actually to arrive
at more the ground of mind.
I mean you might say, “How can we just
arrive like that?”
By coming to the ground of mind.
Way of—you can say—either you can say
arriving at the ground of mind, or more
transcending the mind,
like going through the clouds and then
going beyond the clouds and discovering
the sky-like.
You can say either grounding in a,
settling in a natural great peace,
or transcending the mind.
When you transcend the mind, go beyond
the thoughts and emotions, then you
become like a, really,
you find the ground.
You find the ground.
And in that, when you find the ground,
then you begin to realize, you see,
very much a sense of being.
You discover, you connect with your
fundamental being.
And you really connect with yourself in a
deep way, beyond the ego self, your true
self
and there you discover a tremendous
goodness.
Goodness, there is tremendous love,
there is tremendous compassion.
This infinite wisdom, infinite
compassion, which is the nature.
Like for example, when the sky is free of
clouds, then you reveal the sky-like
nature
of your mind.
And then from there the great sun of our
true nature shines forth.
Or you can say: Of our buddha nature
shines forth like the sun has what—
tremendous light, light is the wisdom;
the warmth is the love and compassion.
Do you understand?
Very much like that, very much within
ourselves.
Also this French philosopher Pascal once
said,
he said: “All of men’s difficulties,”
I mean, in those days people said always
men's difficulties, men—
everything is man, mankind... Now of
course it's more—mankind is not so,
politically not correct.
It's humanity.
So, all of men's, that means also
woman’s difficulties, this I think is very
profound.
All of men's, that means also woman’s
difficulties, are caused by his,”—or her
—“inability
to sit quietly in a room by himself.”
We don’t know how to just simply be.
In fact, I found that very profound.
Because the trouble is, because of the
inability to sit quietly in a room by
himself.
We don’t know how to be with ourselves.
We are not in touch with ourselves.
We don’t know how to be.
Hence, we have lost the contentment
and the peace.
If you really know—if you really are able
to sit quietly in a room, by yourself and
really, specially connect with your true
nature, keep the company, is the most
wonderful.
Is like when you really rest in meditation,
which is—what is meditation?—is a
process
of coming to know one’s mind.
So, through meditation, what is revealed
in us is the ground of your true nature—
the sky-like nature of mind.
When you come into touch with that,
there’s an incredible release, incredible
spaciousness
and freedom.
You connect with yourself.
I think the greatest discovery.
The Dalai Lama said, “We travelled
millions of millions of billions of miles to
travel
to the stars, but we have not travelled
here,” you know?—this.
When you really are able to discover that
and be in the company of your true
nature,
where you connect with yourself and
then also, you connect with others, one
becomes a friend
with yourself, all the negativity is
defused.
It’s like the greatest disarmament, inner
disarmament.
And also charity truly beginning at home,
you know.
And when you become that, then from
out of that you contact with your
fundamental goodness,
then kindness, good-heart, kindness,
compassion, love, wisdom emanate.
And then really that’s the source of
happiness.
That’s the way to be happy.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

How To Overcome Fear And

Anxiety In 30 Seconds
jibber wonder white anxiety comes out of
the blue
that's stress and anxiety and that
overwhelmed feeling that sometimes we
feel when we weren't even doing
anything
that caused it you know this often leads
us to really judge ourselves and think
that something's wrong with us we're
crazy or mentally ill but I'm going to
tell you in this episode why that is not
the case you are not crazy and you are
not mentally ill this is what is
happening you know that our fear is
biological you know that it's a
biological response to something
dangerous in our environment or a
perceived danger in our environment but
this is what a lot of people don't
actually know the Magdala that little
part of our brain that triggers this the
parasympathetic nervous system
response
works on body memory body memory so
if
our body remembers something is
dangerous or there's some correlation
between our body memory is something
in
the past that has been dangerous either
emotionally or physically it begins to
trigger that response so before it goes
to our cognitive part of our brain our
cortex up here behind that forehead our
Magdala triggers the response so our
body has some kind of memory of a pain
and it's an emotional memory and our
body responds and then our Magdala
sends
the message to cortex to say okay
assess
the situation and figure out what to do
about it and so when that the cortex
looks around says okay everything's ok
but what happens is we feel like our
body's going it's getting ready it's
getting ready to protect ourself and
fight-or-flight right in our bodies
and then it freaks us out because it
doesn't feel very good and it feels a
little weird and we don't know why it
came and so it feels like it's
completely and totally out of the blue
but that never happens it's always been
triggered by something what happens it's
triggered by the emotional or body
memory some correlation to some
memory
in the past that's been scary for you
and so it goes into that response then
we think about it so what we have to do
is we have to do the heavy lifting here
in our cortex once we realize that our
cortex has set everything's okay
everything's ok but then we got to give
our body a couple minutes to calm
ourselves down what happens is it feels
so bad and it feels so weird and we
judge ourselves that we tend to let it
snowball because we really think that
something's wrong and we continue to
pump out those hormones to keep us
safe
well we don't need them because we are
safe so anxiety doesn't come out of the
blue and if you knew that the next time
you felt it would you be able to use
your cortex then use your thinking brain
to say everything's okay it's just my
body responding but everything's okay
and could you wait five or ten minutes
for that body they calmed down and
completely avoid hours of anxiety and
stress and panic that you've had in your
own life I hope that little tip helps
I'm Jody Amon and if you want more from
me and how to help your sub with stress
and anxiety and self-doubt and worry and
how to bring love into your life and
into your heart come on over to my
website Jodie aiming calm and sign up
for email updates so you don't miss a
thing in the meantime you let that you
shine through
if you are struggling with anxiety go to
give fear the boot comm for free videos
and information about my online anxiety
recovery program see you there
++++++++++++++++++++
Sogyal Rinpoche ~ Ways to Overcome
Anxiety & Worry
10:55
There are many ways to transform the
mind in Buddhist teachings.
First of all meditation is one way to
transform the mind.
Another is loving kindness and
compassion.
Third is prayer and invocation.
And the most powerful is the, the nature
of mind.
In fact about compassion, I remember
when this dialogue between scientists
and
practitioners began earlier on.
It was in Dharamsala, it was the meeting
was focused on actually on destructive
emotions,
so I was there during that time.
It was a small group of about thirty of us
or a little bit more. And at the end of it
they asked His Holiness to conclude and
he began to say, “People often think that
compassion
is something for others, not for yourself.
You think compassion is only for others,
not for yourself.
I think from my little experience that’s a
mistaken view.”
He said, “When I practise compassion,
when I fill my heart with love and
compassion,
then it completely transforms my mind.
In fact I don’t know how, how much
others benefit, maybe, maybe from my
practice of
compassion maybe fifty per cent but the
real hundred per cent beneficiary of your
practice
of compassion is yourself.”
When we practise love and compassion,
you know, when you invoke that in a deep
way,
it just transforms your mind.
It elevates you, yes, brings the nobility in
you.
You understand?
And such as meditation also, with
meditation, through that.
Then the prayer and invocation are really
very effective.
As Buddha said, “All fear and anxiety
comes from a mind that’s untamed,” you
know.
He said, “All anxiety and fear, suffering
rise from a mind overpowered by
delusion and
distraction, so there is nothing to fear
except your own untamed mind.”
So this, in this case, we have here these
two wonderful images, isn’t it?
These are the two most holy, these are
for the people the two famous guys in
Buddhism,
OK, the most important, you know, ones.
By the way, also one thing that His
Holiness always, the Dalai Lama always
says in Buddhism
when he teaches he says, “Even there’s a
Buddhist religion but there’s Buddhist
science, there’s Buddhist philosophy and
the Buddhist way of life.”
What we’re teaching is not Buddhist
religion, not teaching something
dogmatic at all.
It’s more about Buddhist science of
mind.
Buddhism is very much science of mind,
a way of life.
So this, this is the most holy image of
Buddha in Bodhgaya.
That’s the place where Buddha became
enlightened under the bodhi tree over
two thousand—I
don’t know—six hundred whatever years
ago.
And there is this image which is perhaps
the, the most revered and considered by
all Buddhists
from all over the world as really the, the
Buddha of the Mahabodhi temple.
And it’s incredible also the, because now
it’s all painted so much that you can
hardly
see the image so much, you know,
because through this…
But in the early days, a photographer
who was able to—in the early days it was
not very many
people round.
He could really have such an incredible
image. I find so inspiring this one.
And it's a very good object for your
meditation.
Then there’s the other one, which is Guru
Rinpoche, which is this one.
Guru Rinpoche’s the one who brought
Buddhism to Tibet and I think the
strength and vitality,
the extraordinary thing of Tibetan
Buddhism owes to Guru Rinpoche very
much.
In fact His Holiness the Dalai Lama often
says that, I mean not only he’s
extraordinary,
of course learned and he’s enlightened
but, but his main thing is his power.
He has incredible power.
He was able—Tibet was quite a wild
place.
There were not only a lot of negative
forces and he was—the great bodhisattva
Shantarakshita,
he was a compassion one, couldn’t
subjugate.
Whatever they tried to build during the
day, negative forces took it down in the
evening.
Then both King Trisong Detsen and they
just wept, “What the, what
are we going to do?”
Whereupon the bodhisattva
Shantarakshita said there’s a prophecy
this great master, Padmasambhava,
is destined.
So he was invited.
He already knew he would, he was
destined to come, he was already in
Nepal. Then he
was invited over. And as he came along
he subjugated all the negative forces and
transformed them
into protectors.
So it’s said that what then men built
during the day, the—these forces were
now no longer
negative forces, they become positive
forces, built them more.
So he was extremely powerful, Guru
Rinpoche was extremely powerful,
extremely powerful
and also a very powerful master to
invoke.
Like he is the SOS buddha.
And for me Guru Rinpoche’s really my,
my, he’s my buddha and he is actually
the, as it
is said, the embodiment and compassion,
he’s the embodiment of the compassion
and blessing
of all the buddhas.
And this photograph is amazing one
because there was this image made in
Samyé where
Guru Rinpoche in the eighth century and
they made this, they said, Guru
Rinpoche’s believed
to have said, “This looks, really looks like
me.”
So when it was completed he said, “This
is the same as me,” he blessed it.
So he left this image like his
representative, the most holy image of
Guru Rinpoche.
But unfortunately—I remember as a child
I went with my master and he gave many
teachings
in the presence of that, we did a lot of
practice.
But that unfortunately during the
Cultural Revolution the image was
destroyed.
Only thing that survived was the
photograph taken by the late Queen
Mother of Sikkim.
Then she gave me the original negative
which I restored, put to colour.
So it’s a really powerful image.
This one, you see, it’s incredible.
The poise.
It’s a really wonderful object of practice.
It’s like the poise, the grace of his way of
being is the way we should sit in
meditation.
And the face is really the object of
meditation.
Like, you know it’s, it’s lit up, isn’t it,
awake and eyes are for Dzogchen
practice,
nature of mind, those who practice high
teachings of nature of mind,
Dzogpachenpo.
The eyes are the, the gaze is incredible.
Even meditation his lips a little bit apart,
as it always says in meditation one
should
keep one’s mouth slightly open as if we
are about to say, “Aaah.”
It’s such an incredible...
So anyway, the main thing is whenever I
go through fear or anxiety, which I have, I
always,
specially sometimes at night, you know,
when you have fear and anxiety, worry,
you know
what happens when you worry?
Specially at night it becomes worse and
worse, isn’t it?
Then we can’t sleep and we think of all
the worst scenarios.
Actually scientific research have shown
that eighty-five per cent of all that you
worry
about doesn’t actually work out, which is
a good thing, meaning it doesn’t happen.
Eighty-five per cent of what you worry
about doesn’t actually happen.
So this great master Shantideva he said
—His Holiness the Dalai Lama lived by
this principle—he
said: “If you can do something to solve a
problem, if I have a problem, if you can
do something to solve a problem, then
you have no need to worry about it,
number one.
Whereas if you can’t do anything about it,
it doesn’t help to worry about it either.”
So in both cases, worry is extra, Tibetan
called semné.
It’s extra.
That’s why the famous Australian word,
‘no worries, mate’ comes from that.
So the thing is therefore, whenever I
have worry, anxiety, because normally
what we do
is we worry, worry, worry, and that
doesn’t help.
Make you more nervous, make you can’t
sleep, give you "lung" problems and
make you, you know…
Sometimes it can lead to nervous
breakdown, all kinds of things.
But instead, if you start invoking, you
invoke, you pray.
I immediately I invoke Guru Rinpoche
because I have a very special connection
with Guru Rinpoche.
Whenever difficulties arise I always
invoke him.
The amazing thing is that it always works
and it’s, you know, Buddhism, when you
talk
about faith, faith is not—the blind faith is
not something encouraged, but simple
faith
is OK.
I tell you, explain later.
Blind faith, because in Buddhism what is
the faith?
Faith is based on reason, gyun tsendun
tenpe tepa.
For me Guru Rinpoche, why do I have
faith in him?
Because I have direct experience, I have
proof.
Just as this water, I have complete faith
in this water.
If I drink this, it will quench my thirst,
isn’t it?
Proof.
Same manner, whenever I invoke Guru
Rinpoche, that completely transforms my
mind.
It’s amazing.
When you invoke, because Buddha
himself said, “Whoever invokes me, I am
in front of them
granting blessing and empowerment.”
Same as Guru Rinpoche said "tepa
chenla penye gonyeme", “I’m never
separate from
that.”
So whenever, moment you, you know,
because they make that pledge.
Buddhas make that pledge.
Buddhas are omniscient and that
moment you invoke them they know your
mind.
Sometimes even they know, even they
come before you invoke them because
they know or they
pre-empt you.
So whenever I invoke, it’s amazing, when
you invoke Guru Rinpoche, something
happens.
Your, your mind is very worried, OK, but
when you invoke then when you merge
your mind with
Guru Rinpoche, it’s like your mind
immerses with Guru Rinpoche, become
one with Guru Rinpoche.
It’s like something dissolves or like when
you merge with Guru Rinpoche—I don’t
know.
It’s very difficult to explain but it’s an
experience where your, all your fear and
anxiety actually dissolve.
As Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche used to say,
“If you put your finger in the water, what
happens?
It gets wet, isn’t it?
If you put your finger in the fire, it gets
warm or it gets burnt.
In the same manner, if you put your mind
in the mind of the Buddha, like Guru
Rinpoche,
your mind becomes a little bit like Guru
Rinpoche, transformed.”
Really, that’s really true.
That’s why I do believe whenever I have,
you know, and when you make
invocations, that’s,
you’re associating with something
positive.
And something amazing happens when
you invoke that way, afterwards not only
my fear and
the experience of fear and, you know, the
perception of fear not only dissolves,
the whole circumstances changes and
afterwards I have the kind of the
courage, I have also
the wisdom of discernment.
Not only I have no longer the fear, I even
get the wisdom how to deal with the
situation,
if you have a problem, how to deal with
that.
You have the courage to face and deal
with that situation.
It becomes—very practical wisdom
comes through.
OK?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sogyal Rinpoche ~ Stop Manipulating
Your Mind
To conclude, there is this really amazing
when I was, about forty years ago I heard
this from a great master and it had such
an impact on me.
And later I discovered in the Dzogchen
teachings when I received from Khen
Rinpoche,
Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, it appeared
again and again this phrase, because it
became a really important
one, which says in Tibetan is very
beautiful:
chu ma nyok na dang sem ma chö na dé
Chu means ‘water’, ma nyok means ‘if
you don’t stir it’, na means ‘then’,
dang means ‘clear’.
So that means:
Water, if you don’t stir it, will become
clear.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, “That’s
a fact.”
That’s the nature of water.
The nature of water is, if you don’t stir it,
it becomes clear.
Now that’s a wonderful example.
This is very evocative.
Just as water, if you don’t stir it, will
become clear.
In the same manner…
The next is very important.
sem ma chö na dé
Sem means ‘mind’ or ‘mind’, ma chö
means, now the beautiful word, Tibetan
word,
ma chöpa, in for example like Dzogchen,
Mahamudra is the most wonderful thing,
ma chöpa.
Ma chöpa, very difficult to translate it
into English because ma chöpa means
that,
but the closest term that we could use to
describe ma chöpa is unaltered,
unaltered,
you know?
When you leave something in its own
natural state, without any manipulation
or contrivance,
that’s ma chöpa.
Do you understand?
Because the trouble with us we
manipulate too much.
I remember once a great master he told
me, “Rinpoche, the root cause of our
mental,
all our mental problems is too much
thinking, too much thinking.
We don’t leave our thinking mind alone.”
So leave your mind unaltered without any
manipulation or contrivance.
Just as water, if you don’t stir it,
becomes clear,
In the same manner, mind left unaltered
will find its true nature.
sem ma chö na dé
…will find its bliss, will find its peace.
It’s very profound.
In fact if you realize it more, you can
realize the calm-abiding of shamatha, the
clear seeing
of vipashyana, will bring the experience
of great bliss of the unity of bliss and
emptiness and all these experience of
nature of mind, all that can rise from
that.
That’s why in the instruction on
meditation in the higher teachings, this
one:
chu ma nyok na dang sem ma chö na dé
is really the key.
I found this to be…
And then further on this great master
Longchen Rabjam, you know, the
Omniscient One Longchen Rabjam,
in the teaching called Semnyi Rangdrol,
Self-liberation of the Mind, in that he
said:
ma chö ma chö rang gi sem ma chö ma
dzin ma dzin rang gi sem ma dzin
chö shing chö shing sem kyi nyog lang pe
chö me sem kyi nying pö dön la drib
Meaning:
ma chö ma chö rang gi sem ma chö
meaning:
Do not alter, do not alter, do not alter this
mind of ours.
ma dzin ma dzin rang gi sem ma dzin
meaning:
Do not grasp, do not grasp, do not grasp
this mind of ours.
chö shing chö shing sem kyi nyog lang pe
chö me sem kyi nying pö dön la drib
meaning:
Alter and alter, mind that’s altered will
stir up the cloudy depths of mind which
will
obscure the inherent nature.
So the key is unaltered.
And so the key to even Dzogchen, the
highest meditation, is unaltered, leaving
your mind.
As Khyentse Rinpoche says: sem ma
chöpa nyampa sha.
In fact Khyentse Rinpoche, once I asked
him, “When are we in the nature of mind,
when
are we not?”
He said in characteristic simplicity, he
said, “If you leave your mind unaltered, in
the
ma chöpa, you’re in the nature of mind.
If you’re altered, you’re not in the nature
of mind.”
The main thing’s unaltered.
When you remain unaltered in this way,
slowly, slowly it frees the thinking mind,
slowly,
slowly, the ordinary mind, thinking mind
actually stops.
There’s no longer even the thought of
meditation or meditator, all that,
beginning to become
in the state of being, in the state of
transcendence.
It’s amazing.
So the first is really meditation:
Do not alter, do not alter, do not alter…
But then it says:
Do not grasp, do not grasp…
Is that when you remain in the state of
unaltered you may arrive at the deep
stillness of profound
peace but then after a while a little
movement may arise, something rises,
then the tendency
is we may, the rising may be whatever
experience come, we tend to grasp at it.
So the advice means do not grasp at the
risings.
Whatever risings, you leave the rising in
the rising.
As Dudjom Rinpoche used to say: leave
the seeing in the seeing, leave the
hearing in
the hearing, leave the thinking in the
thinking.
And particularly in terms of experience,
people have very profound experience of
bliss, clarity,
absence of thought.
They get very excited and they, they
grasp on it.
That’s the mistake.
Sometime if you have a negative
experience, you know, then you have an
aversion.
So it’s these two things that—
attachment to happiness and the cause
of happiness and,
and that the aversion to suffering, cause
of suffering, that which cause both—that
which cause suffering both and
happiness, suffering.
Basically means that whatever
experience more come, if it’s good
experience one should
not be attached to it.
If it’s of a, even a negative experience
there should be no aversion.
Just experience of experience.
Good experience is good, bad experience
is also good.
It doesn’t really matter.
What does it mean by being uncontrived
mean?
It means that if you can rest, means it,
this means that if you can rest, it’s OK; if
you cannot rest, that’s also OK.
If you have thoughts, that’s OK; if you
don’t have thoughts, that’s OK.
Good thoughts are OK; bad thoughts are
OK.
Everything is allowed.
Awareness is like space, thoughts and
emotions are like the clouds.
If there is beautiful clouds and ugly
clouds and rain shower or thunderstorm
and hurricane,
tornado, blizzard and hail storm, it
doesn’t make any difference to the
space.
Whatever comes in the space is fine
because nothing can change it.
A blizzard or thunderstorm cannot
change space, blue sky, bright sunshine
cannot change space.
Space is already there.
You cannot burn space or destroy space
in any way.
It’s always there.
It’s the same, it is the same with our
awareness.
Whatever, whatever appears in our mind,
good thoughts or bad thoughts, emotions
or absence
of emotions, feelings of restfulness or
sense of restlessness, stress or
relaxation, it’s
all like a weather.
Some days there’s good weather, some
days bad weather, but these weather-like
experiences
cannot change the space-like awareness.
Even bad experiences are within the
awareness because without awareness
we cannot have them.
Because I think the main thing that you
do not realize, don’t realize—this is the
really something amazing I’m going to
share with you—you know, what Buddha
said: sem—in
The Wisdom Sutra—
sem la sem ma chi té sem kyi rangshyin
ni ösal wa’o
Mind is devoid of mind For the nature of
mind is Clear Light.
If you really examine mind, the
investigation, there’s no such thing as
what we call ‘mind’,
actually exists.
Past is past, future is not yet come.
Even with the present, the moment you
think about it it’s gone.
The only thing is pure awareness.
So what ‘Mind is devoid of mind’, if mind
is devoid of mind, what is mind?
What is the nature of mind?
What is the main thing?
This people don’t realize it.
This is the secret of Tibetan Buddhism
and this is the gift that the main thing is,
is
the, is the cognizance.
The mind’s nature is cognizance.
It knows, it knows.
You understand?
It knows, it’s clarity, it’s cognizance, it’s
awareness.
Awareness.
That awareness, that pure awareness
that’s within ourselves is the most
precious friend.
We should make friends with this one
because that awareness is there when
you were
born, it’s there when you grow up,
school, when, it’s there when you get old,
it’s
there when you’re sick, it’s there when
you’re ill.
Is the most reliable one.
Everything else is temporary,
momentarily changing.
The awareness.
So you should make friends with your
pure awareness, this clarity.
Often people meditate on, focussing on
just remaining in the stillness more.
That’s—the great masters say is not the
thing.
The focus is on clarity, clarity, pure
awareness, pristine awareness.
In fact rigpa, the word ‘rigpa’ means pure
awareness.
Beyond our ordinary mind.
Is that clear?
So in that dimension whatever appears in
the mind, good thoughts, bad thoughts,
emotions,
absence of thought, feeling, all is fine.
Like for example a very good one to
demonstrate is a movie projector.
When you have a movie projector, you
know when showing a movie, when you
look behind
it what really causes it is a, is a bulb
that’s giving the light and it goes onto
the film which is moving at a particular
speed, gives the illusion of reality on the
screen
of our phenomena, isn’t it?
But now this bulb is giving the light, OK?
And the bulb, the light of this bulb is
being misused.
It could be kind of like a movie of Jesus
Christ Superstar, all kinds of things, but
you see the bulb is not at all involved in
all this.
Whatever movie’s being used, but not at
all involved.
Our true nature of mind is not involved at
all.
There’s a part of us is always pure,
unstained, free, pure.
In fact more we realize it, more you own
that aspect of your nature, more free you
become,
more purified you will be.
You’ll be able to overcome your negative
karma and gain liberation and freedom.
That’s the secret.
You got it?
So when you realize that, even bad
experiences are within the awareness
because without awareness
there cannot be them.
In fact, you see, even with this clarity, if
there’s no clarity there’s no anger.
If there’s no clarity there’s no desire.
If there’s no clarity there’s no also
wisdom, you know?
But the trouble is, when the anger rises,
yes, but the trouble is we’re not aware.
When the anger rises, we should become
aware of the anger and not act in it, not
become
the anger then become negative.
Whereas if you’re aware of the anger and
remain steadfast, then anger can liberate
anger, desire can liberate desire…
It’s not easy but possible.
You can actually become, people want to
be free of their negative emotions.
This is the supreme way.
Therefore don’t care about your
experiences, moods, thoughts, emotions.
Everything is allowed but after some
time you will get distracted and then
when you
notice, “Oh, I was distracted,” then you
already come…
But if you even realize, “Oh, I was
distracted,” and if you become aware of
it, you’re no
longer distracted.
The key to connecting with our true
nature is being unaltered, ma chöpa.
When you remain unaltered, leave your
mind in its own natural state, all the
thoughts,
thinking naturally dissolve.
More you settle, the more you become
natural or like more and more you settle
in your true
nature, the more and more you connect
with your fundamental nature.
Ma chöpa is a natural way of abiding.
It brings an atmosphere of comfort and
ease.
We are naturally relaxed, free from the
conceptual mind, free from thoughts,
thinking.
Ma chöpa is really, is carefree dignity,
natural simplicity.
There’s nothing to attain, there’s nothing
to do.
Often there can be a subtle tension in
your meditation that we think, “Am I
meditating well?
Should I be correcting my meditation by
doing this or that?”
It can become a struggle, but ma chöpa
puts ease to your meditation, completely
free from
limitations and concepts and by just
being unaltered, ma chöpa, you
accomplish all.
Of course, now that’s quite a way up, by
the way.
First you’ve got to do basic practice and
that I’m showing is the goal, what you
need
to arrive, like this, see?
Free.
Do you experience a little bit?
I’m extremely grateful for my masters
who are actually demonstrating, showing
through their
being. Introducing me to this, brought me
to me the really true knowledge of my
own
nature very much.
+++++++++++++++++
Buddhist Advice on Not Getting Caught
Up in Stress and Anxiety
again I like to say good morning
everyone and welcome welcome
welcome
everyone
nobody's telling our beautiful
motivation and attitude and that is
really the foundation of the practices
or the teach our practice and our
teaching and that is our path and
direction that is our practices and the
teaching and iteration and that will be
our resort and the goal achievement will
be that and that is good motivation good
motivation is joy and appreciation
bodhichitta purity understanding of the
nature of purity underst of the
realizations that is the work is and
then with the devotions all combined
that very as I said that very is our
part and our practices that very is our
goal and achievement and assemble to
tell again that is the Buddha nature
that is know how we're going to discover
this discovering is not just begin later
this discovering is begins right now
with our South therefore we call with as
known as a teaching practitioners we're
practicing glorifying our beauty in our
nature and you know that there I know
and this is the matter of just knowing
is enough we trying to activate activate
that myths of all these publications the
dualities in the emotions of this raging
fire every direction so that we are kind
of midst at that they are not really
important they are not beneficial they
are not when appear in fact you all know
this anymore hence the disturbances
disturbing our door in the peace
happiness and joy and the peace and
happiness that our our friend
family our navels and then or everyone
so it's not really doing anything bad
good things therefore with our
intelligence with our we are beautiful
human beings with beautiful intelligence
therefore we should make the difference
our son that started with a hobby to
motivate and I said motivation is
everything so therefore we just really
United these collectors and if that we
ignited that beautiful collectors that
were transcendence to all things when
we
increase in the joy and appreciation
that were dance intent and remove dispel
the suffering sadness and as well as
miserable it really will displayed the
spell it will dispel that is the most
powerful term a tremendous we are in its
big emotions such as anger and yellows
and hatred thought and worry in a
stressful stressful energy breaking all
those anxiety in all that if we break
again you're in appreciation and the
body kappa really interval subsite read
at least I'm not just telling the story
of the pretty story of the other side
the world of planetís I'm talking that
with our own experience this is nothing
it is the truth true this will great
feelings our emotions curves our all
those psychological troubles problems
we
have really it will live it held it well
cleans it worker that is known as a
purification that is known as purify
removing obstacles
opps craters those are not we have to be
practical not looking the other
direction then we be drawing a quarry
Buddha teaching from the beginning time
we're looking almost always the wrong
time wrong directions and thinking of
the solutions and all these bad things
but really solution comes with our heart
your heart will by
with this motivation with knowing that
Lee knowing that therefore all the
equipment's all the beautiful things
it's right to be the ass with you a
little bit to be true and appreciate
it's not gonna have to go in the
somewhere and a certain decent that is
right with us right with you in light
that sweet you on that but switch on
that joy in that immediate and body of
that kind is a comparable for all living
this is in the Elysian sincerely no one
is sentient beings I like to be
suffering suffer bad and the
difficulties same as like me me I don't
like to be suffered I like don't like to
be upset I don't like to have parents
it's the same whether they can see
clearly or can see the feeling is the
same feeling is the same man is going to
the same this is that and that we can
see for example the animal all those who
be kind of superpowers we kind of use
advantages how much they scared how
much
they really in a trouble that we see
pain is the same feeling is the same
therefore when we practice down bring
more comparison love kindness and that
is also a glorifying our goodness our
beautiful your way to my beautiful and
we benefited we clearing our path in the
directions of a destination our
destination destination maybe we don't
know exactly why we're good we don't
see
the future clinic but every map bright
now now we'll move on to native now
today is now but this today will move
tomorrow tomorrow bright tomorrow
bright
continually shine that we clearing the
path as mu
and brighten our ass move then
completely brilliant okay that is known
as enlightenment but uh so therefore
again we talk hard with the motivation
we stand in this motor break and all
this but it's not just that once in a
while or the beginning of the practice
if we can keep this motivation
throughout the day and the night really
that it be mostly out of the practices
the whole practice in the teachings of
the such a severe they are not teaching
or zaki teachings Mohammed are
teaching
and Medina the TT becomes so powerful
so
rich so powerful it just glorified
that's what this great beings I just
Buddha in a girl pair Muslim all those
great masters so following that
footsteps with that
so with those understanding and then
again we move to the end with with the
purity understanding and the devotion we
move to the to the to the teaching again
teaching that principle teaching of the
aspects again we go
++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Noble Journey From Fear to

Fearlessness ♡ Pema Chödrön
when we take the meditation posture
we're developing a posture and an
attitude of attentive openness to
whatever arises and this is actually a
very brave thing to do I think maybe we
wouldn't actually even begin on this
journey if we knew how brave that is to
just sit open our minds open our whole
being with attentive openness to
whatever might arise because in so
doing
we are actually opening ourselves
beyond
our usual habitual view of ourself and
of reality we actually don't know what
we're going to see and one of the first
things like one gradually begins to
perceive is that perhaps we aren't quite
who we thought we were and sometimes
that's quite embarrassing because
maybe
we thought we were kind and we we see
that we have a lot of aggressive and
done right mean thoughts maybe we've
thought that we were quite a spiritual
person perhaps and we find that we
obsess for hours about all the things we
want and crave and desire and things
that would make us feel so good and sex
and food and everything in any case
what
I'm getting at is that we sit and we
just look with openness as much
openness
as we can and in so doing we're opening
ourselves to letting go or seeing
through or at least seeing exactly who
are and what we do we're setting
ourselves up you could say for some of
the ways and eventually all of the ways
in which we conventionally and
habitually view reality to let those of
fall apart so it's very brave and of
this path is considered the path of the
brave ones which doesn't mean we are
brave but it means that we begin to
cultivate our fearlessness cultivate our
wish to move from narrow to open to
move
from holding on to things very rigidly
to a more flexible adaptable open stance
way of looking at things what happens on
the journey which many of us in this
room have already experienced you may
have even experienced it today is that
every once in a while you completely
come to your edge you come to the place
where you know you're about to make a
step into what is it yet not quite known
to you you're just about to sort of step
over the edge this happens again and
again on the spiritual journey that we
meet this place of just going a little
further than we ever have before in
terms of how we perceive reality it's
basically going from being so dedicated
and so habitually committed to a static
way of perceiving and thinking to a
fluid open way of perceiving and
thinking but when we come to that edge
it brings up all of our fear part of
spiritual journey is coming to know the
nature of fear because you can't just
move from a very narrow and rigid way
perceiving and thinking into an open way
of thinking can't just drop all of those
old comforting conditionings and
concepts without it being accompanied
by
some fear and trembling so I said that
the journey is one from narrowness to
openness you could also say it's a
journey of moving from fear to
fearlessness or from a gradual process
of becoming less and less afraid in case
you think there's something wrong with
feeling fear you should know that the
definition of a fully enlightened being
is one who is completely fearless so
it's a huge accomplishment to be
completely fearless as we travel on the
path we get to no fear we get to know
the nature of fear and gradually we
become much more adaptable and much
more
able to stay open and attentive to
whatever might arise another definition
of a fully awakened person is someone
who stays open to their emotions and
thoughts and people and anything that
might arise without centralizing into a
self or centralizing back into
themselves just reaching out opening out
so we move in that direction but we we
don't have any big expectations of what
time of day or what month or year we're
supposed to arrive in fact as they say
the path is the goal step by step each
step that all there is they're actually
never is any future point there's just
now and how you relate to right now
because fear is inevitable in this
process of growing up and of
surrendering of letting
go of old crippling ways of perceiving
and thinking it's essential that from
the very beginning we develop trust and
inner strength so the question comes
where do we look when we are afraid
when
we feel that we can't handle what's
happening where do we look for strength
and then what do we place our trust so
first I'd like to give a very succinct
and I have always found quite a useful
teaching on looking in the wrong places
the story of our life the personal
autobiography of everybody in general
and this is the teaching on the three
Lords of materialism if you want to read
more about this you can read in the
introduction to cutting through
spiritual materialism by chögyam
trungpa
member che he writes about this so the
three Lords of materialism are the lord
of form the lord of speech and the lord
of mind and there's somewhat a
description of when the going gets rough
what we usually cling to and in fact
their description of what we cling to
even when the going isn't rough kind of
a description of ego a description of
how ego is just a lot of habits you know
I was thinking today that a good
description of ego is just addiction and
the reason that there's fear as we're
sort of seeing through the patterns and
habits of this addiction the same reason
we experience fear when we set out to
give up any addiction we have received
so much security from this
action and the letting go of it which we
know is going to bring actually much
more lasting happiness and freedom is
extremely uncomfortable so the Lord of
form this is saying how we look to
things things of all kinds for security
and comfort how we look to things for
strength and we put our trust in things
so at the level of common addictions
that's like saying when we feel anxious
when we reach for a drink oh yeah smoke
dope or take other drugs or we eat and
all of us have our cravings and
addiction some are more crippling and
damaging to ourselves and others but we
all have them things that if we actually
can't do them we feel extremely anxious
and like we're going to die if we can't
have that piece of chocolate you can
actually create these addictions really
easily you know you just every night
have a warm bath and then one night you
say tonight I'm not going to have one
and you freaked out so we put a lot of
energy into reaching out and grasping at
things and the thing is that actually
when we think of it a lot of these
things we already know that there's a
hangover and that it doesn't bring any
kind of happiness in fact it weakens us
we already know that nevertheless one
can't underestimate the power of these
feelings and therefore one can't
underestimate kind of bravery it takes
to begin to turn these habits and
patterns that we call ego to turn them
around
we actually even though we are quite an
intelligent species you know on the
charts of the evolution of consciousness
we are pretty high up there and some of
us are even called geniuses you know
brilliant people but I think really
we're pretty stupid when it really comes
down to it we all have these habits that
we look to things outside of ourselves
we look for strength in what weakens us
and in a lot of cases these things that
we reach for are very tied up with our
identity of who we are how we hold
ourselves together so maybe what we
reach for is nature and we have this
image of ourselves as one who loves
solitude and nature and goes off into
the wilderness in their kayak well
personally I'm one of those people I
like to do that kind of thing so it's
not putting down any of these things but
more to say that we use them to comfort
ourselves we use them to try to avoid
just being present in the moment they
somehow are a concept or an image or
an
ideal that's between us and the direct
experience of reality we have an image
of ourselves as a creative person or a
scholar but some sense of seeking
holding on grasping at things and even
though we may think we ourselves
personally we are not materialistic
nevertheless I think most of us know
what it's like that good feeling of
buying some
I knew the Lord of speech is how we use
our beliefs to limit ourselves or weaken
ourselves or use our beliefs I think
when Trumper mache is talking about
this
in talking he talks about them all it's
looking for alternatives to just being
right where we are with a clear direct
experience of reality so this goes for
all the isms political beliefs religions
all of these things it definitely can go
for Buddhism meditation any kind of
belief system we may not think its
dogma
we may think it's certainly like a very
liberated belief system but nevertheless
it's so tied up with our identity and so
colors our view of the world and it
actually doesn't bring any lasting
happiness for instance when people
come
into the Buddhist teachings this is
something I'm very familiar with from my
personal experience and through working
and talking with a lot of people often
people come in with such passion and
enthusiasm joining a new group and a
new
way of looking and they just eat up the
teachings and then you hear them having
arguments with people who don't believe
in the truth of suffering in other words
it becomes something else that you go to
battle for we see this in the ecology
movement that is such a worthy thing
and
yet we see a lot of a kind of dogmatic
warfare and I remember in the early
early 60s I lived in Berkeley and the
Free Speech Movement
we had a guy living in our basement it
was very involved basically as soon as
it looked like the conflict
is going to get resolved he would go
into a deep depression and then there
was some kind of elation that would
come
over him when a new cause could arise
so
again I'm not meaning here to put down
anything in particular but it's a way
that we concretize the way that we make
things solid the way that we hold on to
things in other words it's a way of
going astray from the true nature of
reality which is not one certain way it
said in the teachings that each moment
is completely fresh it's never happened
before and it will never happen again
it's unique and that all that is being
overlooked when we cling to things and
when we cling to beliefs the real truth
of the matter is we can use these things
as stepping stones use them as ways of
communicating use them as a way of
enriching our life and enjoying things
but if we cling to it and use it as a
weapon if we find that we're threatened
should anybody disagree then we know
that somehow we're going astray that
we're blinding ourselves and weakening
ourselves the Lord of mind is the most
subtle of the three and probably the
most seductive the Lord of mine is how
we use special states of mind to hide
behind or go astray to limit ourselves
to limit how we perceive reality getting
high in one way or another people use a
drug this way people use all kinds of
spiritual traditions this way people use
a healing this way and it's quite
prevalent actually now in the 90s
special states of mind
that you wish for them you long for them
and you try to cultivate them many
people when they come to meditation are
quite shocked to hear what we present
because basically they want to
transcend
the pain of their life and it's sort of
a disappointing to say the least to be
told that you go down into the middle of
it you get right into the thick of
things and have direct contact with your
experience and if you've had a taste of
these special states of mind and they
are really addictive and very hard to
let go of and there's tremendous sense
of vulnerability and discomfort when you
start coming down or when it looks like
you can't get it back
sometimes just out of the blue innocent
people unsuspecting people are walking
along the street in the middle of a
major city and Wham they have this
amazing experience people tell me about
these things all the time a lot of
people talk of out-of-body experiences
that they have occasionally or on a
regular basis and uh people who asked
you'll travel and there's a lot of
things and among us we probably have
these experiences or have had these
experiences so the trick is to not
become attached to anything to not try
to make anything special over something
else to not grasp and cling and try to
make things last or get shorter for that
matter but just let it be as it is
so this teaching on the three Lords
materialism is just a very simple way of
describing how we go astray from the
two
nature of reality and from the two
nature of our being so the
and then still remains is fear is part
of growth how do we develop this inner
strength and how do we develop trust
Trust is a very important part of the
spiritual journey not trust in a
particular outcome but trust that you
can open to the present moment and we
don't just automatically have that trust
it's something that we develop there are
many ways of talking about this one of
the ways is mindfulness from
mindfulness
comes inner strength and the
development
of trust basically the development of
trust is a growing confidence that the
nature of things is to change and fall
apart and become something else and
you
don't have to freak out about it
one of the ways that we develop this
inner strength and this Trust is
mindfulness and I'll talk a bit about
that and the other is the for limitless
ones this is my tree compassion joy and
equanimity it said that these four are
the causes and conditions that allow for
this inner strength and this Trust to
grow they are the necessary warmth that
allows a flower to grow and blossom
sometimes they're actually called the
four great catalysts of awakening they
encourage growth from fear to
fearlessness from uptight to flexible in
some sense it's all a question of
developing a flexible mind developing a
flexible identity and you could say it's
capable of fluid transfer
nation I'd like to say a bit about
mindfulness and about my tree the first
of the four limitless ones so
mindfulness begins with the meditation
practice and it is as I said at the
beginning of the talk begins with our
posture with an open attentiveness to
whatever arises and it's basically a
development of trust in the present
moment and a willingness to contact it
directly and that present moment can be
coldness or hotness hardness or
softness
that present moment can be gloom and
doom darkness inner darkness that
present moment can be lightness it can
be sorrow it comes in a million
different forms more than a million
limitless always changing to have a
completely direct experience of reality
is another pseudonym for fully
enlightened and the reason I keep
telling you all these definitions of
fully enlightened is so that you can
kind of calm down and not be in such a
hurry and realize that we just go inch
by inch the main thing is a direct
experience of who we are right now and
beginning to trust that sometimes we say
it's not very trustworthy because it's
so addicted but the point is that we
could be mindful openly attentive of
just who we are and an important part of
mindfulness is dropping the speech
balloon which is to say all the comments
on what we observe which generally
speaking could be characterized as
always dualistic which is to say they
always are
about good or bad right or wrong on the
track or off the track so a lot of the
process of mindfulness is beginning to
relax with the present moment touch the
immediacy of our experience our
thoughts
emotions the quality of experience as it
is and trust that that is trustworthy we
can stay with it many many of us I maybe
all of us find it extremely difficult to
just stay with the moment and maybe all
of us to greater and less than 2 degrees
dissociate continually but mindfulness
is a tool for bringing us back to the
actual sort of tactile taste smell
quality feel of the present moment
whether that's emotion or things so for
instance when you start finding yourself
suffering at the hands of the Lord of
form reaching for things you can flip
that from being a crippling or something
that we can view to actually really
completely contacting that experience
that taste that touch that smell that
feeling because usually what we do is we
reach for these things because they help
us to numb out and leave so if we even
use those things to be in full contact
with what's going on this is what you
can trust and in the process of getting
used to mindfulness or being right here
you can expect shaky tender queasy
fearful feelings to arise and so my tree
becomes very important in the
Shambhala
teachings they have a beautiful image
which I love very much which is to place
the fearful mind in the cradle of
loving-kindness
that's the notion of my tree
loving-kindness to place this fearful
mind in the cradle of my tree and
there's another all wonderful Shambhala
teachings which says that if you don't
get to know the nature of fear then you
will never know fearlessness this is a
good one to write down in your
notebooks
to remember because we are so
uncomfortable with fear
we're so uncomfortable with discomfort
but we just want to get away from it
therefore that's a definition of ego
it's just trying to get away from direct
experience and that's what we consult
that what never adds up to inner
strengthen it never adds up to some kind
of unshakable trust it just makes us
more scared and more uptight and
saddest
of all it isolates us and cuts us off
from each other whereas the real healing
will only happen from our
interconnectedness with each other
realizing our interconnectedness with
each other but this tendency to try to
get away
this deep deep desire to want to get
away cuts us off from other people and
from our own emotions and thoughts so
we
place this fearful mind which is known
by everybody in the species from
beginningless time we place it in the
cradle of my tree now I want to say
about my tree first of all I think it's
interesting to know that Trump
remember
shade taught my tree in a way which is
rather unusual he's not the only person
in the world that taught it this way but
it's not the typical way of teaching my
tree my tree is usually taught as
developing the wish for others to be
happy
therefore we have the chance may all
beings enjoy happiness
the root of happiness and that line
refers to my tree so usually when my
tree is taught it's this wish for others
to be happy and this is a very important
part of my tree but the way that Trump
remember che taught his definition of my
tree was unlimited unconditional
friendliness towards oneself which then
naturally radiates out to others so I'd
like to describe a little bit of how
this works first of all when we think of
my tree usually we think of qualities
like gentleness and compassion
kindness
tenderheartedness giving ourselves a
break non-judgmental attitude but one
should realize that a very very
important part of my tree is honesty the
a journey of development of my tree is
very much away from self-deception
away
from this tendency to try to avoid
what's going on and it begins with
making friends with what's going on in
your own mind your own emotions in your
own body
developing a truly unconditional
friendliness towards your own mind your
own emotions your own body generally
speaking when we look closely at
anything our judgments go along with it
and this is particularly true of when we
look closely at ourselves I remember
very clearly when I was starting out on
the path of meditation and Buddhist
teachings that I was always hearing
about my tree and it was described as
making friends with oneself and I
remember one day just raising my hand it
was like year five four and a half or
something else about that far into it
just raising my hand and saying I don't
get it
the more I fit and get to know myself
the more I hate myself because I see all
this stuff so it doesn't seem to me that
it's adding up to friendliness and that
was sort of the beginning of me
beginning to understand that part of
this was seeing all of this really
clearly that clearly to the point of
actually beginning to long for it to
lift to not want anymore to harm myself
in that way so that a great longing
could arise a great yearning could arise
to no longer want to be imprisoned by my
own habits but along with that there had
to be an enormous quality of compassion
for oneself and from that I heard the
teachings that we should realize that
anything we see about ourselves is our
introduction to realizing what other
people are also feeling and thinking and
seeing to realizing the habits that
every being is captured by and beginning
to have good heart towards humanity as
one finds it in oneself and then
beginning to give other people a break
as you start to give yourself a break so
this honesty is really important and I
think often people would like to just
skip over it and just be sweet to
themselves which could easily fall into
the three Lords of materialism in other
words in the name of my tree you just
get real addicted to things and ideas
and states of mind because all them
make
you feel so good and that's my tree
right feeling good but actually my tree
is just feeling whatever you feel with a
compassionate attitude and with
extreme
honesty as the days of your life go on
moving on closer and closer to the
direct experience
of yourself with my tree I also remember
asking in the early days and many people
have asked this of me and of other
students who are getting teachings and
that is why doesn't this lead to further
self absorption why doesn't this lead to
further clinging why doesn't this just
build ego up well why doesn't it it
seems like it could in fact I got a
letter just yesterday from someone
saying I think there can be too much my
tree and then he said that in his down a
study group he saw a lot of people who
were working with my tree and it seemed
in him that they just kept never looking
out never reaching out they just kept
going round and round with their own
stuff making friends with it but you
know somehow it was like a straitjacket
of friendliness and I thought that was a
very good point that ideally what this
process is is that to the degree that we
know ourselves completely to that
degree
we can relax and open outward we don't
feel the need to protect what we know
the protection always comes from
wanting
to protect ourselves from having to feel
something or think something or have
something happen to us but if we know it
really well already if we know those
emotions if we know our emotions very
directly and intimately if we know our
thoughts then they cease to scare us
and they can come and they can go like
clouds in the sky sometimes more like
hurricanes in the sky or tornadoes in
the sky but nevertheless one can hold
one seat
with mindfulness and my tree and
weather
these storms I have a very dear friend
who has cyclical depressions and who
has
been meditating for about 20 years and
recently he was saying that when he
began he hoped that these depressions
would go and he would never have them
again and somewhere into the process
he
lost heart completely when he saw that
yes things were changing for him and yes
he felt a real softening in his being
and a real opening outward and yes he
knew that he was becoming much more
flexible and had less fear but still
every so often the depressions would
come back and that was very
discouraging
and when I talked to him last he said
now he knows that they come and he
knows
that they go and when he's with them he
applies mindfulness and my tree and he
sits with it and it doesn't feel good
and he also knows what makes it worse
what escalates the suffering what
escalates the darkness and he knows
what
helps it to lighten up he knows that
that's not a good time to make major
decisions in his life he knows it's not
a good time to have important
conversations with people because
everything's so colored by the darkness
so he tends to use those times to read
and sort of retreat and go for a lot of
walks and be with himself with as much
my tree as he can and then it was very
interesting I don't know how many of you
read this article by trumpery mache that
was in the Shambhala Sun about three
issues ago but it was very interesting
there was a whole part in it about
depression I think the article was
called the lion's roar and there was a
man in the questions and answers that
started to ask him say about depression
and remember she described it so vividly
what depression felt like
that you knew that he knew what it was
to be depressed he described it as
everything closing in and the feeling
sort of coming down and there being
nowhere to breathe or move and that
everything you did to try to get rid of
it just made it worse and then he kept
saying to the man or whoever the
questioner was he kept saying it's so
juicy it has so much energy in it it's
one of the best it's really it's really
powerful it's a wonderful one to contact
directly you should really get into and
the person was just saying are you
kidding you know like but it was
somewhat convincing because it was
clear
and that Remy Shea himself had worked
with it that way this question of
developing inner strength it's really
important and this question of the
development of strength and Trust is
really important but we should know that
if we look for the strength and the
trust in the wrong places it never adds
up we just become weaker and more
afraid
and so this path of opening to
experience it's a gradual path part of
my tree means that you aren't in a rush
that you really trust your own speed if
you go too fast there's backlash and if
there's too much backlash you give up
all together you get completely
discouraged and you just don't come
back
you roll up your mat and go away so
gentleness is really important in terms
of letting things evolve at their own
speed and I've come to realize that this
is also the best instruction for my tree
and mindfulness with your own
experience
with your own being just watch how you
evolve and then make your moves
according to how how it's happening
rather than you have these ideals and
concepts that you're trying to measure
up to so when you experience fear
I realize that it is part of life and
it's definitely part of growth and it's
definitely part of shedding very old
crippling patterns but these patterns
were addicted to them so there's going
to be a real process that goes on
so one should place that fearful mind in
the cradle of loving-kindness and work
with mindfulness and my tree I'd like to
introduce the bodhichitta practice of my
tree and Karuna the actual formal
practice of arousing the feeling of my
tree then letting that radiate out and
in keeping with the three noble
principles I would very sincerely like
to make the aspiration that this
benefits all of us and in particular
that something begins to transform
enough and that that transformation
leads us from suffering to happiness and
at the most profound level of really
beginning to as a result of this
practice get the notion of what is the
root of happiness what causes it to
expand and flower what causes it to to
grow rather than to decrease and
beginning to get the actual sense in our
everyday life at a non conceptual level
just at the level of our being of what
is it that causes suffering what is the
root of suffering so that we might be
able to speak and act and think live our
lives in a way where suffering for
ourselves and others begins to
de-escalate or there's less suffering I
think it's important to realize that we
don't evolve alone these qualities in us
they don't happen in isolation they
happen in relationship to other people
it's compassion for ourselves and others
that causes the compassion to increase
and the suffering to decrease it doesn't
happen in isolation and in that regard I
think it's quite inspiring to realize
that if one person can connect with what
is the root of happiness and the root of
suffering and begin to live their life
that way if one person can connect with
this spark of bodhichitta so that it
grows and this capacity to open our
minds beyond narrow mindedness and
closed painfully self-centered views if
even one person can do that to the
degree that one person can do that it
makes it easier for the rest of us so we
evolve together to the degree that some
people are beginning to get the hang of
this you can count on the fact that many
other people all over the globe are
beginning to get the hang of this I've
noticed this over the years with my
spiritual practice in the community that
I would have insights in my meditation
very personal true transformative
insights genuine non conceptual insights
only to find in my discussions with my
friends that they were having the same
insight and then to start reading in a
magazine articles and books and things
and see that other people are having the
same insights so it works like that so
don't think that your meager attempt to
feel loved and to feel compassion is
wasted to the degree that you even
aspire to awaken your good heart your
kind heart to love and care for others
to be able to have the bravery actually
to feel the pain of other people to
overcome the fear of feeling the pain
that exists in this world even your
aspiration to do that you're wanting to
do
it has enormous power for the whole
human consciousness to evolve not just
you
not just us in this realm not just
people who practice Buddhist meditation
but the whole species and we could
aspire that it also helps the ants and
the bees the fish and the tarantulas and
the monkeys and parrots and everybody
and all those beings that we are told
exists that we don't even perceive them
that everybody can benefit from this
meager humble beginning of us starting
to do this practice I would also say
that it's probably going to be a lot
easier for us and maybe it would have
been a hundred years ago even fifty
years ago because of the fact that
people have been doing it and people
have been gaining insight from it over
the years and therefore we step into a
pool of energy which is already here we
are going to do this my tree practice
the wish that all beings enjoy happiness
and the root of happiness it's basically
just arousing the wish that this could
be so that we could be happy and that
others could be happy before I present
the practice I'd like to say that what
makes this friendliness this love as my
tree limitless has to do with us
beginning to get the hang of what is the
root cause what is it that causes
happiness and suffering what is it and
that would allow for happiness to expand
and for suffering to decrease
traditionally what is said is that the
root of suffering is ignorance and that
the root of happiness is the dissolving
of ignorance and if you ask well what
are we ignorant of ignorant of the true
nature of reality so entrenched in a
static way of thinking and
perceiving reality so entrenched in
seeing ourselves and others as objects
objects that are sort of pitted against
each other sense of isolation sense of
solidness of things static and that the
true nature is of limitlessness in
process fluid not solid and most
importantly that we are all part of a
flow of energy of process part of the
whole we're not actually isolated just
as I described how our little effort
here actually will cause to be easier
for other people it's all like that
everything we do is either causing the
whole species all of us to hold
everything to open more or we stay in
the same holding patterns if you know
what I mean we say sort of continually
hooked in the same way so it could say
the whole Buddhist teaching is a
contemplation a study a meditating upon
trying to get to a real living
experience of knowing what causes
suffering and what causes happening to
really understand what that ignorant is
not just conceptually but truly
understand but it has a lot to do with
relaxing our mind and it has a lot to do
with opening our heart and it is said
that these for limitless one's Maya tree
and compassion joy and equanimity are
catalysts for speeding up this process
of having the insight dawn on what
cause
of suffering and what causes happiness
the important thing I think is that
perhaps your insight will grow even more
than it is now into the fact that how we
usually proceed is like heaping
suffering on top of suffering because we
feel pain we just seek for pleasure in
the wrong
places because we feel constricted we
look in the wrong places we're always
trying to basically get away from the
discomfort and therefore it just makes
matters worse we are actually a whole
species who are have spent centuries
you
know centuries and centuries of getting
really good at making matters worse on
the other hand this is a definitely a
time in history where there's a real
movement towards making matters
better a
real movement global movement towards
less denseness and more openness less
holding and more opening on the other
hand it's going the other way too both
things are happening so I could probably
give you know 25 talks on the route of
suffering and the route of happiness and
it might not still be part of your
living experience and so the very
important point is to continue to
contemplate this and just to notice you
can read what the teachings have to say
on it but actually notice in your own
experience what words make things
better
and what words make things worse in
terms of suffering what actions make
things worse and what the actions make
things better this has enormous power
just beginning to see our ability to
turn that around comes from being able
to see how certain things actually make
the pain increase and other things cause
us to lighten up and open

LR

Fear and Fearlessness: What the

Buddhists Teach
BY JUDY LIEF, JOHN DAIDO LOORI, ROBERT THURMAN, SYLVIA
BOORSTEIN AND TRALEG RINPOCHE| MAY 25, 2017
So much of our suffering—as individuals and as a
society—is caused by fear. In fact, according
to Buddhism, fear is at the very root of ego
and samsara. Four outstanding Buddhist
teachers discuss the vital practice of working
with our fears.

Starting on the Path of Fear and Fearlessness

By Judith Lief
It helps to explore how we can work with fear from the point of view of the path, the
student’s journey. How do we walk the path of fear? Fear is not a trivial matter. In many
ways, it restricts our lives; it imprisons us. Fear is also a tool of oppression. Because of
fear, we do many harmful things, individually and collectively, and people who are
hungry for power over others know that and exploit it. We can be made to do things out
of fear.

Fear is a very tricky thing. Sometimes we put up a pretense of virtue, but really we’re
afraid of being bad. Are our good deeds true virtue or just fear? Fear also stops us from
speaking up when we know we should. Fear is often what causes people to leave the path
of dharma. When things start to go deep, beyond self-improvement, they encounter fear
and say, “This path is not for me.”

The essential cause of our suffering and anxiety is ignorance of the nature of reality, and
craving and clinging to something illusory. That is referred to as ego, and the gasoline in
the vehicle of ego is fear. Ego thrives on fear, so unless we figure out the problem of fear,
we will never understand or embody any sense of egolessness or selflessness.

Fear has two extremes. At one extreme, we

freeze. We are petrified, literally, like a rock. At
the other extreme, we panic. How do we find the
path through those extremes?

We have our conscious day-to-day fears—of a close call, an accident, a bad health
diagnosis. But then there is an undercurrent of fear, which is very relevant to
practitioners. This undercurrent of fear lurks behind a lot of our habits. It is why it is so
hard to just sit still or stand still or stand in line—not doing anything in particular—
without feeling nervous and fidgety. We have a fear of being still.
Why do we spin out so many thoughts all the time? We sit and try to quiet the mind but it
just rumbles on and on, churning out masses of thought, small and large and pink and
yellow and bland and slimy. Why? It’s because of this undercurrent of fear. It’s as though
we have to keep things moving. We have to keep ourselves distracted at some
fundamental level. We have to keep our momentum going, because it’s pretty scary to
think of it stopping. Once we have separation and duality, we have to maintain the
momentum. The problem with ego and duality is that at some level we know it’s a sham,
but we have to keep at it. So part of the undercurrent of fear is the fear of being found
out, of being exposed as a big fat phony who is creating a solid illusion out of thin air.

Fear has two extremes. At one extreme, we freeze. We are petrified, literally, like a rock.
At the other extreme, we panic. We run around like maniacs and our mind goes into
hyperdrive. Freeze or panic. Freeze or panic. How do we find the path through those
extremes?

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There are many stages in the practitioner’s journey of working with fear, but it is very
important to know where it begins, so we can get off on the right foot. The starting point
is called the narrow path, where you look straightforwardly at your own experience. You
examine fear and dissect it into its components. Where does it arise? What is the
sensation when you feel afraid? What kind of thoughts race through your mind when you
are in a state of fear? What’s your particular pattern? Do you panic? Do you freeze? Do
you get really busy and try to fix everything? Do you get angry? At this stage in the path,
you try to understand your experience, try to break it down.

To do this, it helps to see things as they arise—before they become full-blown and you
are caught in their sway, at which point you can’t do much about them. In meditation
practice you slow things down, and that allows you to see the subtle arisings. By slowing
things down, you can interrupt the tossing of the match into the pile of leaves. You can
say, “I don’t need to go there. I see what’s coming.” You catch things when they’re
manageable. Understanding, examining, knowing, slowing down—those are the first
steps in working with fear, the beginning of the path to fearlessness.
The Cave of the Blue Dragon
By John Daido Loori, Roshi
There’s a koan I’m particularly fond of called “The National Teacher’s Stone Lion.” The
national teacher and the emperor of China were entering the palace grounds when the
national teacher pointed to a stone lion and said, “Your majesty, would you please say a
word of Zen, something profound, about this lion?” And the emperor said, “I can’t say
anything. Would you please say something?” And the national teacher said, “It’s my
fault.”

What the national teacher was doing was taking responsibility for what Zorba the Greek
called “the full catastrophe.” Our tendency, by contrast, is to make ourselves the victim,
which means there is nothing we can do. I think, “He made me angry. It’s his fault. There
is nothing I can do.” But when I realize that only I can make myself angry, then I’ve
empowered myself to do something about my anger. The same goes for fear.

The koan’s prologue says:

Confined in a cage up against the wall, pressed against the barriers, if you linger in
thought holding back your potential, you will remain mired in fear and frozen in inaction.
If, on the other hand, you advance fearlessly and without hesitation, you manifest your
power as a competent adept of the way, passing through entanglements and barriers
without hindrance to time and season. A great peace is attained. How do you advance
fearlessly and without hesitation?

Fear arises the moment you ask yourself, what is this all about? Inevitably, it has nothing
to do with right now. It has to do with the future, but the future doesn’t exist. It hasn’t
happened yet. The past doesn’t exist. It has already happened. The only thing you’ve got
is what’s right here, right now. And coming home to the moment makes all the difference
in the world in how you deal with fear.

There are all kinds of fearlessness. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche used to talk about “idiot
compassion.” Well, there’s idiot fearlessness too, which is just being dull-witted. If you
remain calm when everyone else panics, perhaps you don’t understand the problem.
When we talk about “advancing fearlessly,” it’s not that.

There’s also the fearlessness that comes out of anger, out of converting your fear into
anger in the face of danger, but that’s not a lasting solution. There’s the fearlessness of
young people, the kind of people the military likes to send off to war. When you’re
seventeen or eighteen, you can feel invulnerable, but false invulnerability is not a wise
form of fearlessness. Fearlessness is empowered by fear. You can’t develop fearlessness
—real compassionate, generous fearlessness—without fear. Fearlessness is born of fear.
“…if you linger in thought holding back your potential, you will remain mired in fear and
frozen in inaction.”

That’s where we freeze in the presence of fear. We may have all the potential of a lion, a
Buddha, but the moment we start analyzing and projecting, we give rise not to freedom
but to more things to analyze. We come up with all kinds of rationalizations for our fear,
but somehow they don’t seem to help. We define it, categorize it, analyze it, judge it,
understand it, but still fear persists.

“If, on the other hand, you advance fearlessly without hesitation, you manifest your
power as a competent adept of the way.”

This power comes directly out of meditation. In zazen, each time you acknowledge a
thought, let it go, and come back to the moment, you build joriki, the power of
concentration. The more you sit, the deeper you sit, the more joriki you build, and the
closer you come to the falling away of body and mind. Meditation means going to where
you already are, what you already have. It’s a direct pointing to the human mind,
constantly pointing back to ourselves.

“…passing through entanglements and barriers without hindrance to time and season. A
great peace is attained.”

This is what we call the endless spring, the endless spring of enlightenment. Always
present and perfect, whether we realize it or not.

“How do you advance fearlessly and without hesitation?”

For this, I will refer to the koan’s capping verse, its poetic expression:

The cave of the blue dragon is ominous.

Only the fearless dare to enter.
It is here that the forest of patterns is clearly revealed.
It is here that the one ripe pearl is hidden.

The cave of the blue dragon is where we store all of our stuff—our psychological bilge,
so to speak—and it’s very difficult to go there. It takes a certain degree of fearlessness to
do that. The process of zazen engages that. It engages the fear, in order to empower
fearlessness. When stuff comes up, we don’t use zazen as another vehicle for suppression.
When something keeps coming up in meditation, that’s a signal that you need to deal with
it. You need to process it. You need to process it thoroughly and fearlessly, to feel it and
experience it, then let it go and come back to the moment.
Fear the Right Thing
By Robert Thurman
We all think that fear is awful and painful, yet the Buddhists—the master psychologists
for thousands of years—don’t include fear in the long list of mental afflictions contained
in the Abhidharma, the core teachings on Buddhist psychology. Anger is mentioned.
Impatience is mentioned. Many other familiar afflictions are mentioned. But not fear. I’ve
always thought that was curious, but if we consider it closely, we’ll see a way in which it
makes sense.

Being free of fear is certainly praised in the buddhadharma. One of the three major types
of giving is giving someone protection from fear. It’s the essence of the abhaya, the no-
fear mudra. This is the famous gesture of the Buddha where he holds up his hand, palm
out. Indeed, when you become a buddha, you become fearless.

Under normal circumstances fear is not a problem, which is why it’s not listed among the
afflictions. Fear is a healthy thing, in general. It is awareness of danger. Fear is protective;
it’s what helps us to avoid wandering into a hungry lion’s den.

So fear is helpful in that everyday sense. It is also helpful in the Buddhist sense, in the
form of fear of suffering, embodied in the first noble truth. The truth of suffering is not a
doomsday prediction. It is not expressing an inevitable destiny. On the contrary, it alerts
us to the fact that we are not being aware of what we really are. We are deluded about
suffering. We ought to be aware of our suffering. We should be afraid of suffering, in fact.
Otherwise, why would we have any reason to do anything about it?

Starting out with the right kind of fear is the way to

fearlessness.

Fear will motivate us to try to understand the world and ourselves, and when we do, we
will come to appreciate the second noble truth: that suffering is caused by a habit of
constructing an absolute self. We go through life being absolute, as if no one else matters,
but we can look at that habit and come to learn that it doesn’t work. We can develop deep
concentration, deep meditation about that and ultimately free ourselves from that gut
feeling of being “the real me,” opposed to everything and everyone else. If we don’t
overcome this sense of self-absoluteness, we will descend into the lower realms of being.
That is something it is reasonable to fear.
The third noble truth is nirvana—the fact that it is possible to become permanently free of
suffering and yet not dead. Many people in America think they’re going to be
permanently free of suffering just by dying, but the third noble truth tells us that it is
possible to be free of suffering and also be alive. That is ultimate fearlessness. And the
Buddha offered us a means to realize this in the form of the fourth noble truth, which
describes an educational process involving study, concentration, meditation, and
changing your lifestyle.

If you follow this path, you can reach a stage where you’re connected to your own
nobleness and the nobleness of others. You realize there is no absolute self, and therefore
the self is a flexible, relational thing, like an aikido master of reality. You understand
yourself as interwoven with the universe. You have diminished your sense of isolation
and alienation from others, your disconnectedness from the world. You have increased
and intensified your sense of connection to the world. You do not fear that connectedness.

It is said that out of ignorance we fear what we should not fear, and we are not afraid of
what we should be afraid of. Normally we fear the connectedness, but it is in fact the
disconnectedness that we ought to be afraid of. Starting out with the right kind of fear is
the way to fearlessness.

The Gesture of Fearlessness and the Armor of

Loving-Kindness
By Sylvia Boorstein
I think this was the first Buddhist story I heard when I began practicing thirty years ago.
A fierce and terrifying band of samurai was riding through the countryside, bringing fear
and harm wherever they went. As they were approaching one particular town, all the
monks in the town’s monastery fled, except for the abbot. When the band of warriors
entered the monastery, they found the abbot sitting at the front of the shrine room in
perfect posture. The fierce leader took out his sword and said, “Don’t you know who I
am? Don’t you know that I’m the sort of person who could run you through with my
sword without batting an eye?” The Zen master responded, “And I, sir, am the sort of
man who could be run through by a sword without batting an eye.”

It took me many years to warm up to that story. I thought it inconceivable that I could
undergo such a thing without batting an eye. If they were doing startle tests when I was
young, I’m pretty sure I would have failed miserably. Another reason I didn’t like the
story was that it seemed so offhanded about life. I thought the story meant that it was all
the same to the Zen master whether he lived or died. And it’s not all the same to me. I’d
much rather live.
I don’t actually know whether the story is meant to imply that the Zen master had so
much insight into the absolute that he really didn’t discriminate between living or dying,
but I don’t think that matters so much. The point, as I understand it now, is that he
understood there was nothing at all for him to do. In the face of being killed, you have
two possibilities. You can fight with the moment, either physically or mentally, and create
more turmoil in your mind. Or you can say, this is simply what’s happening. That’s what
happens where something as final as death is in sight. The mind gives up its usual hope
for another reality, and when it gives up that hope, the mind relaxes. It doesn’t have to
look for something else to do. So even though it is the end, it’s without suffering.

It was very important for me to learn the difference between suffering and pain. Suffering
is the extra turmoil in the mind over and above the pain of body and mind. The absence
of that tension is the absence of suffering. The Zen master could let go of that tension.
Even those of us who haven’t been doing decades of practice can let go of that tension
when we are faced with the inevitable. This is not theoretical. I have seen this with
friends of mine who are dying of cancer.

The gesture of fearlessness is a simple gesture of accepting whatever there is. It’s not the
“whatever” of adolescence, which combines “couldn’t care less” with a little bit of
aggression. This “whatever” is the whatever of truth. Things happen because other things
have happened. Karma is true. This is what’s happening in this moment. It can’t be other
than this. This is what it is, and that truth is always soothing.

Fearlessness also comes from benevolence and goodwill in the face of whatever
oppresses you. You are afraid, but instead of fighting what faces you, you embrace it and
accept it—you develop loving-kindness as a direct antidote to fear. This is expressed
beautifully in one of the famous images of the Buddha depicting the night of his
enlightenment. The Buddha is seated under the Bodhi tree, looking relaxed and
contemplative, and apparently surrounded by a protective shield. Surrounding him are the
maras, all of the afflictions that assail the mind. Some have spears aimed at the Buddha
and some are disguised in erotic imagery, aiming to disrupt the Buddha’s concentration,
trying to generate the fear that comes from being attacked. But the Buddha sits unmoved,
with one hand on the ground, as if to say, “I have a right to be here.” The shield that
surrounds him, that protects him from these afflictions, is his benevolence. His own
loving-kindness shining out from him is the dissolver of all afflictions.

Our own benevolence is actually the protection that renders enemies impotent. In the
picture, as the spears and arrows come to touch the shield around the Buddha, they fall to
the ground as flowers all around him. I like to think of those flowers as an illustration of
how each of us, by cultivating steadfast goodwill, can dissolve the forces of confusion
and fear in the world.
Seek a Spiritual Ground
By Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche
The Buddhist view is that fear is ubiquitous. We all have an underlying sense of not being
settled, of not being secure. We have an existential feeling of uncertainty and instability,
and that makes us very anxious. Unfortunately, we usually apply the wrong antidote to
this ever-present sense of anxiousness.

To allay or mollify that fear, we try to find refuge in accumulating wealth, or trying to
make a big name for ourselves, or doing aerobics, or getting a new nose, or whatever. Yet
doing these things over and over again does not settle us. In fact, it does the opposite. It
exacerbates the very problem we are trying to address. Buddhism does not teach us to
completely give up all relationship with material things. That’s not the point. The point is
the attitude we take toward what we do and what we have. When we do things to try to
make ourselves secure, to establish our own sense of identity, we are barking up the
wrong tree. We enflame our negative emotions.

The very act of dealing with fear is attaining

fearlessness.

When these emotions become inflamed, our fears grow. They compound. They go
haywire. As the Buddha himself said, we get completely bogged down by fears of not
getting what we want to have, being separated from what we have, and getting what we
do not want. Unless we have some kind of spiritual focus, we do not feel any real sense
of groundedness, and so our efforts are not fruitful in the long run. We disperse our
psychic and spiritual energies right, left, and center, leaving ourselves exhausted and
frustrated. We think we’ve missed out on this or that, or that everybody is an obstacle to
our effort to improve ourselves. We want to have a certain kind of life, but everything is
frustrating that.

When we feel like that, all kinds of fears arise—fear of death, of old age, of our reality
crumbling, of ending up being nothing or nobody. On the other hand, if we are secure in
ourselves from having found some kind of spiritual focus, and we learn how to gather our
psychic and spiritual energies into ourselves, we can discover a kind of inner richness. If
we acknowledge the deep sense of emptiness we feel at the very bottom of our being,
which cannot be filled by any kind of love that we might get from other people or any
amount of money, we see that it can be filled only by the richness of our own spiritual
cultivation. If we do that, we will experience a sense of groundedness that allows us to
reduce and manage the fears we experience and, eventually, to overcome them.
The very act of dealing with fear is attaining fearlessness. We don’t do two things—first
overcoming fear and then starting on the project of developing fearlessness. All the fears
are not going to just magically disappear. We will need to develop stability and insight.
Stability in itself is not sufficient. Feeling a bit more calm and relaxed is not sufficient to
overcome the deep sense of anxiety and anxiousness at the core of our being. To
overcome it we need insight, which, according to Buddhism, involves profound reflection
on our lives. That includes looking deeply at our fear. Looking deeply shows us its nature
and teaches us how to work with it.

As we look deeply, we can see that there is not an object of fear separate from the subject
who is afraid. Think about it. How fearful one is in relation to an object varies from
individual to individual, and even with the same individual it varies from one time to
another. So how one experiences fear in relation to a particular object of fear this year
will be different from last year, or this week from last week, or this afternoon from this
morning.

If we acknowledge the deep sense of emptiness

we feel at the very bottom of our being, which
cannot be filled by any kind of love that we might
get from other people or any amount of money,
we see that it can be filled only by the richness of
our own spiritual cultivation.

With the stability of shamatha and the insight of vipashyana, we really begin to see the
interrelationship between the fear response and the object of fear. From the Buddhist
point of view, that’s very significant. We understand that we do not have two independent
things coming together: one who fears and what is feared. We then begin to develop some
appreciation for what is called interdependent arising—subject and object arising together
—which gives us a feeling of empowerment, of real choice, a lot of room to move around
in, and a real inkling of the Buddha’s wisdom.

These essays are based on teachings given at the program “Fear and Fearlessness: What
the Buddhists Teach.” This weekend of teachings, practice, and discussion was the first of
an annual series cosponsored by Lion’s Roar and the Omega Institute.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
How to Deal With Worrying With

Buddhist Practices
How to Practice Buddhism When You're a Nervous Wreck
By Barbara O'Brien
Barbara O'Brien is a Zen Buddhist practitioner who
studied at Zen Mountain Monastery. She is the author of
"Rethinking Religion" and has covered religion for The
Guardian, Tricycle.org, and other outlets.
Updated April 30, 2019
Worry and anxiety are part of life. In Buddhism, the
worry is also among the Five Hindrances
to enlightenment. The fourth hindrance, uddhacca-
kukkucca in Pali, is often translated "restlessness and
worry," or sometimes "restlessness and remorse."
Uddhacca, or restlessness, literally means "to shake." It
is a tendency to be over-excited or "revved up." For now,
however, we're going to look at mostly at kukkucca,
which the early sutras describe as remorse for things
done or not done in the past. Over time, the meaning of
kukkucca was expanded to include anxiety and worry.
Some of the old texts helpfully advise us to replace
worry with serenity. Oh sure, you might say. Like it's
easy. Don't worry; be happy! Needless to say, if worry is
a particular hindrance for you, just telling you to stop
worrying isn't much help. You've probably been trying to
do exactly that for years. So let's look at worry a little
more closely.
What Is Worry?

Scientists think the propensity to worry evolved in

humans along with intelligence. Worry involves
anticipating that something unfortunate could happen
in the future, and the discomfort of worry spurs us to try
to avoid this unfortunate thing or at least mitigate its
effects. In earlier times, worry helped our ancestors
survive.

Quickly passing worries are a normal part of life

— and dukkha — and nothing to worry about. If we are
practicing mindfulness, we recognize worry when it
emerges, and acknowledge it, and take action to
resolve a problem if we can. However, sometimes worry
settles in for a long stay.
Do What's In Front of You

Worry evolved to spur us into action, but sometimes

there is no action to take at the moment. Maybe the
matter is out of our hands. We worry when a loved one
is very sick. We worry about being approved for
mortgages or about the outcomes of elections. We
worry about our jobs when we're at home and about
home life when we're working.

This is where mindfulness comes in. First, acknowledge

you are worrying. Then acknowledge there's nothing
you can do about the situation right now. And then
resolve to let it go.

Focus on what's in front of you. Your only reality is the

present moment. If you are cleaning the kitchen, let
there be nothing else in the universe but cleaning the
kitchen. Or filing papers, or driving to school. Give
whatever is at hand all your attention and energy.

The first few times you do this, you'll probably still be

worrying. But in time you can learn to drop the worry
and stay in the moment.
For most of us, eventually the situation is resolved and
the worry passes. But for some, the worry is their
default setting. This is chronic worrying, as opposed to
the acute worrying described above. For chronic
worriers, anxiety is a constant part of life's background
noise.

People can become so used to chronic anxiety they

learn to ignore it, and it becomes subconscious.
However, the worry is still there, eating away at them.
And when they begin to practice meditation or cultivate
mindfulness, anxiety roars out of its hiding places in the
psyche to sabotage their efforts.

Advice on Meditating With Worry

For most people, mindfulness and meditation practice

does reduce anxiety, although you may have to take it
slow at first. If you are a beginner, and sitting in
meditation for twenty minutes makes you so nervous
your teeth chatter, then sit for ten minutes. Or five. Just
do it every day.

While meditating, don't try to force your nerves to be

still. Just observe what you are feeling without trying to
control it or separate from it.

Soto Zen teacher Gil Fronsdal suggests paying attention

to the physical sensations of restlessness and anxiety.
"If there is a lot of energy coursing through the body,
imagine the body as a wide container where the energy
is allowed to bounce around like a ping-pong ball.
Accepting it like this can take away the extra agitation
of fighting the restlessness."
Don't attach judgmental labels to yourself or your
anxiety. The worry in itself is neither good nor bad —
it's what you do with it that matters — and your anxiety
doesn't mean you are not cut out for meditation.
Meditating with worry is challenging, but it's also
strengthening, like training with heavy weights.

When Worry Is Overwhelming

Severe chronic worry might stem from a traumatic

experience that became internalized. Deep down, we
may perceive the world as a treacherous place that
could crush us at any time. People who are afraid of the
world often remain stuck in unhappy marriages or
miserable jobs because they feel powerless.

In some cases, chronic worry causes crippling phobias,

compulsions, and other self-destructive behavior. When
there is extreme anxiety, before plunging into a
meditation practice it might be helpful to work with a
therapist to get to the root of it.

Immediately after a trauma, meditation may not be

possible even for experienced meditators. In this case,
a daily chanting or ritual practice may keep your
dharma candle lit until you are feeling stronger.
Trust, Equanimity, Wisdom
The guidance of a dharma teacher can be invaluable.
Tibetan Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron said that a
good teacher will help you learn to trust yourself. "You
begin to trust in your basic goodness instead of
identifying with your neurosis," she said.
Cultivating trust—in oneself, in others, in the practice—
is critical for people with chronic anxiety. This
is shraddha (Sanskrit) or saddha (Pali), which often is
translated as "faith." But this is faith in the sense of
trust or confidence. Before there can be serenity, there
must first be trust. See also "Faith, Doubt, and
Buddhism."
Equanimity is another essential virtue for the
chronically worried. Cultivation of equanimity helps us
release our fears and patterns of denial and avoidance.
And wisdom teaches us that the things we fear are
phantoms and dreams.

Replacing worry with serenity is possible for all of us,

and there's no better time to start than now.

++++++++++++++++++
Dealing with anxiety
by Venerable Thubten Chodron on Jun 18, 2011 in Fear Anxiety and Other Emotions

http://thubtenchodron.org/2011/06/happiness-within/
Before talking about how to deal with anxiety, let’s do a
brief meditation that will help us release some of our
stress and anxiety. When meditating, sit comfortably.
You can cross your legs or sit with your feet flat on the
floor. Place the right hand on the left, the thumbs
touching so they make a triangle, in your lap against
your body. Sit up straight, with your head level, then
lower your eyes.
Setting a positive motivation
Before we begin the actual meditation, we generate our
motivation by thinking, "I will meditate in order to
improve myself, and by doing so may I be able to benefit
all the beings I come in contact with. In the long term,
may I eliminate all defilements and enhance all my good
qualities so that I can become a fully
enlightened Buddha in order to benefit all beings most
effectively." Even though enlightenment may seem a
long way off, by generating the intention to transform
our mind into one of an enlightened being, we gradually
approach that goal.
Meditation on the breath
One meditation found in all the Buddhist traditions is
the meditation on the breath. It helps to calm the mind,
develop concentration, and brings our attention to the
present moment. To focus on our breath and really
experience what it feels like to breathe, we have to let
go of the thoughts that chatter about the past and
future and bring our attention simply to what is
happening now. This is always more relaxing than the
hopes and fears of the past and the future, which exist
merely in our mind and are not happening in the present
moment.
Breathe normally and naturally—do not force your
breath and do not deep-breathe. Let your attention rest
at your abdomen. As you breathe in, be aware of the
sensations in your body as the air enters and leaves.
Notice that your abdomen rises as you inhale and falls
as you exhale. If other thoughts or sounds enter your
mind or distract you, just be aware that your attention
has strayed, and gently, but firmly, bring your attention
back to the breath. Your breath is like home—whenever
the mind wanders, bring your attention home to the
breath. Just experience the breath, be aware of what is
happening right now as you inhale and exhale. (Meditate
for however long you wish.)

The attitude that causes anxiety

When Buddha described the evolution of samsara—the
cycle of constantly recurring problems in which we are
presently trapped, he said that its origin was ignorance.
This is a specific type of ignorance, one that
misunderstands the nature of existence. Whereas things
are dependent on other factors and are constantly in
flux, ignorance apprehends them in a very concrete
fashion. It makes everything seem super-concrete, as if
all persons and objects had their own solid essence. We
especially make ourselves very concrete, thinking, "Me.
My problems. My life. My family. My job. Me, me, me."
First we make our self very solid; then we cherish this
self above all else. By observing how we live our lives,
we see that we have
incredible attachment and clinging to this self. We want
to take care of ourselves. We want to be happy. We like
this; we don’t like that. We want this and we don’t want
that. Everybody else comes second. I come first. Of
course, we’re too polite to say this, but when we
observe how we live our lives, it is evident.
It is easy to see how anxiety develops because of so
much focus on "me." There are over five billion human
beings on this planet, and zillions of other living beings
throughout the universe, but we make a big deal out of
just one of them—me. With such self-preoccupation, of
course anxiety follows. Due to this self-centered
attitude, we pay an incredible amount of attention to
everything that has to do with me. In this way, even
very small things that have to do with me become
extraordinarily important, and we worry and get
stressed about them. For example, if the neighbor’s
child does not do their homework one night, we don’t
get anxious about it. But if our child does not do their
homework one night—it’s a big deal! If somebody else’s
car gets dented we say, "Well, that’s too bad," and
forget about it. But if our car gets dented, we talk about
it and complain about it for a long time. If a colleague is
criticized, it doesn’t bother us. But if we receive even a
tiny bit of negative feedback, we become angry, hurt or
depressed.

Why is this? We can see that anxiety is very intricately

related to self-centeredness. The bigger this idea that "I
am the most important one in the universe and
everything that happens to me is so crucial" is, the
more anxious we are going to be. My own anxious mind
is a very interesting phenomena. Last year, I did a
retreat by myself for four weeks, so I had a nice long
time to spend with my own anxious mind and know it
very well. My guess is that it’s similar to yours. My
anxious mind picks out something that happened in my
life—it does not make a difference what it is. Then I spin
it around in my mind, thinking, "Oh, what if this
happens? What if that happens? Why did this person do
this to me? How come this happened to me?" and on
and on. My mind could spend hours philosophizing,
psychologizing and worrying about this one thing. It
seemed like nothing else in the world was important but
my particular melodrama.
When we are in the middle of worry and anxiety
regarding something, that thing appears to us to be
incredibly important. It’s as if our mind doesn’t have a
choice—it has to think about this thing because it’s of
monumental significance. But I noticed in my retreat
that my mind would get anxious about something
different every meditation session. Maybe it was just
looking for variety! It’s too boring to just have one thing
to be anxious about! While I was worrying about one
thing, it seemed like it was the most important one in
the whole world and the other ones weren’t as
important. That is until the next session arrived, and
another anxiety became the most important one and
everything else was not so bad. I began to realize it
isn’t the thing I am worrying about that is the difficulty.
It is my own mind that is looking for something to worry
about. It doesn’t really matter what the problem is. If
I’m habituated with anxiety, I’ll find a problem to worry
about. If I can’t find one, then I’ll invent one or cause
one.

Dealing with anxiety

All of our happiness and suffering don’t come from

other people or other things, but from our own minds.
(Photo by Elliot Brown)
In other words, the real issue is not what is happening
outside, but what is happening inside of us. How we
experience a situation depends on how we view it—how
we interpret what is happening, how we describe the
situation to ourselves. Thus the Buddha said that all of
our experiences of happiness and suffering don’t come
from other people or other things, but from our own
minds.

Having a sense of humor

How do we deal with our minds when we become very
self-centered and anxious? It is important to learn to
laugh at ourselves. We really do have a monkey mind
when it comes to anxiety, don’t we? We worry about
this and then we worry about that, like a monkey
jumping all over the place. We have to be able to laugh
at the monkey instead of taking it so seriously and to
develop a sense of humor about our problems.
Sometimes our problems are pretty funny, aren’t they? If
we could step back and look at our problems, many of
them would seem quite humorous. If a character in a
soap opera had this problem or was acting this way, we
would laugh at it. Sometimes I do that: I step back and
look at myself, "Oh, look how Chodron feels so sorry for
herself. Sniff, sniff. There’s so many sentient beings
having so many different experiences in the universe,
and poor Chodron just stubbed her toe."

No sense getting anxious

Thus one antidote is to have a sense of humor and be
able to laugh at ourselves. But for those of you who
can’t laugh at yourselves, there is another way. The
great Indian sage Shantideva advised us, "If you have a
problem and you can do something about it, there is no
need to get anxious about it because you can actively
do something to solve it. On the other hand, if there is
nothing you can do to solve it, getting anxious about it
is useless—it won’t fix the problem. So either way you
look at it, whether the problem is solvable or
unsolvable, there is no sense in getting anxious or upset
about it. Try thinking like that about one of your
problems. Just sit for a minute and think, "Is there
something I can do about this or not?" If something can
be done, go ahead and do that—there’s no need to sit
around and worry. If nothing can be done to alter the
situation, it is useless to worry. Just let it go. Try
thinking like that about a problem that you have and see
if it helps.

Not worrying about making a fool of ourselves

Sometimes we are anxious and nervous before going
into a new situation. Afraid that we will make fools out
of ourselves, we think, "I may do something wrong, I’ll
look like a jerk, and everybody will laugh at me or think
badly of me." In these cases, I find it helpful to say to
myself: "Well, if I can avoid looking like an idiot, I’ll do
that. But if something happens and I look like an idiot
then okay, so be it." We can never predict what other
people will think or what they will say behind our back.
Maybe it will be good, maybe not. At some point we
have to let go and say to ourselves, "Well, that’s okay."
Now I’ve also started thinking, "If I do something stupid
and people think poorly of me, that’s okay. I do have
faults and make mistakes, so it’s no wonder if others
notice them. But if I can acknowledge my mistakes and
rectify them as much as possible, then I have fulfilled
my responsibility and surely others don’t hold my
mistake against me."

Paying more attention to others

Another way of dealing with anxiety is to lessen our
self-centeredness and train our mind to pay more
attention to others than to ourselves. This doesn’t mean
that we ignore ourselves. We need to pay attention to
ourselves, but in a healthy way, not in a neurotic,
anxious way. Of course we need to take care of our
body and we should try to keep our mind happy. We can
do this in a healthy and relaxed way by being mindful of
what we are thinking, saying and doing. This kind of
focus on ourselves is necessary and is part of Buddhist
practice. However, it is very different from the self-
centeredness that makes us so distressed and restless.
That self-centeredness puts undue emphasis on
ourselves and thus makes every small thing into a big
one.

Considering the disadvantages of self-preoccupation

By considering the disadvantages of self-preoccupation,
we will find it easier to let go of that attitude. When it
arises in our mind, we will notice it and think, "If I
follow this self-centered attitude, it will cause me
problems. Therefore, I won’t follow that way of thinking
and will turn my attention instead to view the situation
from a broader perspective, one that encompasses the
wishes and needs of everyone involved." Then we can
use the same amount of energy to be sensitive to others
and develop a kind heart towards them. When we look
at others with an open mind, we recognize that
everybody wants to be happy and free of suffering as
intensely as we do. When opening our hearts to this
fact, there will be no space left inside ourselves for self-
centered anxiety. Look in your own life, when your heart
has been filled with genuine kindness toward others,
have you simultaneously been depressed and anxious?
It’s impossible.

Developing equanimity
Some people may think, "But I do care about others,
and that’s what makes me anxious," or "Because I care
so much about my kids and my parents, I worry about
them all the time." This kind of caring isn’t the open-
hearted loving-kindness that we are trying to develop in
Buddhist practice. This kind of caring is limited to only
a few people. Who are the people that we care about so
much? All the ones who are related to "me"—my kids,
my parents, my friends, my family. We are right back to
"me, me, me" again, aren’t we? This kind of caring
about others isn’t what we are trying to develop here.
Instead, we want to learn to care for others impartially,
without thinking some beings are more important and
others are less worthy. The more we can
develop equanimity and an open, caring heart towards
all, the more we’ll feel close to everyone else and the
more we will be able to reach out to them. We have to
train our mind in this broad attitude, expanding our care
from the small group of people around us so that it
gradually is extended to everyone—those we know and
those we don’t, and especially to those we don’t like.
To do this, start by thinking, "Everyone wants to be
happy, just like me, and nobody wants to suffer, just like
me." If we focus on that thought alone, there is no
space left for anxiety in our minds anymore. When we
look at each living being with this recognition and
immerse our minds in that thought, our mind will
automatically become very open and caring. Try doing
this today. Whenever you are looking at people—for
example, when you are in a shop, on the street, in a bus
—think, "This is a living being that has feelings,
someone who wants to be happy and doesn’t want to
suffer. This person is just like me." You will find that you
will no longer feel that they are complete strangers. You
will feel like you know them in some way and will
respect each of them.

Reflecting on the kindness of others

Then, if we think about the kindness of others, our mood
and the way we see others totally transform. Usually we
do not think about others’ kindness to us, but our
kindness to them. Instead, we focus on the thought, "I
care for them and helped them so much, and they don’t
appreciate it." This makes us very anxious and we start
to worry, "Oh, I did something nice for that person, but
they don’t like me," or "I helped that person, but they
don’t recognize how much I helped them," or "Nobody
appreciates me. How come nobody loves me?" In this
way, our monkey mind has taken over the show. We
focus so single-pointedly on how kind we have been to
others and how little they appreciate us that even when
somebody says to us, "Can I help you?" we think, "What
do you want from me?" Our self-preoccupation has
made us suspicious and unable to see or accept the
kindness and love that others genuinely give us.
Kindness of our friends and relatives
By meditating on the kindness of others, we will see
that we have actually been the recipients of an
incredible amount of kindness and love from others. In
doing this meditation, first think about the kindness of
your friends and relatives, all the different things that
they have done for you or given you. Start with the
people who took care of you when you were an infant.
When you see parents taking care of their kids, think,
"Somebody took care of me that way," and "Somebody
gave me loving attention and took care of me like that."
If nobody had given us that kind of attention and care,
we wouldn’t be alive today. No matter what kind of
family we came from, someone did take care of us. The
fact that we are alive attests to that, because as
children we could not take care of ourselves.

Kindness of the people who taught us

Think about the incredible kindness we received from
those who taught us to speak. I visited a friend and her
two-year-old child who was learning to speak. I sat
there, watching as my friend repeated things over and
over again just so her child could learn to speak. To
think that other people did that for us! We take our
ability to speak for granted, but when we think about it,
we see that other people spent a lot of time teaching us
how to speak, make sentences, and pronounce words.
That is a tremendous amount of kindness we have
received from others, isn’t it? Where would we be if no
one taught us how to talk? We did not learn by
ourselves. Other people taught us. Everything we
learned throughout childhood and everything we keep
learning as adults—every new thing that comes into our
lives and enriches us—we receive due to the kindness
of others. All of our knowledge and each of our talents
exist because others taught us and helped us to
develop them.

Kindness of strangers
Then consider the tremendous kindness we received
from strangers, people that we do not know. So many
beings whom we don’t know personally have done
things that have helped us. For example, we received an
education due to the kindness of people who dedicated
their lives to building schools and establishing
educational programs. We ride on roads that exist due
to the effort of so many engineers and construction
workers whom we have never met. We probably do not
know the people who built our home, the architects,
engineers, construction crew, plumbers, electricians,
painters, and so forth. They may have built our home in
the summer, enduring the hot weather. We don’t know
these people, but because of their kindness and effort,
we have homes to live in and a temple where we can
come and meet together. We don’t even know who these
people are to say, "Thank you." We just come in, use the
buildings, and receive benefit from their effort. Seldom
do we consider what they had to go through so that we
could live so comfortably.

Deriving benefit from harm

Next we reflect on the benefit from those who have
harmed us. Although it may seem that they harmed us,
but if we look at it in another way, we have received
benefit from them. For example, a few years ago
someone did something quite mean to me behind my
back. At the time, I was very upset and thought, "Oh,
this is awful. How could this person do this to me?" Now
I realize that I’m glad this situation happened because
it opened up a new direction in my life. If this person
had not been so unkind to me, I would still be doing
what I had done before and would probably be stuck in
a rut. But this person’s actions pushed me to be more
creative. Although initially the situation was very
painful, in the long-term, it had a very good effect on my
life. It forced me to grow and to develop other talents.
So, even the people or situations that we feel are bad
can turn out to be good in the long run.

It is interesting to look at some of our present problems

from that perspective. Instead of getting anxious about
our present problems, think, "Maybe in a few years,
when my perspective is broader, I will be able to look
back on the people causing this problem and see that it
was really a beneficial situation. I will be able to see it
as something that propelled me in a new direction." Try
to think about your present problems in this way. If we
do that, the present anxiety stops, and slowly, our heart
will be filled with appreciation for the kindness of
others.

Feeling stuck and alone in our problem

Meditating on the kindness of others is quite important.
So sit and do it slowly. Think of all the individuals from
whom you have received benefit, even those you do not
know, like the people who built your cars, make the
books you read, and collect your garbage. Do you know
the garbage collectors in your neighborhood? I don’t
know the ones in my neighborhood. I don’t see them.
But they are incredibly kind. If they did not take away
my garbage every week, I would have a big problem! So
many people serve us in countless ways. If we can open
our heart and see how much we have received from
them, our attitude completely changes. We become very
grateful, content, and joyful.
When we are in the middle of a problem, we feel like
nobody is helping us. We feel all alone with our problem.
But when we do this meditation, we can see that in fact,
a lot of people are helping us. More people could even
help us if we would open ourselves up to receive from
them. If we think like this, our anxiety goes away. We do
not feel stuck and alone in our problem because we see
that there is actually quite a bit of help and assistance
out there.

Overcoming anxiety by developing love and compassion

After we meditate on the kindness of others, it is easy
to feel love and compassiontowards them. Love is the
wish for sentient beings to have happiness and its
causes. Compassion is the wish for them to be free
from suffering and its causes. When great love
and great compassion are alive in our hearts, we will
want to take responsibility to benefit all others and will
have a great resolve to do so. From this
comes bodhicitta, the altruistic intention to become a
Buddha in order to benefit others most effectively. When
we have this altruistic intention to become a Buddha,
we become a bodhisattva. When we are a bodhisattva, it
is guaranteed that we will have no anxiety. Look at
Kuan Yin. She looks at all sentient beings and wants
them to be happy. She does whatever she is capable of
doing to take care of all of us, but she does not get
nervous, upset, worried or stressed out. She is able to
do what needs to be done to help others and lets the
rest go. We never hear of Kuan Yin getting depressed or
having anxiety attacks. She is able to handle everything
that happens. We can also become that way.
We can look to Kuan Yin for inspiration while we
practice the Dharma. She is the embodiment of and
represents great love and great compassion towards all
living beings. Kuan Yin was once an ordinary being like
us, with all of the same confusion and anxiety. Through
practicing the path with great effort, she developed
such wonderful qualities and became a bodhisattva. If
we study the Dharma and practice in the same way, we
too can develop qualities just like hers.

+++++++++++++++++++++
Freedom from Fear
BEING MINDFUL OF YOUR FEAR ALLOWS IT TO BECOME YOUR TEACHER
AND GIVES PURPOSE TO WHAT IS OTHERWISE MEANINGLESS SUFFERING.

Living in a fear-based culture inevitably affects your state of mind and the decisions you make. As a citizen you
may become more compliant, more willing to surrender your rights for vague promises of safety. As an employee
you are less demanding, less willing to take risks. And in your personal life you are more security oriented, and
thus less open to new possibilities-all because you see the future through the lens of fear. Viewing life in this
manner is not skillful. It is not that such concerns lack legitimacy -this is undeniably a time of danger and
instability in our society, and unwise actions and indifference could destroy the future for our children. The
problem is that the lens of fear distorts what you see. It focuses primarily on the negative, exaggerates the
potentially threatening, filters out alternative views, and causes you to compromise your core values out of the
urgent need to survive. Fear when not named narrows your vision, shuts down intuition as well as common-sense
reflection, and promotes violent actions. Stated more simply, fear that is not recognized and tended to with
mindfulness takes the life out of life. Your life energy is lost to dread as the body braces and the heart closes in
anticipation of what is to come.

It is difficult living in a time of fear, but here you are, and the challenge becomes finding a way not to be
consumed by it. This is best accomplished by first observing your responses to the culture of fear that surrounds
you. You can then use this knowledge to work with your personal fears. Your reaction to dread and to uncertainty
about yourself, your abilities, and what may happen to you imprison your spirit. Learning to work skillfully with
fear is essential to your finding freedom and happiness.

As you deepen your spiritual practice, you will inevitably encounter all your fears, some of which you may not
even know are within you. Being alert and curious about your fear allows it to become your teacher as well as to
serve your growth. This gives purpose to what is otherwise meaningless suffering.

Fear Is Like This

Fear itself is not necessarily a bad thing-healthy, balanced fear can be very useful. It can serve as an alarm, a
call for action, as in "Take your hand off the hot stove!" As a distress signal it triggers a sense of apprehension
about the future, to which the body reacts by secreting adrenaline and other chemicals that give you the
motivation and energy to act. As an experience of uneasiness, it can be a call for reflection, asking you to pay
careful attention to your actions or decisions, or to reconsider a situation. It may well be your intuition warning
you to be cautious. Unfortunately, most struggles with fear are of the irrational, repetitive, imagined variety.

Despite having often experienced fear, most of us do not have a clear definition of what it means in the context
of an individual's life. What one person classifies as fear, someone else would call anxiety, or another might label
panic. If you are to work with fear as a way of knowing yourself, it is helpful to sort through this confusion in
order to clarify what you are feeling.

Fear is usually described as an emotional response to a perception of danger, which elicits certain neuromuscular
and chemical reactions in the body. You feel it arise in response to something that you see or that you hear, to
sensations in your body, or to thoughts and emotions that appear in the mind. The presence of fear may be the
result of an accurate perception as well as a completely distorted one. Regardless, it is your belief in the
perception and your interpretation of its implications for your well-being that control the level of fear you
experience.

Hence, fear is an internal experience, a subjective response to the immediate moment or some future event;
therefore, you should regard fear with objective skepticism and not treat it as an absolute truth. This calls for you
to develop a certain distance from fear, to see it as a phenomenon that is predominant in this particular moment,
not the ultimate decision maker in your life.

There are two ways in which fear may be contextualized in order to begin working with it mindfully. The first one
is to treat it as one of three responses on a spectrum of frightened reactions to something. Lowest on this
spectrum is apprehension or anxious agitation, which is sometimes called anxiety. Then there is full-blown fear, a
far more stringent response by the nervous system. If the fear keeps expanding, it will accelerate into the
highest distress response: outright terror or panic.

Each of the three responses is subjective, happening inside you. But the more established you are in mindfulness
that is learned in meditation, the less likely you are to escalate from apprehension to fear and then terror. In
order to dis-identify with fear as it is arising, my teacher Ajhan Sumedho suggests making a mental note to
yourself: "Anxiety is like this; fear is like this."

Another skillful method to gain insight is to make a distinction between fear and the anxiety of life itself. When
there is a specific object to be afraid of-a noise in the dark, a verbal threat, an uncertainty regarding a
commitment, the outcome of a medical test, a truck veering into your lane-what you feel is fear in relation to
that object.

Anxiety, on the other hand, is anxiety about, rather than of.You are anxious about growing older, or your child
getting hurt, or your marriage lasting. There is no specific object of alarm. Instead you are responding to the
frailty and temporary nature of existence.

The truth is that you will never be absolutely safe. All things change constantly, even what is most precious. You
know that you and those you love will die, but not when or how. This is the angst of life, the price of being a
conscious human being. It is not a flaw, although many people cannot let loose of seeing it in such a manner. It
is just the way life is constructed. When your awareness of this vulnerability is triggered, you can be swept into
panic, collapse into depression, or desperately try to distract yourself. One of the values of spiritual practice is
that you are able to come to terms with this anxiety in a conscious manner. Your life becomes more integrated
because you are no longer trying to deny or avoid what is true.

Naturally, what often happens is that you compound the misery of a particular fear you may be experiencing with
this general anxiety that is inherent in the human condition. When this takes place, the turbulence of all your
apprehensions pours into the specific fear, and you suffer more. For instance, you simply forget a meeting, yet
you are traumatized, certain that you are losing your ability to focus. Or someone disappoints you and you
collapse into complete self-hatred, fearing that you have no worth to the other. With mindfulness practice, you
learn to see how the untrained mind is agitated by the human condition and how not to allow this general anxiety
to fuel your fear in a specific situation. You also gain tolerance for the unpleasantness of uncertainty and also the
naturalness of your own imperfection. You have confidence that "life is like this." You cannot and are not
supposed to miraculously fix it; rather, you gain the insight that happiness and peace come from relating to life
just as it is.

Levels of Fear
You can begin to deepen your understanding of how fear may be affecting you by becoming mindful of the four
levels of alertness in your body and mind. First is the normal state of alertness you experience walking down the
street, driving, or being at work. You are awake to change in the environment. If you suddenly perceive a
possible danger, the body-mind switches to the second level of alertness, vigilance. This is natural and healthy,
and the vigilance ends once the danger passes.

The next level occurs when there's a prolonged sense of anxiety or fear. The bodymind goes into hypervigilance
and stays there ready to fight, flee, or freeze in place until the trauma passes. Hypervigilance creates a tunnel-
vision effect in which you primarily experience life through the lens of fear or anxiety. It can become a pattern if
your life is so challenged that you repeatedly fall into this state. Hypervigilance in adulthood can have its roots in
childhood trauma, or result from working in a hostile situation or from being in relationship with a psychologically
or physically abusive partner. Someone who is hypervigilant often interprets interactive signals differently than
the norm and as a result suffers much tension and misunderstanding. Our society is presently showing signs of
being in this hypervigilant stage.

The final level of body-mind response to fear is the frozen traumatic reflex that occurs when danger is continuous
or your nervous system loses the ability to perceive that the danger has passed. It can occur if you are thwarted
in your effort to fight or flee and are locked into a pattern of incomplete motion. Or it can also arise when you
brace or contract for an impact, such as often happens in auto accidents. It can also be caused by threatening
emotional situations, particularly in childhood.

If your circumstances were such that you continually sought to avoid drawing attention to yourself or you
repeatedly contracted muscles to armor yourself against physical or verbal blows, these responses become a
permanently frozen part of your neuromuscular system and can be triggered by stress. You can try to detect a
frozen fear pattern in yourself by noting sensations of unease or numbness in the body, or feelings of mental
disconnection or of not being in the body.

It might take you quite by surprise, but hypervigilance and frozen responses will usually present themselves at
some point in your meditation practice. Almost everyone seems to have some degree of lockedin fear that needs
to be released; however, the amount varies dramatically. Usually you will experience some physical and possibly
emotional discomfort when it starts arising. Sometimes it might be accompanied by unidentifiable images or
memories of a specific event; at other times there is only a raw sense of fear or of bodily discomfort. Because it
is unpleasant, there is a tendency to distract the mind or to simply give up meditation. It has been my
experience that if you can stay with the uncomfortable experience, it will eventually unwind itself in both its
physical and mental aspects.

The Fear-Based Person

Some individuals so habitually view the world from their various fears that they are referred to as living a fear-
based life. If you are such a person or know such a person, you know well what this means. There is very little
mental rest for such a person, because life seldom seems safe, even just temporarily. You continually mistrust
your judgment or question the reliability of others, or both. You perpetually second-guess yourself and also
others, always seeking yet one more opinion or assurance. You may change your mind frequently or endlessly
postpone making decisions in order to seek more information. If you buy something, even if it is at a good price,
you feel, "I paid too much; I could have gotten it cheaper," or "There must be something wrong with it." It is
confusing when a fear-based person has developed the ability to pull you into salving his worries and solving his
fears. You feel bombarded by the person's apprehensions, and you carry anxiety that is hard to shake because it
is not yours. Being mindful that this is occurring will allow you to separate from fear that is not yours and to
develop a protective boundary. Some people who orient toward life from fear lack this skill and thus find
themselves being the odd person out. Others shun them to avoid the constant alarm they broadcast. The skillful
reaction to this isolation from fear, whether it is in yourself or another, is compassion.

If you are fear based, you might move from one obsession or worry to another as a way to cope with your
general anxiety. When you go to a meditation retreat, you get to watch the mind become agitated and actually
look for a problem to grab hold of, and you come to see that what the mind chooses to focus on is not reliable as
a priority. One yogi I met on retreat learned to say "my old friend fear" whenever his mind contracted into fear.
This enabled him to no longer give it credibility, and the world became a safer, more enjoyable place for him. But
beware of identifying yourself as a "fearful person." You may often see life through the lens of fear, but it is only
a mental state that is coloring your perception; you are not that fear.

This is a critical understanding. If you jump into a cold lake and your body gets cold, you don't suddenly think
you are a cold lake; you are simply cold as a response to the environment. Fear is like that: Your nervous system
may be flooded with the sensations of fear, but this is still only a response.

Meditating on Fear
Most people who start practicing mindfulness of fear realize for the first time how much of their behavior is
motivated by fear. If this happens to you, you may begin to feel discouraged or possibly defensive, or to
adamantly assert that your fear is justified and even needed. You are used to fear and you know how to work
with it, so these responses are natural. It is as though you are afraid to be without fear! Of course, you might be
right; I can only report that it has not worked that way for the yogis I have known. Without exception, as their
reliance on fear has diminished, their sense of well-being has grown.

You can see what is true for you by mindfully working with some of your smaller, more approachable fears and
then seeing what happens. Be patient, please. It helps to remind yourself that fear is not a stigma. Even the
Buddha had to work with fear, which he describes in the "Sutta on Fear and Dread" in the Majjhima Nikaya.
Although it may seem as though fear is dominating your decisions, if you look more closely, you will find that
there's an energetic response that is even more powerful, and that is love-love in all its forms: appreciation,
generosity, caring, tolerance, patience, creativity, and service. The core spiritual teaching about fear is that it
inevitably arises whenever you experience a sense of separateness, either from others or from the environment.
Fear overwhelms the mind, causes you to project that which you find despicable in yourself onto others, breeds
paranoia, and fuels self-justifying, self-serving behavior.

As you grow spiritually and begin to see how interdependent all of life is, your sense of separation diminishes,
and fear then starts to lose its grip. For this reason it is sometimes said that a person who has fully realized the
dharma is completely without fear. Unfortunately, for the rest of us, there remains the ever-present need for
practice.

Loving-kindness practice is the classic antidote for fear. If you see through the lens of love, you are not afraid of
what is out there in the same way, even though it remains just as difficult and may still succeed in harming you.
Your relationships to fear and to yourself are thus changed by experiencing the threatening aspects of life
through the lens of love. Doing loving-kindness practice formally for just five minutes each morning, followed by
saying loving-kindness phrases as you go through your daily routines, may well begin to make a difference in
your life. I specifically suggest doing the following loving-kindness meditation to work with fear: "May I find
freedom from fear in my life. May I also in turn help others find freedom from fear in their lives. And may I meet
the fear in our culture with the courage of the open heart, which acts with decisiveness but never divisiveness."

You can begin practicing mindfulness of fear today. When your mind seems to be caught in a storm of thoughts
about how bad the world is or about something in your own life, take a moment to notice what happens in your
body. Then notice how your mind is communicating with images and words. Remember to be curious and
receptive without taking any of it personally. Let your heart open to the suffering the fear is causing.

The story is often told of a monk who lived in isolation in a cave where he painted beautiful murals on the wall as
part of his meditation practice. With his strongly developed concentration and acquired skill, he painted a
ferocious tiger that appeared as real as any live one. It seemed so real, it scared him to death! All things that
arise in your mind are like the monk's brush strokes on the cave wall-none of them, not even the ones that seem
to be the most solid, are composed of lasting, unchanging substance.

When the fear feels stuck, realize that you are clinging to a perception that is merely painted on the walls of your
mind. It's this clinging, not the danger, no matter how genuinely threatening it might be, that is the cause of
your greatest distress. The proper response is threefold: continual mindfulness of the fear, deep compassion for
the suffering it is causing, and cultivation of equanimity that allows you to stay with it. You will find that the
dharma will do the rest.

by Phillip Moffitt
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
oday, in this age of terrorism — and even the threat of nuclear
attack from North Korea — fear has become top of mind, again.
Creating an atmosphere of dread is the goal of terrorists and
dictators. It’s easy to say, “I can’t live my life in fear” and then
pretend to go about your business. But, even if you bravely brush the
fear aside — in the background the nervous “look-over-your-
shoulder-to-be-sure” feeling remains.
But how do we genuinely, in our hearts and minds,
overcome fear? What did Buddha teach on
overcoming fear? Buddha faced down not only
Mara (inner demons), but also his own cousin
Devadatta (who tried to kill Him more than once),
charging elephants, Brahmins and falling rocks
and other dangers. Iconic of His fearlessness is
the hand held up in the Abhaya mudra. Who was
this person, not afraid of death?

The Buddha is seated under the Bodhi tree, looking

relaxed and contemplative … Surrounding him
are the maras, all of the afflictions that assail the
mind. Some have spears aimed at the Buddha
and some are disguised in erotic imagery, aiming
to disrupt the Buddha’s concentration, trying to
generate the fear that comes from being
attacked. But the Buddha sits unmoved, with one
hand on the ground, as if to say, “I have a right to
be here.” The shield that surrounds him, that
protects him from these afflictions, is his
benevolence. His own loving-kindness shining
out from him is the dissolver of all afflictions.” —
Sylvia Boorstein [4]
Another iconic image of Buddha’s fearlessness, is the story of the
rampaging elephant, enraged by wicked Devadatta. With loving
kindness, and a fearless disposition, Shakyamuni instantly subdued
the great beast. Devadatta tried to kill Buddha more than once,
always failing.
The Abhaya mudra — the famous gesture of the Buddha holding up
his hand fearlessly (seen in many images of the Buddha) —
expresses Buddhist fearlessness in profound simplicity. The
Enlightened Mind has no fear. But what about the rest of us? For us,
those of us not Enlightened, we can take refuge in the Buddha.

Who is this Person, Not Afraid of Death?

In the Abhaya Sutta, Shakyamuni Buddha said, “And who is the
person who, subject to death, is not afraid or in terror of death?
There is the case of the person who has abandoned passion, desire,
fondness, thirst, fever, and craving for sensuality. Then he comes
down with a serious disease. As he comes down with a serious
disease, the thought does not occur to him, ‘O, those beloved
sensual pleasures will be taken from me, and I will be taken from
them!’ He does not grieve, is not tormented; does not weep, beat his
breast, or grow delirious. This is a person who, subject to death, is
not afraid or in terror of death.”

Understanding Emptiness (Oneness)

Helps Overcome Fear
Thich Nhat Hanh, the great Zen teacher, not a stranger to danger,
explained one of the remedies to overcome fear. He explained how
understanding Oneness (Emptiness) and Dependent Arising helps us
overcome fear: “The fourth notion to be thrown away is the notion of
life span. We believe that we are born at one point in time, that we
will die at another point in time, and that between is our life span.
Most of us believe we’ll spend seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred
years on this planet and then we’ll be gone. When we look deeply,
we see this is a wrong perception. In our minds, to be born means
that from nothing we became something; to die means that from
something we become nothing; and from someone we become no
one.
“But a cloud can’t be born; it has come from the water
in the rivers and oceans, and dust and heat of the
sun have helped create it. A cloud can never die;
it can only become rain or snow. A piece of paper
can’t be born; it’s made of trees, the sun, the
cloud, the logger and the worker in the paper
factory. When we burn a piece of paper, the
paper is transformed into heat, ash, and smoke; it
cannot be reduced to nothingness. Birth and
death are notions that cannot be applied to
reality.” [3]
The problem with the difficult and misunderstood concept of
Oneness (Emptiness) and Dependent Arising is that it can take
years of meditation to grasp them sufficiently to overcome fear.
Iconic of Fearlessness through Oneness, is the dramatic scene from
Buddha’s life of the great serpent (Naga) protecting Buddha as he
meditates. Scene from the movie “Little Buddha”:

Pragmatic Fearlessness — “Doing Good”

A more pragmatic view of fearlessness is found in the Abhaya Sutta,
the “Fearless” Sutra — a discourse between the Blessed One and
Janussoni the Brahman who challenged Buddha with his view “no
one who, subject to death, is not afraid or in terror of death.” The
Buddha answers him with four “cases” of people who would die in
fear, and four who would die without fear.
Strikingly, Buddha mentions a fearless person “who
has done what is good, has done what is skillful,
has given protection to those in fear, and has not
done what is evil, savage, or cruel. Then he
comes down with a serious disease. As he
comes down with a serious disease, the thought
occurs to him, ‘I have done what is good, have
done what is skillful, have given protection to
those in fear, and I have not done what is evil,
savage, or cruel… He does not grieve, is not
tormented; does not weep, beat his breast, or
grow delirious. This, too, is a person who, subject
to death, is not afraid or in terror of death.” [2]

It’s easy to understand the notion that a good person will receive a
reward —good Karma leading to good rebirth as a Buddhist belief.
Yet, Buddha made it clear in the same Sutra, that the real key to
freedom from fear is the person “who has abandoned passion,
desire, fondness, thirst, fever, and craving for sensuality.” This
person has lived the Eightfold Path, taught by Buddha, based on the
Four Noble Truths. This person, who has removed attachments and
craving, has no reason to fear. If you don’t feel attached to illusory
enjoyments, you don’t fear losing them.

Four Types of People Free from Fear

In all, Buddha gave examples of four types of people who are free of
fear. The journey away from fear is a lifetime one — not an overnight
revelation. Buddha lived for eighty-years and died without fear. His
followers likewise spent lifetimes living the eightfold path. At what
point does fear completely disappear? In the case of Shakyamuni
Buddha, that happened under the Bodhi Tree when he achieved
Enlightenment. For us, we might not fully achieve fearlessness until
we achieve significant realizations, or even Enlightenment.
Yet, there are degrees of fear. The person who has “mostly”
abandoned attachments and cravings for sensualities could
probably be said to be “mostly” free from fear. The person, like the
“good person” Buddha described, could also feel fulfilled, happy and
content, and therefore mostly free of fear.

Some Fears are Wholesome

Reverend Zensho Susan O’Connell wrote: “Although
there are some fears that seem wholesome —
the fear of hurting others, the fear of death or
injury that encourages us to put on our seatbelts,
etc. — I believe that it is hardly ever helpful to
dwell in fear or to spend more that an initial few
moments breathing into it. However, to deny all
fears, is just another way of providing distance
from fears. Am I really fearless if I am not intimate
with my fear?.” [1]
“None of us are immune to fear. Indeed, the Buddha taught that, at
the base, all beings experience a state of anxiety, fed by our habit of
resisting the impermanence of our existence.” [1]
Rev. O’Connel pointed out that the “antidote to fear” is not denial —
pretending to be brave — but to “overcome the cause of fear … the
delusion that we are unchanging beings who need to protect
ourselves from what we are separate from.”
Remedy for Fear — Mindfulness
“In the Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing, in
Pali the Anapanasati Sutta, the Buddha shows us
how to transform our fear, despair, anger and
craving. Breathing is a means of awakening and
maintaining full attention in order to look carefully,
long and deeply, see the nature of all things, and
arrive at liberation.” —Thich Nhat Hanh [3]
Thich Nhat Hanh explained that being in the present moment,
letting the past go, not worrying about what might come in the
future, is the secret to fearlessness. The past is gone. The future
isn’t here yet. If you dwell only in this moment, in this second, there
is no fear. You can’t fear the future if you’re not thinking of the
future. You can’t fear the loss of past memories if you’re putting
aside the past.
Mindfulness is a state of “observation” — you observe your own
breath, your own mind, your own body, your own actions in the
present moment only. If your mind is plagued with fear, mindfulness
meditation allows you to detach and observe the thoughts, analyze
them, become your own teacher.
Thich Nhat Hanh explains, “Sometimes fear manifests, and our
mindful breathing brings us back to our fear so we can embrace it.
We look deeply into the nature of our fear to reconcile ourselves
with it… transform it.” [3]

Storm Meditation
For example, let’s say you are afraid of thunder storms. Right now, in
this moment, your house is shaking with the rumble of a ferocious
storm. Wind lashes your house, the trees beat your roof, the
windows shake. Instead of turning on the television full blast, and
trying to “forget” the storm outside, Buddhist teachers might
suggest you sit in meditation, listen to the storm, hear every sound,
watch and observe your own fearful thoughts.
See the panic. Watch and observe in as detached a
way as possible. Stay only in the present.
Observe your own breath, how fast and fearful it
seems, but don’t judge — simply observe. The
simple act of observation, in the present moment,
almost immediately slows your pulse rate, your
breath and your racing, fearful thoughts.
The key to successful mindfulness is detached observation. When
you first start observing your fear, you’ll still feel entangled in it. But
observe even that entanglement. Don’t try to remove the
entanglement, or analyze it, or destroy it — simply observe it.

Metta Remedy — “Armor of Loving

Kindness”
Buddha, in the “Fearless” Sutra (below), gave the examples four
people who are free from fear. He described one as he “who has
done what is good, has done what is skillful, has given protection to
those in fear.” [2]
Teacher Sylvia Boorstein, co-founding teaching at Spirit Rock
Meditation Center, gave the example of a Zen Buddhist story to
explain the “Armor of Loving Kindness.” She wrote:
“A fierce and terrifying band of samurai was riding through the
countryside, bringing fear and harm wherever they went. As they
were approaching one particular town, all the monks in the town’s
monastery fled, except for the abbot. When the band of warriors
entered the monastery, they found the abbot sitting at the front of
the shrine room in perfect posture. The fierce leader took out his
sword and said, “Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know that I’m
the sort of person who could run you through with my sword without
batting an eye?” The Zen master responded, “And I, sir, am the sort
of man who could be run through by a sword without batting an
eye.”
She explained that at first she didn’t warm up to the story, “it
seemed so offhanded about life.” Later, she came to understand it
differently:
“Fearlessness also comes from benevolence and
goodwill in the face of whatever oppresses you.
You are afraid, but instead of fighting what faces
you, you embrace it and accept it—you develop
loving-kindness as a direct antidote to fear.” [4]

Another Remedy for Fear — Your Buddha

Nature
Taking refuge in the Three Jewels, as explained by Thich Nhat Hanh,
is taking refuge in your own Buddha Nature. This is a strong remedy
for fear. If you understand your Buddha Nature, or the concept of
Oneness with all beings, there’s no reason for fear.
Most of us aren’t that advanced.
Until we are, at least in Vajrayana and Mahayana, we can rely on
meditative deities, who are expressions of the inner Buddha Nature
— your Buddha within. If you practice deity meditation methods,
where you visualize yourself as an Enlightened Deity, fear
automatically seems to drop away.
Mantra is a “condensed” form of deity meditation. For example,
Green Tara is associated with protection. Reciting her mantra —
while on board an airplane that is being violently tossed in a
turbulence — can calm the mind. Her mantra is:
Reciting it over and over, during a nerve-wracking event, is a kind of
formulated mindfulness. By staying focused on Green Tara, and her
active aspect as a rescuer, you are focusing on your own inner
Buddha Nature.
The definition of mantra is “protection for the mind.” Mantra works
at the level of your own mind. Since fear is inside your mind, and
Tara is inside your heart, and the mantra is on your speech, this can
be a very powerful way to calm yourself in the face of terror or fear.

Abhaya Sutta
Fearless Sutra
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Then Janussoni the Brahman went to the Blessed One and, on
arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange
of friendly greetings and courtesies, he sat to one side. As he was
sitting there he said to the Blessed One: “I am of the view and
opinion that there is no one who, subject to death, is not afraid or in
terror of death.”

The Blessed One said: “Brahman, there are those

who, subject to death, are afraid and in terror of
death. And there are those who, subject to death,
are not afraid or in terror of death.
“And who is the person who, subject to death, is afraid and in terror
of death? There is the case of the person who has not abandoned
passion, desire, fondness, thirst, fever, and craving for sensuality.
Then he comes down with a serious disease. As he comes down
with a serious disease, the thought occurs to him, ‘O, those beloved
sensual pleasures will be taken from me, and I will be taken from
them!’ He grieves and is tormented, weeps, beats his breast, and
grows delirious. This is a person who, subject to death, is afraid and
in terror of death.
“Furthermore, there is the case of the person who has not
abandoned passion, desire, fondness, thirst, fever, and craving for
the body. Then he comes down with a serious disease. As he comes
down with a serious disease, the thought occurs to him, ‘O, my
beloved body will be taken from me, and I will be taken from my
body!’ He grieves and is tormented, weeps, beats his breast, and
grows delirious. This, too, is a person who, subject to death, is afraid
and in terror of death.
“Furthermore, there is the case of the person who has not done
what is good, has not done what is skillful, has not given protection
to those in fear, and instead has done what is evil, savage, and
cruel. Then he comes down with a serious disease. As he comes
down with a serious disease, the thought occurs to him, ‘I have not
done what is good, have not done what is skillful, have not given
protection to those in fear, and instead have done what is evil,
savage, and cruel. To the extent that there is a destination for those
who have not done what is good, have not done what is skillful, have
not given protection to those in fear, and instead have done what is
evil, savage, and cruel, that’s where I’m headed after death.’ He
grieves and is tormented, weeps, beats his breast, and grows
delirious. This, too, is a person who, subject to death, is afraid and
in terror of death.
“Furthermore, there is the case of the person in doubt and
perplexity, who has not arrived at certainty with regard to the True
Dhamma. Then he comes down with a serious disease. As he comes
down with a serious disease, the thought occurs to him, ‘How
doubtful and perplexed I am! I have not arrived at any certainty with
regard to the True Dhamma!’ He grieves and is tormented, weeps,
beats his breast, and grows delirious. This, too, is a person who,
subject to death, is afraid and in terror of death.
“These, Brahman, are four people who, subject to death, are afraid
and in terror of death.
“And who is the person who, subject to death, is not afraid or in
terror of death?
“There is the case of the person who has abandoned passion,
desire, fondness, thirst, fever, and craving for sensuality. Then he
comes down with a serious disease. As he comes down with a
serious disease, the thought does not occur to him, ‘O, those
beloved sensual pleasures will be taken from me, and I will be taken
from them!’ He does not grieve, is not tormented; does not weep,
beat his breast, or grow delirious. This is a person who, subject to
death, is not afraid or in terror of death.
“Furthermore, there is the case of the person who has abandoned
passion, desire, fondness, thirst, fever, and craving for the body.
Then he comes down with a serious disease. As he comes down
with a serious disease, the thought does not occur to him, ‘O, my
beloved body will be taken from me, and I will be taken from my
body!’ He does not grieve, is not tormented; does not weep, beat his
breast, or grow delirious. This, too, is a person who, subject to
death, is not afraid or in terror of death.
“Furthermore, there is the case of the person who has done what is
good, has done what is skillful, has given protection to those in fear,
and has not done what is evil, savage, or cruel. Then he comes down
with a serious disease. As he comes down with a serious disease,
the thought occurs to him, ‘I have done what is good, have done
what is skillful, have given protection to those in fear, and I have not
done what is evil, savage, or cruel. To the extent that there is a
destination for those who have done what is good, what is skillful,
have given protection to those in fear, and have not done what is
evil, savage, or cruel, that’s where I’m headed after death.’ He does
not grieve, is not tormented; does not weep, beat his breast, or grow
delirious. This, too, is a person who, subject to death, is not afraid or
in terror of death.
“Furthermore, there is the case of the person who has no doubt or
perplexity, who has arrived at certainty with regard to the True
Dhamma. Then he comes down with a serious disease. As he comes
down with a serious disease, the thought occurs to him, ‘I have no
doubt or perplexity. I have arrived at certainty with regard to the
True Dhamma.’ He does not grieve, is not tormented; does not weep,
beat his breast, or grow delirious. This, too, is a person who, subject
to death, is not afraid or in terror of death.
“These, Brahman, are four people who, subject to death, are not
afraid or in terror of death.”
When this was said, Janussoni the Brahman said to the Blessed
One: “Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent! Just as if he were
to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to
show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark
so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has
Master Gotama — through many lines of reasoning — made the
Dhamma clear. I go to Master Gotama for refuge, to the Dhamma,
and to the Sangha of monks. May Master Gotama remember me as a
lay follower who has gone to him for refuge, from this day forward,
for life.”

NOTES

[1] “What are you afraid of? Cultivating fearlessness in Buddhism”

Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-zesho-susan-
oconnell/what-are-you-afraid-of_b_1079091.html
[2] Abhaya Sutta, Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
[Full text above in English.]
[3] Commentary on the Sutra of the Middle Way, from Awakening of
the Heart, by Thich Nhat Hanh
[4] “Fear and Fearlessness”, Lion’s Roar, June 7, 2016
+++++++++++++++
josh korda, Contributor
Guiding Teacher of Dharma Punx New York Since 2005

Buddhist Psychological
Practices That Can Help
Relieve Anxiety
08/03/2015 12:03 pm ET Updated Aug 03, 2016
Many people use the words fear and anxiety
interchangeably, as if they referred to identical emotional
states. Yet while we may conceive of the two words as
entirely corresponding, the neurobiology are quite
different. The physiological reactions that occur when we
hear the crackling sound of footsteps behind us, while
walking alone on a wooded trail, creates a soaring heart
rate, a knotted stomach, an limbs activated, ready to run.
In some truly overwhelming situations, we may literally
‘freeze’ with fear, unable to move, such as someone frozen
in the path of a charging bear or tiger.

Meanwhile, anxiety doesn’t fully urge us to fight, flee or

freeze; it is there to alert us to the possibility of danger:
slight dizziness, nausea, dry mouth and racing, repetitive
thoughts. Anxiety primes us only to worry even more.

REAL LIFE. REAL NEWS. REAL VOICES.

Help us tell more of the stories that matter from voices that
too often remain unheard.
Many clinicians define fear as a negative reaction
triggered by present, dangerous stimuli (such as the
sound of a bear in the woods), whereas anxiety is
triggered by uncertainty: while we’re anxious no real
threat is actually present; we’re simply alert to the
possibility of future, unseen dangers.
To put it simply: We can point to our fears, while we’re
anxious about what we don’t know.

It’s worth noting that any or all of the sensations present

during a fearful event can, in the future, turn into the
triggers of subsequent anxiety disorders. This is due to
the part of the brain that is most alert and functioning
during threatening situations — the amygdala — which is
not particularly smart or discerning; it records whatever
seems important during a menacing event, unable to
discern what is benign from what’s dangerous. Let’s use
an example: While driving and listening to an old Ramones
song we wind up in a car collision, the same Ramones
tune in the future might activate anxiety — we’ll feel
nauseous and uncomfortable, though the tune had nothing
to do with the accident. In the future, our discomfort with
the Ramones will strike us as mysterious, if we even note
the connection.

Another example: suppose the once, during our childhood,

perhaps in the second grade, a teacher wearing a
cardigan asks us a question and when our answer is
disappointing, the teacher shames us in front of a
classroom of our peers. In the future we may very well
become anxious around people who wear brown
cardigans; once again we won’t discern why, and may well
add spurious reasons to justify our discomfort and
disapproval.

So everything recorded during a hazard can turn into a

trigger for anxiety. Why is the amygdala so fallible? Well, a
‘fast and dirty alarm system in the brain’ helped to keep
our ancestors alive; think of them living hundreds of
thousands of years ago in a world filled with predators,
the average life expectancy barely 20 years. So the
midbrain needed to work fast. This is why it is
preconscious, working at too quickly for conscious
oversight, which would only slow it down. Yes, conscious
awareness would be more accurate in discerning what’s
truly dangerous from what’s safe, but consciousness is
far too slow to save us from lurking bears or coiled
snakes, so evolution decided that its better to be safe
than sorry, to mistake a few sticks for snakes. Even if we
wind up, later on, needlessly terrified of entirely safe
people, places and things.

Anxiety is very human trait that relies on our ability to

anticipate and speculate about the future; imagination
allows us to visualize impossible outcomes and unlikely
scenarios — and to worry about them. The capacity to
fantasize can allow us to write wonderful books, plot
charming movies and paint beautiful paintings, not to
mention construct utopian ideals to strive towards, but
worry can lead to spiraling thoughts, insomnia,
psychological disorders aplenty; much of the content of
our minds no longer serve us well, rendering us tormented
and, at times, isolated and distraught.

Yes, the mind can really play tricks that make it all to
easy to abandon the present, which is, of course, the only
place of true safety and utility. When we find the mind
latching onto unlikely narratives that we can’t reason with
or let go, sometimes we have to learn how to trick the
mind into disarming itself.

Here are some spiritual tools we can use:

Long, smooth rewarding exhalations are the first, go-to

practice when working with anxiety; long exhalations
relax that vagal-vagus nerve, which sends messages to
the midbrain, via what’s called the insula, essentially
telling the amygdala which activates fear: “Everything’s
okay, I’m safe.”

The second solution is to greet, rather than resist or even

dread, our worries and anxieties each time they arise:
note how the Buddha welcomed his inner tormentor, Mara,
always with great patience. Personally, I even give my
personal demons names, but I never give my anxieties
negative or condescending titles; the point of greeting
each visitor is to avoid believing that worry is actually
who I am, rather than just a visitor in the mind. If I don’t
identify with anxiety, I can give it permission to arise
without resistance or clinging. So when the sweaty hands,
tension and racing thoughts begin, I simply think
“Welcome anxiety. You’re allowed.” While this might sound
counterproductive, reducing the resistance to anxiety has
been clinically shown, in a wide variety of MBSR studies,
to reduce the strength and duration of anxiety attacks.
I’ve found this out over and over again through the years,
the faster I grant permission to an emotional energy to
arise, the less painful it feels and the faster it passes.

Affect labeling, a clinical term for noting our emotional

states, either aloud or in handwriting — “I’m
frightened/anxious/scared” — has been shown to be
effective as well. A study of high school students
demonstrated that those who wrote out their fears before
taking an exam invariably fared better in the test and
experienced less trepidation. If, after we’ve journaled out
an anxiety, worry returns with some energy in
persistence, remind it that we’ve given it time to vent,
now its our turn to enjoy life for a little while, until our
next journal session. After a few days pass we can return
to these notations; with a fresh perspective we may note
that anxiety is actually the activation of an ‘inner child’
that believes every new challenge in life will lead to
abandonment and disaster; in essence a repetition of
childhood abandonments or traumas. While we’ve grown
up to be adults, our fears still view the world from the
perspective of a frightened infant, seeing annihilation
around every corner.

Another tactic is to question our anxiety honestly and

with interest, trying to understand its logic: I use the
question “And why is that so bad?” Generally this practice
reveals the insanity belying most of my anxiety. For
example, many years ago, when I was anxious about an
upcoming meeting with a higher up at work, I put this
practice into use: I asked: “And why am I worrying about
speaking with my boss?” My anxiety responded: “Because
they might fire me!” “And why would that be so bad? “I
might wind up penniless and unable to pay my rent!” “And
why would that so bad?” “I’ll be homeless, living on the
streets! Vulnerable to roving gangs — I might be stabbed
and killed.” And so, with a few questions, the overblown
and ludicrous nature of my anxiety was revealed — it
turned a meeting with my employer into a life threatening
endeavor.

Finally, I’d also like to recommend the buddhist practice

of appropriate attention: Yoniso Manasikara in pali. The
Buddha described this practice as “understanding the
appeal, drawbacks and escape from behaviors that cause
suffering.” (sn 12, Nidana-samyutta Sutta)

Let’s investigate the worrying mind through the lens of

appropriate attention:

The Appeal of Anxiety and Worry: dreading possible future

calamities, visualizing catastrophes, appeals to the mind
as it creates a false of being prepared for unwanted
developments. When I worry, I believe I’m less likely to be
caught off guard, which makes me feel safer.

The Drawback of Anxiety and Worry: conjuring up a variety

of misfortunes, most of which will never come to pass,
creates an unquiet mind that cannot settle peacefully into
the present moment, where speculated catastrophes have
yet to occur; the mind prone to worrying doesn’t
appreciate times of joy, as it is forever surveying the
imagination for disasters looming in the realm of
possibilities.

The Skillful Escape from Anxiety and Worry: given that the
worrying mind is seeking a sense of security — which is
revealed through reviewing its appeal — I might ask
myself: “what skillful ways can I provide the mind with a
sense of security in times of uncertainty?” Skillful
escapes generally require creativity. I might conclude
that rather than worrying, my mind would more fruitfully
establish a sense of security by reflecting on all the times
in life I’ve been caught off guard by sudden events — job
losses, relationships dissolving — yet survived without
any preparation. Such a reflections build a sense of
reassurance, and meet our underlying need.
I hope the above is of help to some and worth any time
you invested into it.

+++++++++++++
Fear And How To Overcome Fear: A Buddhist
Perspective
Bhante T. Seelananda, Bhavana Society Forest Monastery, High View, WV, USA

Fear is an unpleasant emotion that arises mainly because of craving. Craving and

attachment are the causes for many unwholesome, unpleasant, and evil things in

life. It is because of these two that we wander in samsāra, the cycle of birth and
death. In contrast, fearlessness is the state of perfect peace, tranquility, and the

highest bliss that which is possible to be achieved by us all.

Naturally, all beings experience fear. They all are afraid of either of their present,

past or future. All beings are called beings (satta) because they all are clinging to

the five aggregates: form, feelings, perception, volitional formations, and

consciousness. As long as we are clinging to these five aggregates, we have fear.

Only arahants are entirely freed from fear. They have achieved the state of

fearlessness. That is why they are called non-beings (asatta). [1] We cling not

only to the five aggregates of existence, but also to many other material and

immaterial things around us. Therefore, as long as we attach, grasp, and cling to

things we have no escape from fear.

Why Fear?

With this short article I intend to clarify the Buddhist perspective on fear and how

to achieve the state of fearlessness. If one were able to observe and read our

mentality right now, one would be able to see that we all are like spiders

entangled in our own woven webs. We wove our webs of attachment and

expectations and got trapped. That is why we are suffering from fear of getting

lost and fear of many different things about us and around us. For instance, as

we see here in the West, many parents are fearful of things such as their

children's moving out after they turn 18, job security, mortgage payments, debts,

credit card bills, etc. which contribute to constant distress. At the same time,

children themselves fear for their parents' insecurity, such as fear of aging,

sickness, and death. Then, at least for some extent, because of their

untrustworthiness both husband and wife may fear that the other one could

leave them at anytime. Likewise, regarding many other factors contribute to the

rise fear in individuals. Fear does not arise by itself alone, but in combination with

other factors, such as suspicion, presumption, jealousy, misleading information,

vanity, and hostility.

The Greatest Fear

In daily life, most people fear separation from their family members temporarily

or permanently. The Buddha said, "Separation from loved ones is sorrow." Not

only actual separation, but even thinking of their future or past, based on the

experience they have gained, most people undergo unutterable agony and

create anxiety and worry. Mainly, because they do not think of and are not ready

to accept the fact that all animate or inanimate things are changing (anicca) they

have fear and suffer. As the Buddha taught us, nothing is certain or permanent.

In other words, nothing remains the same. That is one of the fundamental

teachings of the Buddha. Most people simply go with the flow, but they

themselves do not know that it means that they are simply floating. The

teachings of the Buddha is not to simply float along in the river of existence. It is

to strive and get out of the river of existence to the state of non-existence where

there is no fear, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, or dispair at all because it is not

an existence. Those who have achieved that experience enjoy that bliss.

Fear of Death

As the Buddha said, "All beings die, but death is not the end of all things. Death

is only the end of one life." Thereafter, one will have to go according to the

volitional actions (kamma) done while living here, in this world. We all experience

fear of facing death. Actually, for the worldlings, their greatest fear is death. That

is why even the Buddha said, "All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting

oneself in the place of another, one should neither kill nor cause another to kill."

(Sabbe tasanti dandassa- Sabbe bhāyanti maccuno

Attānam upamam katvā-Na haneyya na ghātaye) [2]

However, if we get ready for that we can face death bravely. The Buddha's

instruction for that is to develop and cultivate mindfulness. This is the way to the

state of fearlessness as well.

How to Face Fearful and Stressful Situations

The old saying goes "every dark cloud has a silver lining." Even beyond the fear

of death with the guidance of the teachings of the Buddha in our daily lives we

can find positive results or aspects of the fearful and dreadful situations we

encounter. With fear of future uncertainties about their own jobs, mortgage,

children's schooling, college or university entrance or exams and so on, day and

night people are suffering from boundless fear to achieve these so-called goals.

However, unexpectedly fear arises and collapes the mansion of hope. What

should be done then? Nothing but coming to the present moment to understand

the situation mindfully and make up your own mind to face it more positively,

productively, and rewardingly.

The best thing to do is seek the cause of the problem objectively. That means

removing the focus on individuals. Strive to find the root of the situation as not

his, her, or their faults, but as based on conditions. Then seek the cause and

remove the cause of the action. If you can remove the cause you can definitely

remove the fear, perhaps to a certain degree or even completely. Unfortunately,

human nature is to panic, suffer or obsess over every single unachievable target.

Whatever your targets they should be achievable, goals should be realistic,

expectations should be real, worthy to achieve. Always be positive and strive to

understand the benefits you have gained from blessings in disguise rather being

in a panic.

Suppose you are laid off – think of your own quality time with the family and

friends. It could be a wonderful opportunity to teach your culture, language,

mediation, dhamma to your kids, to limit your children’s screen time in order to

save their eyes, teach them how to cook, give the essential life skills, improve

themselves with meditation, learn the dhamma, original discourses of the

Buddha, and enjoy the free time visiting a nearby park with the friends and

family. Parents, creating memorable experiences with your family is more

important than having money. Kids grow up quickly, so it is worthwhile to spend

time with the kids when they are young. They feel it, enjoy it, appreciate it. When

you hear the news "laid off," parents and kids get the message differently. While
the kids may celebrate it, parents will take it as it is the end of the world.

Although you need money, if the given situation cannot be changed, you have to

learn how to turn the bad news or bad period to an advantage. Positive mindset

is important. Learning Buddha's teaching will definitely guide you to see and

accept the facts and the situation positively.

Fear and Emotion

As an emotional arousal fear arises in the mind as a mental state. When there is

fear, our mind is directly connected to our heart. Therefore, by that time, both

our brain and heart are guided not by intelligence but by emotion. Emotion is

always harmful. Emotions are based on greed, hatred, and delusion. This is why

one has to develop intelligence and wisdom by developing the intellectual

aspect of mind and perceptional aspect of mind through mental

development(bhāvanā). Emotion and fear are interdependently existing like a

cycle. Where there is fear there is emotion and where there is emotion there is

fear. Therefore, as long as fear exists emotions exist and vise-a-versa. However,

when we are intelligent and wise enough to understand and control our emotions

we can come to the state of peacefulness and calmness of mind.

Fear is caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous or likely to

cause pain or a threat. According to the teachings of the Buddha, all those who

have not yet completely eradicated their defilements are under the influence of

fear. That means only the Enlightened Ones are entirely be free from fear. With

their enlightenment they come to the state of fearlesness (abhaya or

akutobhaya).

Fear Directly Springs from Craving

As the Buddha very clearly and comprehensively said in the Dhammapada, fear

arises because of craving (tanhā).He said, "From craving springs grief, from

craving springs fear. For him who is wholly free from craving there is no grief,

whence then fear?

 (Tanhāya jāyati soko-Tanhāya jāyati bhayam

Tanhāya vippamuttassa-Natthi soko kuto bhayam) [3]

One should not forget that the cause of all dukkha, unsatisfactoriness is craving.

Once the Buddha himself said that the world is ensnared by craving (Tanhāya

uddito loko). [4] In accordance with the teachings of the Buddha craving should

be tamed and entirely eliminated by mindfulness. This is why the Buddha taught

us the technique of Samatha-Vipassana meditation to understand the real refuge

and to go to the real refuge, rather going to refuge of many things in the world

blindly. It is because of fear they go to many a refuge. We have to understand the

real refuge and go to the real refuge. Refuge is never found in another person.

The Real Refuge for Fearlessness

In the Dhammapada, the Buddha pointed out what happens when fear arises in

the minds of uninstructed, worldly people, average persons. Since they have fear

of many things, they search for safety. Therefore, they go to many a refuge. The

Buddha explains,

They go to many a refuge,

Those who have been struck by fear:

They go to the mountains and forests,

To parks and trees and shrines.

But none of these is a secure refuge:

None is the refuge supreme.

Not by relying on such a refuge

Can one be freed from all suffering.

But one who has gone for refuge

to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha,

Sees with perfect wisdom,

The Four Noble Truths

 Suffering, the arising of suffering,

The transcending of suffering,

And the Noble Eightfold Path

That leads to suffering's final end.

This is the refuge that is secure:

This is the refuge that is supreme.

By relying on such a refuge as this,

One is released from all suffering. [5]

Personalization and Depersonalization

In accordance with the above explanation, when fear strikes one cannot

understand things clearly. Therefore, one does not know what is to be done and

what is not to be done. As a consequence, they go to many a refuge without

understanding the real refuge. Not only that, with their perverted perception,

they grasp things as mine, me, and myself and then they take whatever is

impermanent as permanent, unsatisfactory as satisfactory and selfless as self.

That is the danger in them. Therefore, seeking to allay their fear they start to do

many types of rites and rituals. This is because of their fear of losing of what they

have grasped with delusion. As a result, they are entirely engaged in

personalization, doubt, and rites and rituals (sakkāya ditthi, vicikiccā,

silabbataparāmāsa). In such away they are tightly fettered to the cycle of birth

and death (samsāra). Hence, for them depersonalization is impossible. Moreover,

due to their fear, they believe that there is a permanent entity as a soul or self

that needs to be protected and will save them from fear. They mistakenly think

that this form is myself, feeling is myself, perception is myself, volitional

formations are myself, and consciousness is myself. In such a way, they grasp

five aggregates into four ways (5x4=20 ways) thinking, "This is my form, this is

myself, my self is in my form or my form is in myself." Such thinking is called

personalization or personality belief. With that they have doubt about themselves

referring to the past, future, and the present. For them there is no way to come
to the path of fearlessness at all. As the Buddha said one has to cut off the above

three fetters first and follow the path to fearlessness based on the only real

refuge which is the Four Noble Truths.

Fear and the Three Modes of Good Conduct

The Buddha has talked about fear even before his enlightenment. According to

the discourse titled "Fear and Dread" in the Majjhima Nikaya [6] he clearly said

that fear and dread arise because of impurity of bodily conduct, verbal conduct,

and mental conduct. He said,

I considered thus: Whenever recluses or brahmins

unpurified in bodily conduct resort to remote jungle-thicket

resting places in the forest, then owing to the defect of their

unpurified bodily conduct these good recluses and brahmins

evoke unwholesome fear and dread. But I do not resort to

remote jungle-thicket resting places in the forest unpurified

in bodily conduct. I am purified in bodily conduct. I resort to

remote jungle-thicket resting places in the forest as one of

the noble ones with bodily conduct purified. Seeing in

myself this purity of bodily conduct, I found great solace in

dwelling in the forest. ... in verbal conduct... in mental

conduct...

In this manner, it is clear that fear arises because of impurity or imperfections of

mind as well such as covetousness, lust, ill will, hate, sloth and torpor, envy,

avarice, restlessness and un-peacefulness of mind, and doubt. In short, as long

as we have attachment by any means, we have fear. Again, it is clear the words

of the Buddha, “Attachment arises because of craving and fear arises because of

craving. Those who have no craving have no attachment and no fear.”

How to Overcome Fear

1. Overcoming of fear is not that easy. First and foremost, it is very clear that in

order to overcome fear one has to remove the cause of fear. That is the most

practical method. Once the Buddha said,

Bhikkhus, whatever fears arise, all arise because of the fool,

not because of the wise man; whatever troubles arise, all

arise because of the fool, not because of the wise man;

whatever calamities arise, all arise because of the fool, not

because of the wise man. Just as a fire that starts in a shed

made of rushes or grass burns down even a house with a

peaked roof, with walls plastered inside and outside, shut

off, secured by bars, with shuttered windows; so too,

bhikkhus, whatever fears arise … all arise because of the

fool, not because of the wise man. Thus the fool brings fear,

the wise man brings no fear; the fool brings trouble, the

wise man brings no trouble; the fool brings calamity, the

wise man brings no calamity. No fear comes from the wise

man, no trouble comes from the wise man, no calamity

comes from the wise man. Therefore, bhikkhus, you should

train thus: 'We shall be wise men, we shall be inquirers'.[7]

Those who find the way to overcome fear should understand this as a fact. So in

short, fear arises because of foolishness. Being wise we can keep fear at bay. No

doubt that if we are wise enough we can understand many things regarding fear

and we do not want to be fools to fear anything material or immaterial. So let us

be wise enough and strive to find the cause of fear. That is the first method to

overcome fear.

2. Secondly, we must understand that as long as we are under the influence of

fear we cannot understand that we are dwelling either in the past or in the

future. The problem is nothing but this. That itself is the cause for insecurity. You

are not dwelling in the present moment. You are full of delusion, full of
expectations, this means either brooding over the past or delving into the future.

If you come to the present moment you see what is going on right now. You see

what you have grasped as your own is rapidly changing and vanishing. The

Buddha said, "All what is dear and delight to you is in the nature of changing and

vanishing. This is to be repeatedly collected upon by monks, nuns, lay women or

lay men." Therefore, in order to dispel, remove, and completely relinquish your

fear the Buddha's instruction is to dispel the darkness of delusion, illusion,

ignorance through which you are shrouded from head to toe and come to the

present moment which is the precious moment. He says, "Let go of the past, let

go of the future, let go of the present, and cross over to the farther shore of

existence. With mind wholly liberated, you shall come no more to birth and

death." [8] Once the Buddha said, "Those who see something to fear where there

is nothing to fear, and see nothing to fear where there is something to fear

upholding false views, they go to states of woe." [9]

(Abhaye bhayadassino

bhaye cābhayadassino

micchāditthi samādānā

sattā gacchanti duggatim)

In short, one should dwell in the present moment, be aware of what is going on

now. Then, one can dispel the darkness of fear. That is the second method we

introduce for the overcoming of the arisen fear.

3. Let us come to the third method. Apply the six factors to any object whether

animate or inanimate that comes to your mind through the six senses. What are

the six factors? Giving full attention and understanding the object as something

conditioned, fragile and dependently arisen, mentally repeat, "This is not mine,

not I am (not me), not myself. This is impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not self."

This is how one comes to understand reality as it is -- to see things as they really

are. Then, you can abandon the arisen fear because you see the uselessness and

meaninglessness of grasping things as your own.

4. The fourth method is this. For this purpose one has to understand cause and

effect or causal conditionality. One has to reason out things, rationalize things

with a clear mind applying wise attention. This is the way to overcome fear. The

Buddha, even before his enlightenment as an unenlightened Bodhisatta,

practiced the same thing while he was at the palace and while practicing as an

ascetic in the woods. He said,

And while I dwelt there [in the woods], a wild animal would

come up to me, or a peacock would knock off a branch or

the wind would rustle the leaves. I thought: What now if this

is the fear and dread coming?‟ I thought: Why do I dwell

always expecting fear and dread? What if I subdue that fear

and dread while keeping the same posture that I am in

when it comes upon me? While I walked, the fear and dread

came upon me; I neither stood nor sat nor lay down till I had

subdued that fear and dread. While I stood, the fear and

dread came upon me; I neither walked nor sat nor lay down

till I had subdued that fear and dread. While I sat, the fear

and dread came upon me; I neither walked nor stood nor lay

down till I had subdued that fear and dread. While I lay

down, the fear and dread came upon me; I neither walked

nor stood nor sat down till I had subdued that fear and

dread. ... There are, brahmin, some recluses and brahmins

who perceive day when it is night and night when it is day. I

say that on their part this is an abiding in delusion. But I

perceive night when it is night and day when it is day.

Rightly speaking, were it to be said of anyone: A being not

subject to delusion has appeared in the world for the

welfare and happiness of many, out of compassion for the

world, for the good, welfare, and happiness of gods and

 humans, it is of me indeed that rightly speaking this should

be said. [10]

That is how he dispelled the arisen fear with a clear mind, wise attention and a

firm determination. When the people are plagued with delusion and fear they are

certainly deluded and perceive things in a distorted way, perhaps completely

upside down.

5. One day a certain brahmin ascetic named Bawari sent his sixteen disciples to

the Buddha in order to see the Buddha and ask a particular question based on

ignorance. As they went to the Buddha as instructed by their teacher they first

asked questions mentally and then asked the question on ignorance. Thereupon,

the Buddha gave the right answer. Being satisfied and gladdened, they then

asked their personal questions as well.One disciple named Ajita asked the

following questions first. He asked,

Bhante, the world, by what it's wrapped?

and why it shines not forth?

say too with what it's smeared?

and what's its greatest fear? [The world here means

'person'.]

Then the Buddha answered.

The world is wrapped by ignorance;

It shines not forth due to doubt and negligence;

It’s smeared by longing,

And suffering is its greatest fear. [11]

According to this expression it is clear that the greatest fear for humans

is dukkha or unsatisfactoriness. People are almost always unsatisfied with what

they have. This itself is a cause for fear. Therefore, the remedy for this is

developing contentment or satisfactoriness. The Buddha pointed out clearly that

contentment or satisfaction is the greatest wealth (santutthi paramam

dhanam). [12] Therefore, this is the fifth method for overcoming fear.

6. The Buddha taught that one should not follow wrong

courses (agati). Therefore, he taught us four types of wrong courses. We need to

remember that one of them is fear. He said, “Bhikkhus, there are these four ways

of taking a wrong course. What four? One takes a wrong course because of

desire, because of hatred, because of delusion, or because of fear. These are the

four ways of taking a wrong course.” What really happens if one takes these four,

wrong courses?

If through desire, hate, fear, or delusion

one transgresses against the Dhamma,

One’s fame diminishes like the moon

in the dark fortnight.

If one does not transgress the Dhamma

through desire, hate, fear, or delusion,

One’s fame becomes full like the moon

in the dark fortnight. [13]

So if one does not take the wrong course of fear, that itself is a way to remove

the fear of going off course (agati). When one takes these wrong courses one

does evil deeds.

7. For our mental protection, the Buddha expounded many different protective

discourses (paritta). Specifically, for the protection from fear and worry he

delivered several discourses. Among these discourses, there is one particular

called "The Discourse on Banner Protection" (Dhajagga Sutta) where the Buddha

said,

Monks, I shall relate a former incident. There arose a battle

between the Devas (gods) and Asuras.Then Sakka, the Lord

of the devas, addressed the devas of the Tāvatimsa heaven

thus: “Happy ones, if the devas who have gone to the battle

should experience fear or terror or suffer from hair standing

on end, let them behold the crest of my own banner. If you

do so, any fear, terror or hair standing on end arising in you

will pass away. If you fail to look up to the crest of my

banner, look at the crest of the banner of Pajāpati, King of

gods. If you do so, any fear, terror or hair standing on end

arising in you will pass away. If you fail to look up to the

crest of Pajāpati, King of the gods, look at the crest of the

banner of Varuna, King of the gods. If you do so, any fear,

terror or hair standing on end arising in you will pass away.”

“Monks, any fear, terror or hair standing on end arising in

them who look at the crest of the banner of Sakka… The

Lord of the gods, of Pajāpati… of Varuna… of Isāna, the King

of the gods, any fear terror or hair standing on end, may

pass away, or may not pass away. What is the reason for

this? Sakka, the Lord of gods, O monks, is not free from lust,

not free from hate, not free from delusion, and is therefore

liable to fear, terror, fright and flight. I also say unto you O

monks — if any fear, terror or hair standing on end should

arise in you when you have gone to the forest or to the foot

of a tree, or to an empty house (lonely place), then think

only of me thus: “Such indeed is the Blessed

One, Arahant (Consummate One), supremely enlightened,

endowed with knowledge and virtue, welcome being,

knower of worlds, the peerless trainer of persons, teacher of

gods and men, the Buddha, the Blessed One.” Monks, if you

think of me, any fear, terror, or standing of hair on end that

may arise in you will pass away. If you fail to think of me,

then think of the Dhamma (the Doctrine) thus: “Well

 expounded is the Dhamma by the Blessed One, a Dhamma

to be realized by oneself and gives immediate results, a

Dhamma which invites investigation and leads up

to Nibbāna, a Dhamma to be understood by the wise each

for himself.” Monks, if you think of the Dhamma, any fear,

terror or hair standing on end that may arise in you, will

pass away. If you fail to think of the Dhamma, then think of

the Sangha (the Order) thus: “Of good conduct is the Order

of Disciples of the Blessed One, of upright conduct is the

Order of Disciples of the Blessed One, of wise conduct is the

Order of Disciples of the Blessed One, of dutiful conduct is

the Order of Disciples of the Blessed One. This Order of

Disciples of the Blessed One — namely those four pairs of

persons, the eight kinds of individuals is worthy of offerings,

is worthy of hospitality, is worthy of gifts, is worthy of

reverential salutations, is an incomparable field of merit for

the world.” Monks, if you think of the Sangha, any fear,

terror or hair standing on end that may arise in you, will

pass away. What is the reason for this? The Tathāgata, O

monks, who is Arahant, supremely enlightened, is free from

lust, free from hate, is free from delusion, and is not liable

to fear, terror, fright or flight. [14]

This is another method to dispel your fear. Recollect the qualities of the Buddha,

Dhamma and the Sangha. This works very well. All monastics dwelling in the

woods do this for their protection from various spirits and creatures like snakes.

8. According to the teachings of the Buddha it is because of not knowing the fear

of samsāra we are wondering in samsāra hindered by ignorance and fettered by

craving. This samsāric fear is to be understood properly. Only then, we can find

the real remedy for this malady. The Buddha says, "Monks, thissamsāra is

without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming

and wandering on hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. [15] If we

know this samsāric fear we do not cling to things and strive to live as if we are

not dying. Since we all have to face death, having fear of death, we should do

more and more good deeds in order to be reborn in good destinations. We should

do more and more good deeds for the happy and peaceful samsāric journey as

well. So knowing the malady of this samsāra itself is a way to dispel the fear of

existence which brings us suffering.

9. In the Anguttara Nikaya (Numerical Discourses), referring to fear or peril the

Buddha said how the uninstructed worldling speaks when there are three type of

perils where mother and son will be separated (fear of separation). As they say,

they are the peril of a great conflagration, a great deluge, and a time of perilous

turbulence in the wilderness. However, the Buddha himself pointed out some

other times of peril or fear. The Buddha says,

There are, monks, these three perils that separate mother

and son. What three? The peril of old age, the peril of

illness, and the peril of death. When the son is growing old,

the mother cannot fulfill her wish: ‘Let me grow old, but

may my son not grow old!’ And when the mother is growing

old, the son cannot fulfill his wish: ‘Let me grow old, but

may my mother not grow old!’ “When the son has fallen ill,

the mother cannot fulfill her wish: ‘Let me fall ill, but may

my son not fall ill!’ And when the mother has fallen ill, the

son cannot fulfill his wish: ‘Let me fall ill, but may my

mother not fall ill!’ “When the son is dying, the mother

cannot fulfill her wish: ‘Let me die, but may my son not die!’

And when the mother is dying, the son cannot fulfill his

wish: ‘Let me die, but may my mother not die!’ “These are

the three perils that separate mother and son. [16]

So what is to be done? Nothing can be except to be more and more intelligent

and wise. Be aware of the nature of change. Nothing is unchanging. Everything is

changing, everything is unsatisfactory, and everything is without a core,

substance or soul. With this understanding you can dispel and overcome existing

fear and fear that may arise in future. That is the ninth method.

10. The Buddha delivered a special discourse on five types of fearful animosities.

Here, the Buddha clearly pointed out that as long as one has not subduded the

five types of fear one is not safe because one still has tendencies to be born in

the animal realm, hungry ghost realm, or other woeful states such as hells. That

is the fear in samsāra. No one can escape from this fear, this danger if they have

not realized the Four Noble Truths. Addressing the householder, Anāthapindika,

very clearly and positively the Buddha said,

Householder, when five fearful animosities have subsided in

a noble disciple, and he possesses the four factors of

stream-entry and he has clearly seen and thoroughly

penetrated with wisdom the noble method, if he wishes he

could by himself declare of himself: "I am one finished with

hell, finished with the animal realm, finished with the

domain of ghosts, finished with the plane of misery, the bad

destinations, the nether world. I am a stream-enterer, no

longer bound to the nether world, fixed in destiny, with

enlightenment as my destination. [17]

That is how one enters the state of fearlessness. In order to complete his or her

final mission there are three more stages to accomplish, namely the once

returner, non-returner, and arahantship. The arahant is the real person who has

completely cut off fear and attained the state of fearlessness (abhaya). He or she

has no fear at all of the defilements greed, hatred, and delusion. The Buddha is

the most excellent Fearless One in the world who brings fearlessness to the

whole world. In this manner, let us understand the nature of fear and how to
overcome fear to attain a state of fearlessness as the Buddha has taught. That is

the Buddhist perspective the Buddha well expounded in his teachings.

Summary

Fear arises because of craving and attachment. According to Buddhism in order

to overcome fear the following ten methods can be applied:

1. Be wise enough to understand things properly

2. Dwell in the present moment

3. Apply the six factors to anything that comes to your mind through senses

4. Investigate the situation to understand the cause and effect of what is

happening

5. Develop contentment or satisfaction (santutthi)

6. Understand fear as a wrong course (agati) and avoid it

7. Remember and recollect the qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma, and

Sangha

8. Understand samsāric fear and make haste to escape

from samsāric existence

9. Understand the three perils of old age, illness, and death; and finally

10. Strive to eradicate the five fears and animosities to attain the state of

stream entry and full enlightenment so that it is possible to completely

eradicate fear.

May You Be Well, Happy, And Peaceful!

May All Fear Cease For You!

May You Live Long In Peace!

[1] Dhammapada. Verse 419.

[2] Dhammapada. Verse 129.

[3] Dhammapada. Verse 216.

[4] S.N. I. 67 (7). Ensnared.

[5] Dhammapada. Verses 188-192.

[6] M.N. No. 4. Bhayabherava Sutta.

[7] M.N. No. 115. Bahudhatuka Sutta.

[8] Dhammapada. Verse 348.

[9] Dhammapada. Verse 317.

[10] M.N. No. 4. Bhayabherava Sutta.

[11] Sutta Nipata. 5. 2. Ajita's Questions.

[12] Dhammapada. Verse 204.

[13] A.N. 4. 18 (8). Wong Courses.

[14] The Book of Protection. Venerable Piyadassi Thero. Kandy, Buddhist

Publication Society, 1999.

[15] S.N. 15. Anamatagga Samyutta.

[16] A.N. III. 62 (2). Perils.

[17] S.N. 12. 41 (1). Five Fearful Animosities.

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Dealing with Fear

What is Fear?
According to Buddhism, there is unhealthy fear and healthy fear. For
example, when we are afraid of something that cannot actually harm us –
such as spiders – or something we can do nothing to avoid – such as old
age or being struck down with smallpox or being run over by a truck – then
our fear is unhealthy, for it serves only to make us unhappy and paralyze
our will. On the other hand, when someone gives up smoking because they
are afraid of developing lung cancer, this is a healthy fear because the
danger is real and there are constructive steps they can take to avoid it.

We have many fears-fear of terrorism, fear of death, fear of being

separated from people we love, fear of losing control, fear of commitment,
fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of losing our job, the list is never-
ending! Many of our present fears are rooted in what Buddha identified as
“delusions” – distorted ways of looking at ourself and the world around us.
If we learn to control our mind, and reduce and eventually eliminate these
delusions, the source of all our fear, healthy and unhealthy, is eradicated.

Healthy Fear

However, right now we need the healthy fear that arises from taking stock
of our present situation so that we can resolve to do something about it.
For example, there is no point in a smoker being scared of dying of lung
cancer unless there is something that he or she can or will do about it, i.e.
stop smoking. If a smoker has a sufficient fear of dying of lung cancer, he
or she will take steps to kick the habit. If he prefers to ignore the danger
of lung cancer, he will continue to create the causes of future suffering,
living in denial and effectively giving up control.

Just a smoker is vulnerable to lung cancer due to cigarettes, it is true that

at the moment we are vulnerable to danger and harm, we are vulnerable to
aging, sickness, and eventually death, all due to our being trapped in
samsara – the state of uncontrolled existence that is a reflection of our
own uncontrolled minds. We are vulnerable to all the mental and physical
pain that arises from an uncontrolled mind-such as the pains that come
from the delusions of attachment, anger, and ignorance. We can choose to
live in denial of this and thereby give up what control we have, or we can
choose to recognize this vulnerability, recognize that we are in danger, and
then find a way to avert the danger by removing the actual causes of all
fear (the equivalent of the cigarettes)-the delusions and negative, unskilful
actions motivated by those delusions. In this way we gain control, and if
we are in control we have no cause for fear. All Buddha’s teachings are
methods to overcome the delusions, the source of all fears.

Balanced Fear
A balanced fear of our delusions and the suffering to which they inevitably
give rise is therefore healthy because it serves to motivate constructive
action to avoid a real danger. We only need fear as an impetus until we
have removed the causes of our vulnerability through finding spiritual,
inner refuge and gradually training the mind. Once we have done this, we
are fearless because we no longer have anything that can harm us, like a
Foe Destroyer (someone who has attained liberation, defeated the foe of
the delusions) or a Buddha (a fully enlightened being).

There are two types of fear, deluded or unhealthy and non-deluded or

healthy. These can also be divided into fear of the inevitable and fear of
the evitable. The key to dealing with fear is to check which type of fear we
have, and to transform our unhealthy fears of what we can do nothing
about into healthy, appropriate fears of what we can do something about.
We can then use these as the motivation to develop refuge and to
overcome what is really dangerous, and even eventually to overcome what
at present seems inevitable, such as sickness, old age, and death.

Fear of Death
Or maybe we’re afraid of death. Again, though, as we are definitely going to
die, that fear is not constructive and will lead to inappropriate responses
such as denial or a sense of futility or meaninglessness in our life.
However, although we have to die, we don’t have to die with an
uncontrolled mind. It is therefore wise to transform our fear of dying into a
fear of dying with an uncontrolled mind, the motivation that will ensure we
prepare for a peaceful and controlled death.

Fear of Rejection
Or maybe we are afraid of rejection. Again, from where does this fear
actually stem? Perhaps it is the fear of people disliking us. So what can we
do about that? Change our mind and like them instead. That is in our
control.

Fear of Being Trapped

Our fear of commitment, of being trapped, not able to back out, can also
be transformed into a constructive fear when we recognize that what is
really trapping us is our own mind. Real and healthy fear comes from
recognizing that we are not committed to our escape from samsara, and
serves as the motivation for seeking that commitment to escape.
Liberation from Fear
In other words, we cannot control whether things will go our way or not,
but we can learn to control our own minds, our responses, and our own
conduct, and in this way gradually find a genuine liberation from all fear.
As Shantideva says in Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life:

“Buddha, the Able One, says,

‘Thus, all fears
And all infinite sufferings
Arise from the mind’.”

And:

“.. it is not possible

To control all external events;
But, if I simply control my mind,
What need is there to control other things?”

A beautiful translation of Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of

Life is available from Tharpa Publications.

The source of all our fear comes from our own uncontrolled minds or
“delusions.”

There are fears that arise from attachment, such as the fear and anxiety of
not finding or being separated from something or someone we feel we
need for our security or happiness.

There are the fears that arise from anger and hatred. Some fears are
directly proportional to our feeling of being threatened by others, which is
the reason we get angry and mentally or physically try to push the person
away.

And in particular, there are fears that arise from the mind of self-grasping
ignorance, which is the root of all other delusions, and thus the source of
all fears. To overcome this root of all fear, Buddha taught the truth of
emptiness, or no self.

Root of All Fear

Self-grasping is an ignorance of the way things are, a mind that grasps at
ourselves and the world around us as real, inherently existent, existing out
there independent of the mind, having nothing to do with our perceiving
consciousness. To overcome this root of all fear, Buddha taught the truth
of emptiness, or no self. This is a very profound subject, but we can gain
some understanding by considering our dreams.

The World is Like a Dream

Just as all the fear, danger, and suffering we experience in a nightmare
comes from not realizing that we are only dreaming, so all the fear and
suffering we experience during our life comes from not seeing the real
nature of our world and our experience. The world does not exist
separately from the mind. Our conviction that things exist “out there”,
independent of our mind, is the source of all our fear. When we see directly
that everything is projected by our perceiving awareness, like the objects
in a dream, all our fears and problems will disappear. We suffer because
we are asleep and lost in our dreams, and we will stop suffering only when
we wake up and see things as they really are. The purpose of all Buddha’s
teachings is to help us wake up.

Suppose that last night we dreamt a tiger was chasing us. Whilst we were
dreaming, the tiger appeared very vividly to exist from its own side, which
is why we developed fear and ran away from it. We felt strongly we were
being chased by a real tiger and had no sense that the tiger was just and
appearance to our mind. Yet when we woke up, we realized that the tiger
was nothing more than a projection of our own mind-it did not exist from
its own side, in our small bedroom! We immediately realized our mistake
and saw that the tiger was nothing more than a projection of our own
mind, and so our fear subsided.

Everything is Mere Appearance to Mind

The tiger ceased when the dream mind ceased. The same is true for the
world we experience while we are awake. Though it appears as solid, real,
and independent of the mind, in reality it is as insubstantial as a dream. A
dream is a mistaken appearance to mind that arises from sleep. It is
mistaken because for as long as we are dreaming, the dream world
appears to exist from their own side, independent of our mind, whereas in
fact it is a mere appearance to mind. Exactly the same, however, is true for
the world we experience while we are awake. Though things appear as
solid, real, and independent of the mind, in reality they are as insubstantial
as a dream.

Awaking from the Sleep of Ignorance

Everything in samsara – our bodies, enjoyments, and the worlds we inhabit
– are just like the things seen in a dream. They are mistaken appearances
arising from the sleep of ignorance. Things falsely appear to exist from
their own side, outside the mind, and we are completely taken in by their
appearance. When an unpleasant object such as an enemy appears to our
mind, we take this appearance at face value as a real, externally existent
enemy, and so we react with fear or hostility; and when an attractive
object such as a beautiful man or woman appears to our mind we are
equally taken in and respond with desirous attachment. We are fooled
completely by appearances – not for a moment do we question their
validity. If we did question appearances, we would discover that that is all
they are: mere appearances to mind, with no real object behind them. The
enemy we fight or flee from is no more real than the tiger in the dream,
and has no more power to harm what we really are. And the beautiful man
or woman we are so attached to is like a lover we meet in a dream, a mere
appearance arising like a wave in the ocean of our mind and later
dissolving back again.

This is a very profound subject and not easy to understand. For more
information, consult the books Transform Your Life , The New Heart of
Wisdom, or Joyful Path of Good Fortune. It is also very important to find a
qualified teacher who can give you oral teachings, explaining this subject
to you from his or her own experience.
The cause of all fear is self-grasping ignorance and all the delusions, such
as selfishness, attachment, and anger, which arise from that ignorance, as
well as all the unskilful actions motivated by those delusions. Therefore, to
find freedom from fear, we need to identify and uproot all our delusions,
and especially our self-cherishing and self-grasping ignorance. To find out
all about these two ego minds and how to overcome them, see Transform
Your Life or Eight Steps to Happiness.

Buddhas, or Awakened Ones, are completely fearless because they have

removed these sources of fear from their mind-self-cherishing and self-
grasping ignorance.

The Story of Prince Siddhartha

Buddha Shakyamuni many times showed complete invincibility-you can
read about such tales in any account of his life story, for example that
given in Introduction to Buddhism. If we understand how Buddha is
fearless, invincible, we can understand how he or she is perfect source of
refuge for us as well.

There is a famous account of what happened when the Prince Siddhartha

was on the verge of attaining enlightenment. As dusk fell, Devaputra Mara,
the chief of all the maras, or demons, of this world, tried to disturb
Siddhartha’s concentration by conjuring up many fearful apparitions. He
manifested as hosts of terrifying demons, some throwing spears, some
firing arrows, some trying to burn him with fire, and some hurling boulders
and even mountains at him. Siddhartha remained completely undisturbed.
Through the force of his concentration on love, the weapons, rocks, and
mountains appeared to him as a rain of fragrant flowers, and the raging
fires became like offerings of rainbow light. Love is said to be the greatest
protection from fear, the best armor.

Conqueror Buddha
Seeing that Siddhartha could not be frightened into abandoning his
meditation, Devaputra Mara tried instead to distract him by manifesting
countless beautiful women, but Siddhartha responded by developing even
deeper concentration. In this way, he triumphed over all the demons in the
world, which is why he subsequently became known as a “Conqueror
Buddha”.

Siddhartha continued with his meditation until dawn, when he attained the
vajra-like concentration. With this concentration, which is the very last
mind of a limited being, he removed the final veils of unknowing from his
mind and in the next moment became a Buddha, a fully enlightened being.

Buddha’s Blessings
There is nothing that Buddha does not know. Because he or she has
awakened from the sleep of ignorance and removed all obstructions from
his mind, he or she knows everything of the past, present, and future
simultaneously and directly. Moreover, Buddha has great compassion that
is completely impartial, embracing all living beings without discrimination.
He benefits all living beings without exception by emanating various forms
throughout the universe and by bestowing his blessings on their minds.
Through receiving Buddha’s blessings, all beings, even the lowliest
animals, sometimes develop peaceful and virtuous states of mind.
Eventually, through meeting an emanation of Buddha in the form of a
Spiritual Guide, everyone will have the opportunity to enter the spiritual
path to liberation and enlightenment. As the great Indian Buddhist Master
Nagarjuna said, there is no one who has not received help from Buddha.

It is because of his or her omniscient, completely non-mistaken mind that

a Buddha has the wisdom and power to protect all living beings. If there
were something a Buddha did not know, or if he sometimes made
mistakes, he would not be a perfect refuge from danger.

How do Buddhas protect us?

They cannot remove our suffering as if taking out a thorn from someone
else’s skin, or lift us out of samsara like a mother cat picking up her
kittens by the scruff of their necks. They cannot give us their wisdom,
compassion or spiritual realizations as if giving a birthday present. There
is therefore no sense in passively waiting for Buddhas to save us from our
delusions and problems and dangers-if they could do so, they already
would have. Though Buddhas have the perfect ability to help all living
beings, and want nothing more than to give all living beings the limitless
bliss they themselves experience, we can only receive their full help and
protection if we also do something from our side, and train our mind in
removing our own delusions.

For more information on the qualities of a Buddha, see Joyful Path of Good
Fortune and Ocean of Nectar

In Buddhism, it is said that there are two causes of refuge or inner

protection: fear and faith. Fear here means a realistic and healthy
awareness of our vulnerability and the danger we are in. The fact is that as
long as we are in samsara we are never safe. Our present circumstances
may seem secure and comfortable, but they will change. We will definitely
be separated from all the outer conditions that make us feel safe – our
home, our family, our circle of friends, the money in our bank account, our
physical health. If we are not separated from these conditions before
death, we will be separated from them by death. What happens after death
depends on the karma we have created and the virtuous or non-virtuous
states of mind we have become familiar with. If in this life or in previous
lives we have performed many negative actions and have not yet purified
them, there is a real danger that these ripen at the time of our death and
drag us into future suffering rebirths. This is not something we like to hear
and our mind will probably come up with all kinds of excuses why this
cannot be the case, but it is nevertheless the truth. And the only thing that
can protect us is our own inner refuge of spiritual practice.

The following paragraph is extracted from Transform

Your Life:
According to Buddhism, enlightened beings are called “Buddhas”, their
teachings are called “Dharma”, and the practitioners who have gained
realizations of these teachings are called “Sangha”. These are known as
the “Three Jewels” – Buddha Jewel, Dharma Jewel, and Sangha Jewel –
and are the objects of faith and refuge. They are called “Jewels” because
they are very precious. In dependence upon seeing the fears and
sufferings of samsara, and developing strong faith and conviction in the
power of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha to protect us, we make the
determination to rely upon the Three Jewels. This is the simple way of
going for refuge to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
To find our more about the practice of refuge, see Transform Your
Life or Joyful Path of Good Fortune.
Real Protection: Love
Overcomes Fear
Here is a meditation we can do on love, taken from Transform Your Life:

We should begin our meditation by focusing on our family and friends,

reflecting that for as long as they remain in samsara they will never know
true happiness, and that even the limited happiness they presently
experience will soon be taken away from them. Then we extend this
feeling of wishing love to include all living beings, thinking, “How
wonderful it would be if all living beings experienced the pure happiness of
liberation!” We mix our mind with this feeling of wishing love for as long as
possible.

Out of meditation, whenever we see or remember any living being, human

or animal, we mentally pray: “May they be happy all the time. May they
attain the happiness of enlightenment.” By constantly thinking in this way,
we can maintain wishing love day and night, even during sleep.

Meditation on love is very powerful. Even if our concentration is not very

strong we accumulate a vast amount of merit. By meditating on love we
create the cause to be reborn as a human or a god, to have a beautiful
body in the future, and to be loved and respected by many people. Love is
the great protector, protecting us from anger and jealousy, and from harm
inflicted by spirits. When Buddha Shakyamuni was meditating under the
Bodhi Tree, he was attacked by all the terrifying demons of this world, but
his love transformed their weapons into a rain of flowers. Ultimately our
love will become the universal love of a Buddha, which actually has the
power to bestow happiness on all living beings.

For more explanation of how to develop and increase our mind of love,
see Transform Your Life or Eight Steps to Happiness.

Generally, our fear of death is an unhealthy and unrealistic fear-we don’t

want to die, so we ignore the subject, deny it, or get morbidly obsessed by
it and think that life is meaningless. However, right now we cannot do
anything about dying, so there is no point fearing death itself. What kind of
fear is useful?

A healthy fear of death would be the fear of dying unprepared, as this is a

fear we can do something about, a danger we can avert. If we have this
realistic fear, this sense of danger, we are encouraged to prepare for a
peaceful and successful death and are also inspired to make the most of
our very precious human life instead of wasting it.
Preparing for Death
This “sense of danger” inspires us to make preparations so that we are no
longer in the danger we are in now, for example by practicing moral
discipline, purifying our negative karma, and accumulating as much merit,
or good karma, as possible. We put on a seat belt out of a sense of danger
of the unseen dangers of traffic on the road, and that seat belt protects us
from going through the windscreen. We can do nothing about other traffic,
but we can do something about whether or not we go through the
windscreen if someone crashes into us. Similarly, we can do nothing about
the fact of death, but we can seize control over how we prepare for death
and how we die. Eventually, through Tantric spiritual practice, we can even
attain a deathless body.

In Living Meaningfully, Dying Joyfully , Geshe Kelsang

says:
Dying with regrets is not at all unusual. To avoid a sad and meaningless
end to our life we need to remember continually that we too must die.
Contemplating our own death will inspire us to use our life wisely by
developing the inner refuge of spiritual realizations; otherwise we shall
have no ability to protect ourself from the sufferings of death and what
lies beyond. Moreover, when someone close to us is dying, such as a
parent or friend, we shall be powerless to help them because we shall not
know how; and we shall experience sadness and frustration at our inability
to be of genuine help. Preparing for death is one of the kindest and wisest
things we can do both for ourself and others.

We are Travelers
The fact of the matter is that this world is not our home. We are travelers,
passing through. We came from our previous life, and in a few years, or a
few days, we shall move on to our next life. We entered this world empty-
handed and alone, and we shall leave empty-handed and alone. Everything
we have accumulated in this life, including our very body, will be left
behind. All that we can take with us from one life to the next are the
imprints of the positive and negative actions we have created. If we ignore
death we shall waste our life working for things that we shall only have to
leave behind, creating many negative actions in the process, and having to
travel on to our next life with nothing but a heavy burden of negative
karma.

Cultivating Positive Minds

On the other hand, if we base our life on a realistic awareness of our
mortality, we shall regard our spiritual development as far more important
than the attainments of this world, and we shall view our time in this world
principally as an opportunity to cultivate positive minds such as patience,
love, compassion, and wisdom. Motivated by these virtuous minds we shall
perform many positive actions, thereby creating the cause for future
happiness. When the time of our death comes we shall be able to pass
away without fear or regret, our mind empowered by the virtuous karma
we have created.

Using Our Life Meaningfully

The Kadampa Teachers say that there is no use in being afraid when we
are on our deathbed and about to die; the time to fear death is while we
are young. Most people do the reverse. While they are young they think, “I
shall not die,” and they live recklessly without concern for death; but when
death comes they are terrified. If we develop fear of death right now we
shall use our life meaningfully by engaging in virtuous actions and avoiding
non-virtuous actions, thus creating the cause to take a fortunate rebirth.
When death actually comes we shall feel like a child returning to the home
of its parents, and pass away joyfully, without fear. We shall become like
Longdöl Lama, a Tibetan Buddhist Master who lived to a great old age.
When the time of his death came he was overjoyed. People asked him why
he was so happy and he replied, `If I die this morning I shall be born again
this evening in a Pure Land. My future life will be far superior to this one.’
Longdöl Lama had prepared carefully for his death and chosen the specific
place of his rebirth. If we use our life to engage purely in spiritual practice
we can do the same.

For more information on the subject of death and dying, see Living
Meaningfully, Dying Joyfully .

Attachment is an extremely common delusion – to a greater or lesser

extent our minds are influenced by it almost all the time. All delusions
function to destroy our peace of mind. It is easy to see how anger or
jealousy disturb the mind, but how does attachment disturb us? To become
aware of the disturbing characteristics of attachment, we need to watch
our mind more closely and honestly than we are accustomed to doing. We
might be sitting peacefully reading the newspaper, when someone we are
very attached to walks into the room. Immediately our mind becomes
agitated. We begin to fidget and want to start a conversation, even though
we have nothing to say. Our stomach feels knotted. Our previous peace of
mind is lost. We are anxious or fearful that they might be not be happy to
see us. All this is a sign that attachment has entered into our mind.
How to Recognize Attachment
Attachment is an extremely common delusion – to a greater or lesser
extent our minds are influenced by it almost all the time. If we pause from
reading for a moment and watch our mind, it will not be long before a
thought of attachment pops up. It may be about a person, or about food,
cigarettes, something we have seen during the day, or our plans for the
weekend. If we observe our mind closely we will notice that as soon as
attachment arises, our mind tenses and our previous tranquility and
spaciousness of mind are replaced by a subtle anxiety-a fear of not
fulfilling our desires or of being separated from whatever it is we are
attached to.

When we recognize this, we can replace the fear and anxiety associated
with attachment with a healthy fear of what will happen if we make no
steps to overcome our attachment. This will motivate us to apply the
opponent to attachment rather than constantly give into it.

Delusions such as attachment are our real enemy. It is our own delusions
that have created all the pain and problems we have ever experienced in
the past or will experience in the future. Were it not for our delusions, we
would already be enjoying the unending peace and bliss of nirvana. If we
are patient with outer enemies in time we may win them round to our side,
but we cannot afford to tolerate the inner enemy of delusion. Unless we
take steps to oppose the delusions in our own mind, they will continue to
create problems for us, life after life. Delusions are self-perpetuating and
will never end of their own accord.

Whenever we allow ourself to indulge in a delusion we merely strengthen

this destructive thought pattern, and when we allow it to influence our
behavior all we will probably succeed in doing is to provoke a deluded
response in other people. Getting angry will never solve our problems, nor
cure us of our anger, and indulging our desirous attachment will not get it
out of our system but simply add more fuel to the fire.

Opposing Our Delusions

The only way to free our mind of delusions is to make a conscious,
concerted effort to apply their opponents. Each delusion has a specific
opponent. The opponent to anger, for example, is patience, to hatred the
opponent is love, and to jealousy it is rejoicing in others´ good fortune. The
more we familiarize our mind with these opponents, the weaker our
delusions will become. To eliminate delusions completely, however, we
need to attack them from their very root, self-grasping ignorance, by
developing a direct realization of emptiness, or ultimate truth.
To learn more about the delusions and how to overcome them,
see Transform Your Life or Understanding the Mind.
Meditation to Overcome Fear

We can try this following simple visualization to let go of fear and anxiety.
Sitting in a comfortable position for meditation, with a straight back, we
close our eyes and breathe naturally through our nose. Then we spend a
little time identifying what it is we are currently afraid of. We identify our
deluded, unhealthy fears, such as the fear of dying, the fear of loss, the
fear of failure, and so forth. Using our wisdom, we understand that all
these fears, and all dangers, arise because of our deluded minds and
negative actions. We then visualize these fears together with their actual
causes (negative minds and actions) in the form of dense thick smoke, and
we breathe it out. This smoke leaves our nostrils and disappears to the
furthest reaches of space, where it completely disappears, never to return.
As we inhale, we imagine we are breathing in all the pure, inspiring energy
and fearlessness of all holy beings in the form of blissful white light, which
fills our body and mind. After meditating like this for a while, we feel that
our body and mind are now completely pure and that we have received the
blessings and protection of all holy beings. Our body feels light and supple,
and our mind is clear, peaceful, and fearless.

A Contemplation for Transforming Fear

When we are frightened, we should ask ourselves what we are actually
frightened of. Are we frightened of getting sick? But at present we have no
choice in that, and so that fear is not constructive. It is wiser to be afraid
of contaminated rebirth and the four rivers of birth, aging, sickness, and
death, all caused by our delusions. This fear is constructive, it is called
“renunciation”, the wish definitely to escape from samsara’s sufferings,
the motivation that will enable us to escape from samsara and all
sickness.

The following passage is from Introduction to Buddhism:

To give fearlessness is to protect other living beings from fear or danger.

For example, if we rescue someone from a fire or from some other natural
disaster, if we protect others from physical violence, or if we save animals
and insects who have fallen into water or who are trapped, we are
practicing giving fearlessness. If we are not able to rescue those in
danger, we can still give fearlessness by making prayers and offerings so
that they may be released from danger. We can also practice giving
fearlessness by praying for others to become free from their delusions,
especially the delusion of self-grasping, which is the ultimate source of all
fear.
Introduction to Buddhism is available from Tharpa Publications.
++++++++++++++++++++
https://www.elephantjournal.com/2009/08/buddhist-rule-re-worrying/

The Buddhist Rule About

Worrying: Don’t.
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”~
Mike Tyson.

We can talk about spirituality or yoga or meditation or

mindfulness all day, but life has a way of testing whether our
understanding is superficial, or thorough. There’s a famous
story about Naropa meeting a wise old woman who tested him
on this point.

What I will say is that fear is a doozy. We’ve got to breathe

through it, but we’ve also got to get into self-inquiry, and
discover what it is we’re really afraid of or anxious and worried
about.

“If something is wrong, fix it now. But train yourself not to

worry, worry fixes nothing.”~ Ernest Hemingway

Don’t Worry, Be Present.

“It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Work is healthy; you
can hardly put more upon a man than he can bear. Worry is the
rust upon the blade. It is not the movement that destroys the
machinery but the friction.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due
to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have
the power to revoke at any moment.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

The Serenity Prayer.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot

change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

“90% of the things you worry about are out of your control so
it’s not helpful to worry. The other 10% you can control so do
something about it instead of worrying.”

“I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of

which actually happened.” ~ Mark Twain

Relephant read: Pema Chodron: How to do Tonglen, a

meditation practice for difficult times.
Leonardo DiCaprio on Worrying and Failure: [Quote]
I tweeted the below casually awhile back, and it got more RTs
than all my other posts combined, today. So, guess it warrants
being made into a short, sweet blog post in and of itself.
The Buddhist rule re: Worrying is
simple: don’t.
Or, as Shantideva said more eloquently,

If it can be fixed; why worry?

If it can’t be fixed, what’s the
point of worrying?
Or, more properly: “If a cure exists, why worry? If no cure
exists, what use is there to worry?”

“Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its troubles, it empties

today of its strength.” ~ Corrie ten Boom

“If it can be solved, theres no need to worry, and if it can’t be

solved, worry is of no use.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

++++++++++++++

Countering Stress and

Depression
At a fundamental level, as human beings, we are all the
same; each one of us aspires to happiness and each one of
us does not wish to suffer. This is why, whenever I have the
opportunity, I try to draw people's attention to what as
members of the human family we have in common and the
deeply interconnected nature of our existence and welfare.
Today, there is increasing recognition, as well as a growing
body of scientific evidence, that confirms the close
connection between our own states of mind and our
happiness. On the one hand, many of us live in societies that
are very developed materially, yet among us are many
people who are not very happy. Just underneath the
beautiful surface of affluence there is a kind of mental
unrest, leading to frustration, unnecessary quarrels,
reliance on drugs or alcohol, and in the worst case, suicide.
There is no guarantee that wealth alone can give you the joy
or fulfilment that you seek. The same can be said of your
friends too. When you are in an intense state of anger or
hatred, even a very close friend appears to you as somehow
frosty, or cold, distant, and annoying.

However, as human beings we are gifted with this wonderful

human intelligence. Besides that, all human beings have the
capacity to be very determined and to direct that strong
sense of determination in whatever direction they like. So
long as we remember that we have this marvellous gift of
human intelligence and a capacity to develop determination
and use it in positive ways, we will preserve our underlying
mental health. Realizing we have this great human potential
gives us a fundamental strength. This recognition can act as
a mechanism that enables us to deal with any difficulty, no
matter what situation we are facing, without losing hope or
sinking into feelings of low self-esteem.

I write this as someone who lost his freedom at the age of

16, then lost his country at the age of 24. Consequently, I
have lived in exile for more than 50 years during which we
Tibetans have dedicated ourselves to keeping the Tibetan
identity alive and preserving our culture and values. On
most days the news from Tibet is heartbreaking, and yet
none of these challenges gives grounds for giving up. One of
the approaches that I personally find useful is to cultivate
the thought: If the situation or problem is such that it can be
remedied, then there is no need to worry about it. In other
words, if there is a solution or a way out of the difficulty, you
do not need to be overwhelmed by it. The appropriate action
is to seek its solution. Then it is clearly more sensible to
spend your energy focussing on the solution rather than
worrying about the problem. Alternatively, if there is no
solution, no possibility of resolution, then there is also no
point in being worried about it, because you cannot do
anything about it anyway. In that case, the sooner you
accept this fact, the easier it will be for you. This formula, of
course, implies directly confronting the problem and taking
a realistic view. Otherwise you will be unable to find out
whether or not there is a resolution to the problem

Taking a realistic view and cultivating a proper motivation

can also shield you against feelings of fear and anxiety. If
you develop a pure and sincere motivation, if you are
motivated by a wish to help on the basis of kindness,
compassion, and respect, then you can carry on any kind of
work, in any field, and function more effectively with less
fear or worry, not being afraid of what others think or
whether you ultimately will be successful in reaching your
goal. Even if you fail to achieve your goal, you can feel good
about having made the effort. But with a bad motivation,
people can praise you or you can achieve goals, but you still
will not be happy.

Again, we may sometimes feel that our whole lives are

unsatisfactory, we feel on the point of being overwhelmed
by the difficulties that confront us. This happens to us all in
varying degrees from time to time. When this occurs, it is
vital that we make every effort to find a way of lifting our
spirits. We can do this by recollecting our good fortune. We
may, for example, be loved by someone; we may have
certain talents; we may have received a good education; we
may have our basic needs provided for - food to eat, clothes
to wear, somewhere to live - we may have performed certain
altruistic deeds in the past. We must take into consideration
even the slightest positive aspect of our lives. For if we fail
to find some way of uplifting ourselves, there is every
danger of sinking further into our sense of powerlessness.
This can lead us to believe that we have no capacity for
doing good whatsoever. Thus we create the conditions of
despair itself.

As a Buddhist monk I have learned that what principally

upsets our inner peace is what we call disturbing emotions.
All those thoughts, emotions, and mental events which
reflect a negative or uncompassionate state of mind
inevitably undermine our experience of inner peace. All our
negative thoughts and emotions - such as hatred, anger,
pride, lust, greed, envy, and so on - are considered to be
sources of difficulty, to be disturbing. Negative thoughts and
emotions are what obstruct our most basic aspiration - to be
happy and to avoid suffering. When we act under their
influence, we become oblivious to the impact our actions
have on others: they are thus the cause of our destructive
behaviour both toward others and to ourselves. Murder,
scandal, and deceit all have their origin in disturbing
emotions.

This inevitably gives rise to the question - can we train the

mind? There are many methods by which to do this. Among
these, in the Buddhist tradition, is a special instruction
called mind training, which focuses on cultivating concern
for others and turning adversity to advantage. It is this
pattern of thought, transforming problems into happiness
that has enabled the Tibetan people to maintain their dignity
and spirit in the face of great difficulties. Indeed I have
found this advice of great practical benefit in my own life.

A great Tibetan teacher of mind training once remarked that

one of the mind’s most marvellous qualities is that it can be
transformed. I have no doubt that those who attempt to
transform their minds, overcome their disturbing emotions
and achieve a sense of inner peace, will, over a period of
time, notice a change in their mental attitudes and
responses to people and events. Their minds will become
more disciplined and positive. And I am sure they will find
their own sense of happiness grow as they contribute to the
greater happiness of others. I offer my prayers that
everyone who makes this their goal will be blessed with
success.

The Dalai Lama

December 31, 2010

Originally published in the Hindustan Times, India, on

January 3rd, 2011

Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety,

the Fear of Being Unneeded
In many ways, there has never been a better time to be alive. Violence plagues
some corners of the world, and too many still live under the grip of tyrannical
regimes. And although all the world’s major faiths teach love, compassion and
tolerance, unthinkable violence is being perpetrated in the name of religion.

And yet, fewer among us are poor, fewer are hungry, fewer children are dying,
and more men and women can read than ever before. In many countries,
recognition of women’s and minority rights is now the norm. There is still much
work to do, of course, but there is hope and there is progress.

How strange, then, to see such anger and great discontent in some of the world’s
richest nations. In the United States, Britain and across the European Continent,
people are convulsed with political frustration and anxiety about the future.
Refugees and migrants clamor for the chance to live in these safe, prosperous
countries, but those who already live in those promised lands report great
uneasiness about their own futures that seems to border on hopelessness.

Why?

A small hint comes from interesting research about how people thrive. In one
shocking experiment, researchers found that senior citizens who didn’t feel useful
to others were nearly three times as likely to die prematurely as those who did
feel useful. This speaks to a broader human truth: We all need to be needed.
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Being “needed” does not entail selfish pride or unhealthy attachment to the
worldly esteem of others. Rather, it consists of a natural human hunger to serve
our fellow men and women. As the 13th-century Buddhist sages taught, “If one
lights a fire for others, it will also brighten one’s own way.”

Virtually all the world’s major religions teach that diligent work in the service of
others is our highest nature and thus lies at the center of a happy life. Scientific
surveys and studies confirm shared tenets of our faiths. Americans who prioritize
doing good for others are almost twice as likely to say they are very happy about
their lives. In Germany, people who seek to serve society are five times likelier to
say they are very happy than those who do not view service as important.
Selflessness and joy are intertwined. The more we are one with the rest of
humanity, the better we feel.

This helps explain why pain and indignation are sweeping through prosperous
countries. The problem is not a lack of material riches. It is the growing number
of people who feel they are no longer useful, no longer needed, no longer one with
their societies.

In America today, compared with 50 years ago, three times as many working-age
men are completely outside the work force. This pattern is occurring throughout
the developed world — and the consequences are not merely economic. Feeling
superfluous is a blow to the human spirit. It leads to social isolation and
emotional pain, and creates the conditions for negative emotions to take root.
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 Why Doesn’t Anyone Want to Live in This Perfect Place?

What can we do to help? The first answer is not systematic. It is personal.

Everyone has something valuable to share. We should start each day by
consciously asking ourselves, “What can I do today to appreciate the gifts that
others offer me?” We need to make sure that global brotherhood and oneness
with others are not just abstract ideas that we profess, but personal commitments
that we mindfully put into practice.

Each of us has the responsibility to make this a habit. But those in positions of
responsibility have a special opportunity to expand inclusion and build societies
that truly need everyone.

Leaders need to recognize that a compassionate society must create a wealth of

opportunities for meaningful work, so that everyone who is capable of
contributing can do so. A compassionate society must provide children with
education and training that enriches their lives, both with greater ethical
understanding and with practical skills that can lead to economic security and
inner peace. A compassionate society must protect the vulnerable while ensuring
that these policies do not trap people in misery and dependence.

Building such a society is no easy task. No ideology or political party holds all the
answers. Misguided thinking from all sides contributes to social exclusion, so
overcoming it will take innovative solutions from all sides. Indeed, what unites
the two of us in friendship and collaboration is not shared politics or the same
religion. It is something simpler: a shared belief in compassion, in human
dignity, in the intrinsic usefulness of every person to contribute positively for a
better and more meaningful world. The problems we face cut across conventional
categories; so must our dialogue, and our friendships.

Many are confused and frightened to see anger and frustration sweeping like
wildfire across societies that enjoy historic safety and prosperity. But their refusal
to be content with physical and material security actually reveals something
beautiful: a universal human hunger to be needed. Let us work together to build
a society that feeds this hunger.

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual leader of

Tibet and a Nobel laureate for peace. Arthur C. Brooks is
president of the American Enterprise Institute and a contributing
opinion writer.

++++++++++++

HOW TO OVERCOME
WORRY AND ANXIETY
WITH THIS SIMPLE
MINDFULNESS
TECHNIQUE
Are you an excessive worrier?
When worrying becomes excessive, it can lead to anxiety, panic and even
cause illness. When worried or anxious, your mind and body go into a
state of ‘fight or flight’ as you constantly focus on “what could happen.”
Chronic worrying (often referred to as anxiety) can affect your daily life
so much that it interferes with your work, appetite, relationships, sleep
and reduces your overall quality of life.
Many people who suffer from anxiety get caught in the cycle of addiction
in an unconscious attempt to control their inner turmoil.
They may over-eat, smoke, drink or take drugs in an attempt to get some
relief. In extreme cases, when worrying and anxiety go untreated, they
can lead to depressionand even suicidal thoughts.
WHAT IS THE TR UE CAUSE OF
A NX IET Y ?
Often we believe that the causes of our worries – our tensions and
anxieties – are from external things.
We may worry about whether we’ll have enough food on the table next
week; whether we’ll be able to find a relationship so we are not alone
when we get old; we may get anxious about our children, the stock
market, our job security or any number of other things. We see these
things as the cause of our worries.
How many times have you thought, “Oh, if only (fill in the blank) would
happen, if only I had (fill in the blank), I would be happy and have no
more worries!”
On closer investigation though, we can see that these external things –
the relationship, children, the stock market – are not truly the cause of
the negative emotional states of worry and anxiety.
Worries are caused not from the external circumstances of our lives, but
the internal ‘circumstances’. It is caused by our worrying thoughts.
R EC OGNIZE WORRY F OR WHAT
IT R EA L LY IS
Worry is not an externally caused condition. It is simply a particular
type of thought—pattern.
A ‘worry’ or ‘anxious’ thought occurs when the mind projects
itself into the future and imagines something going wrong.
What is the emotion generated by these types of thoughts or
mental movies? Fear.
You may use more ‘socially acceptable’ words like stress, anxiety or
worry but at the core of all these is fear. Though these imagined future
events are not happening in reality, you are still going through the
events in your mind.
Your mind cannot tell the difference between your imaginings and
reality, so the thoughts have almost the same impact on you as the
actual event would!
Chronic worry generates ongoing irritability, muscle tension,
concentration difficulties, indecision and agitation just as though you
were actually experiencing the things you’re worried about.
It results in you being “on edge” all the time and unable to relax (1).
Learn to recognize worry and anxiety for what they are. Thought
patterns. By doing so they begin to lose their power to ‘take you over’.
A WAY O F D E A L I N G W I TH
WORRY: L A B EL AND L ET GO
One technique for dealing with worry proposed by Dr. Christopher
Walsh is a technique he calls the “just worrying” labeling (2). It’s a very
simple technique: whenever you find yourself worrying about
something, note to yourself that you’re “just worrying.”
By doing this you become present as the witness of your thoughts
instead of being completely taken over by them. You now have the
power to choose to let it go.
After you label it, then turn your focus to your breathing or just simply
bring your attention into the present moment and what your doing.
Every time you catch yourself worrying—no matter how often—you
employ the technique again.
D ON’ T F IGHT THE F EEL ING
Whatever You Fight, You Strengthen, and What You Resist, Persists –
Eckhart Tolle
When using the “just worrying” technique, like any other mindfulness
exercise, it is important not to fight your feelings or thoughts. There is
no need to criticize yourself for feeling worries or anxiety or try to force
the thoughts out of your head. In short – avoid any struggle with the
thoughts. Struggling with thoughts is a bit like struggling in quicksand.
It only makes you sink deeper.
Instead of struggling with the thoughts, you can simply untangle from
your worry thoughts and view them objectively and calmly. By labelling
it “just a worry,” you immediately step back from the thought, stop the
struggle with what is happening, and recognize that the worry thoughts
are simply that – just thoughts. Not reality. In that moment of
realization you are no longer ‘stuck’ in your head and can bring your
focus back to the present moment.
You don’t need to waste energy fighting worry and anxiety, but you also
no longer need to ‘buy into it’ either. With this simple practice, you can
recognize unhelpful thoughts, label them “just worrying,” and move on
with your day in a state of ease and calm.
If you want to know how to overcome unhelpful thinking
permanently read this post on the four keys to overcoming negative
thinking for good (with free meditation audios).
Got some of your own wisdom to share on this topic? Questions? Jot
them in the comments section below.
Wishing you well,
Melli
1. http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/9-steps-to-end-chronic-
worrying
2. http://www.mindfulness.org.au/JUST%20WORRYING.htm

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A great dharma talk on opening to fear and anxiety and how to work
with it in meditation practice.
You can remind yourself of the noble persons who have walked this
path before you. This path is no dusty byway. Buddhas from time
immemorial, the silent Buddhas, the great disciples, the arahants, all the
rest of the noble ones, all have walked here. If you want to share this
distinguished path, fortify yourself with dignity and be diligent. No room
for cowards or the lazy; this is a road for heroes and heroines.

You might say to yourself: “People of distinction have walked this path,
and I must try to live up to their company. I can’t be sloppy here. I shall
walk with as much care as possible, fearlessly. I have this chance to
belong to a great family, the group of distinguished people who walk on
this noble path. I should congratulate myself for having the opportunity
to do this. People like me have walked on this path and attained the
various stages of enlightenment. So I, too, will be able to reach the
same attainment”
Through such reflection, effort can arise and lead you to the goal of
nibbana (freedom).
~Sayadaw U Pandita

The Dhamma is the most precious thing in the entire world,

Practicing it leads to freedom and the end of psychological suffering and
stress.
Remembering this, I practice with my whole heart,
And skillfully transform and train this mind.

Transcript:
The path of Dharma practice is the path of opening. It’s the path of
opening our bodies. And we start in our practice as often the sense of
the solidity of the body. The density of it. Through the power of
observation, we begin to see more specific kinds of sensations. Begin to
discriminate and articulate different kinds of feelings in the body. As the
observing power becomes stronger, often there’s a disillusion of the
form. So we can be sitting and feeling the body, but without any sense
of shape or form, as we go deeper, we begin to feel it as a flow of
energy. The energy becomes more refined and more subtle.

So the path of our practice is an opening to these physical energies in

deeper and clearer ways. It’s also a path of opening our sense ___. ___
perceptions become clearer, how we see and how we hear. You may
have noticed the times you might be sitting quite still. And there’s a
sound. And the sound feels as if it impacts the body in such an intense
way. There’s a perception of hearing that’s become so acute.

It’s a path of opening our emotions or as we proceed in practice, often,

there is uncovering of deeper and more intense emotional states.
Sometimes, they’re very beautiful. The feelings of love and compassion.
In a way that’s very sweet. Very refined. And sometimes, it’s the
uncovering of very unpleasant emotions. Maybe there’s an ___ of huge
amount of rage or anger, or sadness, or grief. It’s all part of this
uncovering process.

It’s a path of opening to deeper level of silence. In the couple of months

that you’ve been here, I think you’ve observed that times—different
kinds of silence. And then at first, our mind is simply lost in thought most
of the time. And as we practice, we may still be thinking most of the
time, but there’s some ___ of awareness, we know that that’s
happening.

And as practice goes on, maybe we’re a little more with the breath, and
thought some more in the background. Then the background thought
gets more subtle. Maybe for a moment or two, they actually stop, and
you really experience a silence of mind.

The practice of Dharma is not a reaching out for anything. It’s not a
process of acquisition. Rather, it’s a settling back and an opening to
what is there. An opening to what is true. So realization of our essential
nature of what is always there. What keeps us closed in this process of
opening or keeps us closed to this experience of the Dharma, are
deeply conditioned fears or certain kinds of fear in the mind, which are
very strongly habituated. We have fear of pain. This is a strong habit for
us. We have of certain emotional or psychological state. There’s often
fear of impermanence in some very basic level. Mind is afraid of change
or afraid of the unknown. This fear of death.

The problem for us is that all of these things are actually part of who we
are– pain and difficult emotions, and impermanence, and the unknown,
and death. This is part of what is true. And so as long as there is fear of
these things, we stay fragmented. We stay cut-off a part of ourselves.
On this journey of opening, what happens is that we come to
boundaries. We come to the edges of what we’re willing to be with. Of
what we’re comfortable with. And it’s just at these edges, these
boundaries that these deep-rooted fears begin to reveal themselves.

Working with the fear at this point in our practice is an essential part of
the work that we do. The essential part of this opening. We begin to see
very clearly what it is that limits us. We begin to see the possibility of
going beyond our limits. We begin to look very directly and very closely
at the nature of fear itself. So that we understand it. The Dharma is the
totality of ourselves. The totality of who we are. And there’s one
profound implication of this understanding—which is that everything is
workable. Every situation, every experience is workable. Nothing is
outside of the practice.

When we come to these boundaries, or places of limitation, or come to

the edges of what we’re willing to be with, and different fears begin to
manifest. And we look at the fear. Begin to see that fear is rooted in
aversion. As we’ve mentioned before, aversion has two kinds, two types
—it’s the aggressive form of aversion, which is anger. And then there’s
the retreating form of aversion, which is fear. This fear is a contraction.
It’s a pulling back. It’s a withdrawal. It’s a collapsing inwards.

We also begin to see that fear conditions other unwholesome mind

states. Fear of losing what we have, of losing what we like, conditions
attachment. Fear of experiencing what we don’t want, conditions
resistance in the mind. ___, the ancient ___, said ‘little fears cause
anxiety, and big fears cause panic.’ We can see how this is operating in
our minds.

So what are some of the things, what are the areas, in which fear is
strongly conditioned? Some way, the most obvious, the most present
domain of experience where fear begins to show itself is fear of pain,
fear of discomfort. The mind has been strongly conditioned to avoid
unpleasantness. We don’t like feeling painful sensations. There’s often
an unwillingness to be uncomfortable.

It’s interesting to observe what a strong limitation this is in our lives.

When we begin making life choices, using comfort as a measure. The
tremendous limit on what we can do. For a long time before, I went to
practice in Bhurma. I’ve been hearing all these gruesome stories, and
there was a real fear in my mind about what the conditions were going
to be like, and the level of discomfort involved. And I actually postponed
going for years.