Lesson 4377 19-3-2022
https://youtu.be/KgoiGhbUsrg
A genuinely crucial in achieving food security and peopleβs food sovereignty is:
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https://buddhaweekly.com/overcoming-fear-three-remedies-fear-buddha-say-fearlessness-abhaya-sutta/
Contents of Feature
Understanding Emptiness (Oneness) Helps Overcome Fear
Some Fears are Wholesome
Remedy for Fear β Mindfulness
Metta Remedy β βArmor of Loving Kindnessβ
Another Remedy for Fear β Your Buddha Nature
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?
Who is this Person, Not Afraid of Death?
In the Abhaya Sutta, Shakyamuni Buddha said, βAnd 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, βO, those beloved sensual pleasures will be taken from me, and I will be taken from them!β 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.β
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: βThe 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 weβll spend seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred years on this planet and then weβll 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.
βBut a cloud canβt 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 canβt be born; itβs 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.β
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.
Pragmatic Fearlessness β βDoing Goodβ
A more pragmatic view of fearlessness is found in the Abhaya Sutta, the βFearlessβ Sutra β a discourse between the Blessed One and Janussoni the Brahman who challenged Buddha with his view βno one who, subject to death, is not afraid or in terror of death.β The Buddha answers him with four βcasesβ of people who would die in fear, and four who would die without fear.
Strikingly, Buddha mentions a fearless person βwho 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, βI 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 cruelβ¦ 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.β
NOTES
[1] βWhat are you afraid of? Cultivating fearlessness in Buddhismβ Huffington Post https://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] βFear and Fearlessnessβ, Lionβs Roar, June 7, 2016
https://youtu.be/yH86jaBQ0F4
One clings to life although there is nothing to be called life; another clings βto death although there is nothing to be called death. In reality, there is nothing to be born; consequently, there is nothing to perish.β-Buddha
https://youtu.be/XkHg9GZ0tNk
βmind dominates all things, the mind creates all things.β-Buddha
https://youtu.be/uFL7mwKTi_c
βLong is the cycle of birth and death to the fool who does not know the true path.β-Buddha
https://youtu.be/ryzHIV-7dms
“Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.β-Buddha
https://youtu.be/7-s1uieqemw
“This world is shrouded in darkness. Here, only a few can see their way free. These few birds escape from the net, and fly away to the heavens.”-Buddha
https://youtu.be/TSLKy4COKB8
βFashion your life as a garland of beautiful deeds.β-Buddha