the role of fear in indian religious thought with special reference to buddhism

TORKEL BREKKE

THE ROLE OF FEAR IN INDIAN RELIGIOUS THOUGHT WITHSPECIAL REFERENCE TO BUDDHISM

“May the fearful become fearless and those oppressedby grief find joy. May those who are anxious be rid oftheir anxiety and feel secure.”Santideva1

The links between fear and religion have been a valid subject ofinvestigation for scholars in modern anthropology and psychology andwriters in search of the psychological origins of religion have hada special interest in this subject.2 In the Christian world such linkshave been highlighted by the prominent philosopher Kierkegaard. Fearoften has a religious role in India, too. However, except for a recentsemi-scholarly essay on fear and Buddhism nothing has been writtenon the subject of fear in Indian religions.3 In this article I wish toilluminate certain aspects of fear in the religious thought of the Indiansub-continent. I will focus on Buddhist texts in particular. However,I wish to emphasize that I choose a methodological approach whereI look for common themes in the religious traditions of India. Thesetraditions share a world-view that warrants such an approach and Ibelieve that one of the tasks of the historian of religion should be tolook for the large themes of the Indian religious universe.

Let me make a few reservations before I continue. The point ofdeparture for the discussion of fear in this article is a specific puzzle inIndian literature that deals with the life of the religious renouncer andthe way towards the adoption of this life. I will define the problem inmore detail over the following pages. Fear is a vast subject in Indianliterature and a number of different approaches could be adopted to thetopic and a number of links explored. For instance, it might be fruitfulto look at the innumerable associations between fear and sexual desire,between the horrible and the erotic.4 Perhaps the most interesting linkwould be the one leading to Indian drama. The N�at.ya�s�astra of BharataMuni has terrifying (bhay�anaka) as one of the eight tastes or sentiments(rasa) that a drama can supply in order to move its public. To the

Journal of Indian Philosophy27: 439–467, 1999.c 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

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terrifying sentiment belongs the emotion of fear (bhaya). In the famouschapter on sentiments, the Ras�adhy�aya, Bharata Muni explains:

“Now (the rasa) called bhay�anakahas fear as its permanent emotion. It arises fromsuchvibh�avasas ghastly noises, seeing supernatural beings (ghosts), fear and panicdue to the (cries) of owls (or the howling of) jackals, going to an empty house orto a forest, hearing about, speaking about, or seeing the imprisonment or murder ofone’s relatives. It should be acted out by such actions as trembling of the hands andfeet, darting motions of the eyes, the hair standing on end, changing facial color(i.e. going white with fear) or stuttering”.5

The N�at.ya�s�astra’s theory of sentiment has had a substantial impacton Indian thought on emotions at least from the third or fourth centuryand it is not unlikely that monks and scholars who discussed the roleof fear in a religious context had knowledge of Bharata Muni and othertheorists’ treatment of the terrifying sentiment and its corollary, fear.However, the possible links between the dramaturgical and the religiousideas of fear is an example of one fascinating line of inquiry that Imust leave out in this article. I am going to restrict my discussion toone problem, namely the double role of fear in some of the textualreligious traditions of India. As will soon become clear, the role of fearin Indian religion and especially in Buddhism seems to be somewhatparadoxical and this is the point of departure for this article. Beforewe go into this problem, however, I will take a brief look at fear in itsmore familiar forms, the little fears of the everyday life of renouncerand householder, what may be calledtrivial fears.

THE TRIVIAL FEARS OF MONKS AND HOUSEHOLDERS

Fear and the desire to escape it is a theme in Buddhist P�ali literature.In its trivial sense fear is a factor of both the individual and social lifeof the Buddhist monk. Fear is one side of the multifaceted emotionalcomplex of every human being and freedom from fear is an aspect of thegeneral calming of the mind which is the goal of Buddhist meditation.The overcoming of fear often becomes a meditative practice. In thechapter on pleasure, Piyavagga, of the Dhammapada several versesexplain the interconnection between the pleasant and painful feelings.What is pleasurable (piya), affection (pema), fondness (rati), desire(k�ama) and craving (tan.h�a) all lead to grief (soka) and fear (bhaya).6

Typically, when one is free from the pleasurable feelings one will alsobe free from grief and fear. Overcoming fear is part of the monk’s wayto detachment from worldly matters. The Dhajagga Sutta says that whenthe monk recollects (anussarati, sarati) the Buddha, the Dhamma and

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the Sam. gha he will experience no fear (bhaya), paralysis (chambhitatta)or bristling of body-hair in excitement (lomaham. sa).7

In the Bhayabherava Sutta of the Majjhima Nik�aya the Buddhaspeaks about overcoming the fears of dark and remote places as anexercise of the mind. He explains how he approached horrifying placeslike orchard shrines, woodland shrines and tree-shrines on auspiciousnights and dwelt there in order to encounter fear.

“And while I dwelt there, a wild animal would come up to me, or a peacock wouldknock off a branch, or the wind would rustle the leaves. I thought “What now if thisis the fear and dread (bhayabherava) coming?” I thought: “Why do I dwell alwaysexpecting fear and dread? What if I subdue that fear and dread while keeping thesame posture that I am in when it comes upon me?” While I walked, the fear anddread came upon me; I neither stood nor sat nor lay down till I had subdued thatfear and dread. While I stood, the fear and dread came upon me; I neither walkednor sat nor lay down till I had subdued that fear and dread: : : ” 8

There are several different enumerations of things that cause fearin the P�ali texts; many of these are negligible as subjects of scholarlyinvestigation. For instance the Sutta Nip�ata says that there are fivecauses of fear that can disturb the monk, namely, gadflies (d.am. sa),moths or mosquitoes (adhip�ata), creeping animals (sirim. sapa), contactwith humans (manussaphassa) and four-legged beasts (catuppada).9

In this context fear is discussed as something which must be calmedalong with other affects. The Buddha explains to S�ariputta the mind-setwhich should be cultivated by the monk who settles down far away bythe root of a tree, in a cemetery, or a mountain cave. The Sutta-Nip�ata,then, just like the Bhayabherava Sutta above, is not talking about anexistential fear that makes people renounce the world, but rather minorfears that must be calmed by the monk who is engaged in meditation.

Fear in its trivial sense is also a force that controls social life.Typically, four types of fear are thought to guide the monk in a socialsetting. The fear of self-reproach (att�anuv�ada bhaya), fear of reproachby others (par�anu bhaya), fear of punishment (dan.d.a bhaya) and fearof lower worlds (duggati bhaya) all make the monk avoid bad actionsand function as a social being.10 The fear of reproach by the laity, forinstance, seems to have been an important force in the shaping of theBuddhist Sam. gha.11

Fear can be destructive and paralysing. The trivial fear of the commonman is not only unprofitable but directly harmful from the perspectiveof the renouncer. Fear is one of the four motives (t.h�ana) out of whichpeople do evil deeds, the Buddha tells Sig�ala.12 Fear as a motivationin the everyday life of the householder is destructive. The gift to theSam. gha given out of fear (bhayad�ana) is impure (avi�suddha), says the

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Mah�ay�ana literature on giving.13 Lamotte suggests that this is becauseimpure attachment or interest of any kind makes the gift impure, whilethe only pure (vi�suddha) gift is the one given with complete detachment.However, as I have tried to show elsewhere, there have been tendenciesto make giving a more pragmatic activity where all modes of donatingproduce merit.14

While fear should not be a form of motivation in the everyday life ofthe monk or the householder, fear is at the core of religious motivation.Without fear gods and men do not realize the need for religious exertion.Thus, one must discard the wrong fear and embrace the right fear. T.Ling speaks of the fundamental difference between, on the one hand,dangers that it is possible to escape, like armies, mad elephants, yakkhas,etc. and, on the other hand, the great danger of death, personified inM�ara which is ultimately inescapable.15 It is the realization of suchgreat and inescapable dangers – death, birth, old age – that is the basisof the non-trivial fear which is the subject of this article. One mustchoose the right fear. In the words of the Dhammapada: “They whofear when they ought not to fear and do not fear when they ought tofear, such men, following false doctrines, enter the evil path”.16 Whatmakes one experience of fear good and another bad?

THE PARADOX OF FEAR

If we start looking a little closer at the role of fear in Indian religiousthought it becomes apparent that the subject has a fundamental double-ness to it. On the one hand, fear is the natural state of sam. s�aric existence.The basic facts of life – like birth, sickness, aging and death – causefear in living beings. Conversely, freedom from fear is an importantaspect of complete religious realization. On the other hand, fear is anecessary state of mind in the striving to escape sam. s�aric existenceand achieve freedom. Fear should be cultivated as the basic motivatingfactor in the religious life. Thus, fear is both a negative thing, fromwhich beings should try to escape through religious exertion, and apositive thing, without which the very same exertion is impossible. Inother words, if one starts to look into the ideas about fear in Buddhismand Indian soteriologies in general it soon becomes clear that it is acomplex subject.

The double function of fear is perhaps most apparent in P�ali Buddhismand the textual basis of this tradition will provide the most importantexamples in this article. The Buddha leads his followers from the fearof sam. s�aric existence towards freedom from fear. He is the Dispeller of


anguish, terror and fear (ubbegam. utt�asam. bhayam. apanuditar).17 Heis the Bestower of fearlessness (abhayada).18 But at the same time hisfunction is to create dread in gods and men. When a Buddha arises in theworld and teaches the Dhamma the gods experience fear, agitation andtrembling.19 In the Perfection of Wisdom literature (praj~n�ap�aramit�a),too, it is a common assertion that the teaching of emptiness (�s�unyat�a)is too terrifying to be taught to people who have not reached a certainstage in spiritual development.20 What is the difference between thefear that the Buddha creates and the fear that he destroys?

The same paradox can be found in Jainism. According to severalmedieval Jain authors freedom from fear (nih.�sa_nka) is a primary partof right view or belief. For instance, C�amun.d.ar�aya lists seven typesof fear: Fear of this world (iha-loka), fear of the next world (para-loka), fear of sickness (vy�adhi), fear of death (maran.a), fear of beingwithout protection (agupti), fear of being without defence (atr�an.a), fearof something unexpected (akasmika).21 These kinds of trivial everydayfears are detrimental to the religious life and must be destroyed. P.Jaini has listed fear (bhaya) as one of nine “everyday passion-tingedexperiences” which will gradually disappear as an individual becomesmore spiritually advanced.22 Thus, fear is a symptom of low spiritualattainment in Jainism too. At the same time it is clear that a certainkind of fear is a prerequisite for success in the religious life. In Jainismsam. vegahas more or less the same function as in the Buddhist examplesbelow. In some of the medieval Jain authorssam. vegahas been codified aspart of the lists of right view or right belief –samyaktvaor samyagdr.s. t. i.P�ujyap�ada, the Diagambara commentator of the Tattv�arthas�utra – wholived perhaps in the fifth century or slightly later – definedsam. vegaas the ever-present fear of transmigration, whereas the greatest of the�Svet�ambara authors, Hemacandra, definedsam. vegaas “the desire formoks.a arising from the realization that the pleasures of gods and menare, in the last resort, unsatisfying”,23 For the Jain authorssam. vegaisthe unease or fear that arises from the basic facts of life insam. s�ara.Thus, both fear and freedom from fear have been listed as right viewsfor the Jains.

In the following I will look closer at the two roles of fear in Indianreligion and especially in Buddhism. Firstly, I will look at freedomfrom fear as the goal of religious striving or as a characteristic featureof salvation; secondly, I will look at fear as a means to religiousachievement or as the basis for religious motivation. Finally, I will tryto put the double role of fear in the context of the religious history ofIndia. I am going to argue that in Buddhism, from which I take most

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of my examples and where the doubleness is most clearly expressed,fear was part of the arsenal of the great missionary movement thatspread Buddhism throughout the subcontinent and to Sri Lanka fromaround the middle of the third century B.C. It is likely that Buddhistmissionaries used the induction of fear as a technique to make peoplemore receptive to the new movement and its teaching and, conversely,the dispelling of fear was an effective way of binding fresh convertsto the community.24 As I will try to show, traces of such an active useof fear can be found in the P�ali texts. I believe the widely acceptedview that Buddhism spread simply because of the exemplary mannersof its proponents and the rational and pleasing nature of its teaching isnaive.

FREEDOM FROM FEAR AS THE AIM OF RELIGIOUS STRIVING

All men fear punishment and death, according to the Buddha, but theArhat has passed beyond all fear (sabbabhayam atikkanto). This isone of the paradoxes with which King Milinda presents the VenerableN�agasena in the Questions of King Milinda. But this is not really aparadox, N�agasena explains, because the Arhat is an exception to thegeneral statement that all men fear death.25 For the Arhat all causes offear have been cut off. Freedom from fear is a constituent of Arhatship.The Arhat is free from fear and terror (pah�ınabhayabherava).26 As weare told in the verse of Sambula Kacc�ana in the Therag�ath�a, the monkhad no fear (bhaya) although he stayed in a horrible cave (bheravebile) and in spite of a rainstorm which was roaring outside.27 Thecommentary explains that although all other creatures cry out in fearat the thunder and lightning thethera had no fear inside his horribleden because he had achieved insight. In other words he is on the wayto Arhatship.

The Buddha himself had many similar experiences with dreadfulthings. Typically M�ara, the evil one, approaches the Buddha in orderto frighten him and make him stray from his path. On one occasion,for instance, M�ara approaches the Lord in the form of an enormouscobra in order to cause fear (bhaya), paralysis (chambhitatta) and makehis body-hair bristle with excitement (lomaham. sa). The Buddha seesthrough the plan of his evil adversary and he explains that all livingbeings may try to frighten him (sabbe pi p�an. �a uda santaseyyum. ), andthey will never succeed.28 Not only the Buddha Gotama had to strugglewith fear in order to achieve perfection. This is a common theme inthe life of previous Buddhas as well. In the Buddhavam. sa it is said


that Buddha Kassapa, the twenty-fourth Buddha, created the flowerof fearlessness (abhaya puppha).29 The Madhurathavil�asin�ı explainsin its commentary to this verse that the flower is the eightfold wayleading to the city of no-fear (abhayapura) which, of course, is theequivalent of Nibb�ana.30 It was fear and dread at the sight of oldage, sickness and death that made the Buddha Vipassi forsake theworld, as I will discuss below. One of the characteristics of a Buddhaaccording to later Buddhist literature both of the Mah�ay�ana and theH�ınay�ana sects is the four assurances (vai�s�aradya). According to theAbhidharmako�sabh�as.ya these assurances are the assurance that onehas attained supreme comprehension with respect to alldharmas, theassurance that he has knowledge of the destruction of the defilements,the assurance that he can fully explain thedharmasand the assurancethat he can explain the Path leading to definitive deliverance.31 Theseassurances are or entail absence from fear.

“The word vai�s�aradya signifies “absence of fear” (nirbhayat�a). By reason of the factthat he knows that he has understood all thedharmas, destroyed all the defilements,etc., the Buddha is free from fear in the assemblies”.32

The way towards freedom from fear is a central concept in the ideaof salvation in P�ali Buddhism. Buddhaghosa concludes his exposition ofthe four noble truths by giving seven different similes (upam�ata) of thetruth of suffering, its origin, its cessation and the path to its cessation.One of these similes is based on fear. According to Buddhaghosa, thefour noble truths can be understood as fear (bhaya), the origin of fear(bhayam�ula), the freedom from fear (nibbhaya), and the means to attainthis (tadadhigamup�aya).33 The expressionsreleased from fear(bhay�apamutta) andset free in fearlessness(abhaye vimutta) are descriptionsof the nibb�anic state.34 Nibb�ana is freedom from fear.

The idea that freedom from fear is an aspect of the highest religiousor spiritual attainment is certainly older than Buddhaghosa and indeedolder than Buddhism. According to the Ch�andogya Upanis.ad godsand men become free from fear and immortal by entering the soundOM. .35 Fear is one of the characteristics of the self (�atman) according tothe Ch�andogya and Br.had�aran.yaka Upanis.ads.36 The self is immortal,free from fear, it is Brahman, says the Ch�andogya Upanis.ad 8.3.4.37

Reaching the state of no-fear implies realizing the self. In the Pra�snaUpanis.ad freedom from fear (abhaya) is one of the characteristics of thehighest stage which only can be reached by meditation on the syllableOM. .38 In the Kat.ha Upanis.ad freedom from fear is found in heaven.Here one has no fear of death or old age, Naciketas explains to Yama.39

The Taittir�ıya Upanis.ad also makes it clear that freedom from fear is

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a characteristic feature of the perfected state. “For when a man findswithin that invisible, incorporeal (an�atmya), indistinct, and supportlessessence, the fearless stage on which to rest, then he becomes free fromfear. When, on the other hand, a man creates a hollow or a fissurewithin it, then he experiences fear”.40

In commenting on this verse of the Taittir�ıya Upanis.ad �Sa_nkarapicked up the topic of fear and offered an explication of the nature offear emphasizing the doctrine of non-duality. One attains fearlessness(abhaya) by recourse to the true essence (sadvastu),�Sa_nkara said. Onedoes not attain the cessation of fear through recourse to what is not thetrue essence. In other words, only by recourse to Brahman does oneattain freedom from fear. Fear is produced by someone else,�Sa_nkaracontinued. It is not the case that one’s fear is produced by oneself.When one becomes steadfast in one’s true being (svar�upapratis.tha),then one neither sees, hears or discerns anymore. When one sees noother and does not create a splitting (bheda) within the self, one hasreached freedom from fear. Then there is nothing outside the self tocreate fear in the self. It is the idea of duality caused by ignorance(avidy�a) which is the basis of fear, according to�Sa_nkara and, as we sawabove, the Taittir�ıya Upanis.ad naturally lends itself to this interpretationby stressing that the creation of a fissure (dara) in the self is the causeof fear.41

The Br.had�aran.yaka Upanis.ad, too, suggests that the state of fear-lessness is reached when one realizes that there is no other, that thereis nothing apart from the self. The first being became afraid, it says,and therefore one becomes afraid when one is alone. “Then he thoughtto himself: “Of what should I be afraid, when there is no one but me?”So his fear left him, for what was he going to be afraid of? One is,after all, afraid of another”.42 Verily, �Sa_nkara said in his commentaryto this verse, fear arises from a second (dvit�ıya), from another object(vastvantara). This second, the other object, appears only through igno-rance (avidy�a).43 When one attains the realization that the self is alone,that everything else is caused by ignorance, there is nothing to causefear anymore. One has reached salvation.

Thus, the idea that freedom from fear is an important aspect ofthe highest spiritual attainment is present in the Upanis.ads and in theVed�anta as taught by�Sa_nkara. When we look at freedom from fear as acharacteristic of the goal of religious striving, there are clear parallelsin Buddhism, Jainism and Hindu soteriology. When one has no ideaof another anymore and when one does not create a splitting or fissurewithin the self, then there is nothing to be afraid of according to the


Upanis.ads cited above. Freedom from fear is the overcoming of theduality caused by illusion, according to the Advaita interpretation.

Not surprisingly perhaps, there are parallels to this explanation of theorigins of fear in Madhyamaka Buddhism.44 The spiritual and ferventpoetry of the scholar monk�S�antideva, who probably flourished in theeighth century and is associated with the great Buddhist university atN�aland�a – is an interesting source for the understanding of the role offear in this tradition. Indeed, large parts of his Bodhicary�avat�ara can beseen as attempts to induce fear ofsam. s�ara and a motivation to escape itsafflictions. The horrors of sam. s�aric existence are graphically describedand, most importantly, a sense of great urgency for the religious lifeis conveyed. How can you lead a normal life when Yama, the godof death, is sizing you up at every turn, when you have entered themouth of death, while you hear the hellish bellowings and beholdthe grief-stricken face of relatives? Quaking from terror, your bodycaked in excrement what will you do?45 Of course, says�S�antideva, youmust enter the path of the Bodhisattva and exert yourself to achieveperfection.

The Pr�asa_ngika tradition of the Madhyamaka, of which�S�antidevawas a representative, holds that nothing exists apart from the mind.One possible meaning of dependent origination (prat�ıtyasamutp�ada)for the Pr�asa_ngikas isorigination in dependence on the designatingmind.46 But if fearful objects do not really exist, from where does thefear arise? In the answer to this question�S�antideva reveals a certainaffinity with the Ved�antic ideas of the origination of fear.

“So too tigers, lions, elephants, bears, serpents, and all malign beings, and all theguards of hell, ogresses, demons, / All these are bound through the binding of asingle mind, and through the taming of a single mind, all are tamed, / Since allfears and incomparable sufferings arise from the mind alone. So it was taught bythe Teacher of Reality. /: : : Every single thing arises from the evil mind, sang theSage. So there is nothing dangerous in the three worlds other than the mind”.47

All fears arise from the mind and when the mind is controlled fear willcease.�S�antideva seems to explain the origin of fear from the existenceof mind. Later, however, he summarizes an opponent’s argument forthe existence of a self, which says that fear demonstrates the existenceof an “I”.48 In other words, he refutes the induction of an “I” fromthe existence of fear. Also in the�Siks.�a Samuccaya,�S�antideva’s othergreat work, it is clear that fear originates in wrong ideas about identity.“Fear arises from the holding on to the self (�atmagr�aha)”, it says.49 Thebodhisattvawho lives in forest seclusion must get rid of the sense ofself, achieve detachment and realize that there is nothing to be afraidof apart from what the mind creates.

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In P�ali Buddhism too, fear ultimately arises from the mind’s involve-ment with the outside world. There are fundamental differences concern-ing the reality of the world and the self in Ved�anta, Madhyamaka andP�ali Buddhism.50 However, in all these philosophies it is the interactionof the mind with external objects that causes fear. Fear springs fromacquaintance or intimacy (santhav�ato bhayam. j�atam. ), according to theSutta-Nip�ata.51 The P�ali texts that deal with meditation all stress theimportance of detachment from the world and from one’s own senseexperiences.

The idea of detachment is also part of some of the most importantsymbols and metaphors of Buddhahood and Arhatship. The lotus isoften used as a symbol because it grows in muddy water without gettingtainted by its dirty surroundings. Animals like the elephant and therhinoceros also symbolize loneliness and detachment from the world.The Buddha or the Arhat is often called alion. This is because thelion symbolizes strength and royal power, but also, I think, because thelion lives alone, away from the other animals, it is aloof, separate andcompletely detached. As I will return to shortly, the Buddha, just likethe lion, causes fear but is never subject to fear himself. In the Sutta-Nip�ata there is a story about the Brahimn Sela – with three hundredfollowers – who wishes to go and see the Buddha. As they set out Selatells his companions that they must tread carefully on their way to theLord, because Lords are hard to approach like lions that roam alone.52

The Buddha and the Arhats are unapproachable lions. They are aloof,separate, with minds drawn away from the disturbing sights of theworld. The Brahmin Sela tells the Buddha that he is an unattached lionfree from fear and terror (s�ıho si anup�ad�ano pah�ınabhayabheravo).53

Complete detachment is a prerequisite for freedom from fear.These brief remarks suffice, I think, to conclude that there are clear

parallels across the Indian religious traditions about freedom fromfear as an important aspect of religious realization. There are alsoindications that fear is a source of motivation and a prerequisite forreligious striving in a range of Indian soteriological traditions. Pata~njali’sYogas�utra 1.21 indicates thatsam. vegais a feeling that puts extra energyand committment into the meditation practice.Sam. vegais here a qualitythat makessam�adhi easier to attain.54 However, neither Pata~njali northe commentators discuss the nature ofsam. vegaand it is thereforedifficult to judge how close it is to the concept in Buddhism or Jainism.I will concentrate on Buddhist material in the following exposition offear as a means to religious achievement.


FEAR AS THE MEANS TO RELIGIOUS ACHIEVEMENT

In the Mah�apad�ana Sutta certain sights made the former Buddha Vipas-si aware of the problem of birth, aging, sickness and death and thismade him feel uneasy and depressed. These four – birth (j�ati), aging(jar�a), sickness (vy�adhi), death (maran.a) – are all causes ofsam. vega(sam. vegavatthu) according to Buddhaghosa. The uneasiness and depres-sion of Vipassi were the religious perturbation ofsam. vega. Accordingto the Buddhacarita, the young Gotama was motivated by the samekinds of experiences. On three pleasure excursions outside the palacehe saw an old man, a sick man and a corpse. These sights were illusionscreated by gods in order to bring about a disturbance in the mind of theprince. His father, the King, was afraid that the prince’s tender mindmight be perturbed by the sights and he forbade the appearance ofafflicted common folk on the royal road.55 The King was afraid that thesights of the world might causesam. vegain his son and make the princerenounce the world and adopt the religious life. As the Th�upavam. sasums up the prelude to the great renunciation, the prince was overcomeby fear (sam. vegaj�ata).56

The termsam. vegaoccurs several times in the P�ali Canon. In theSang�ıti Suttanta the Venerable S�ariputta listssam. vega, the agitationover agitating conditions (sam. vejaniyesu t.h�anesu), as a point in hissummary of the Buddhist doctrine.57 In the Forest Suttas of the Sam. yuttaNik�aya, monks who stay in forests become neglectful of their religiousdiscipline in different ways. One is indulging in wrong and evil thoughtsduring his siesta, another is falling asleep, while some have excessivecontact with the laity. As a consequence, thedevasof the forests, outof compassion, wish to agitate them (sam. vejetuk�am�a) and addressthe monks with verses. The idea is that when the monks are properlyagitated, when they experience a sufficient amount ofsam. vega, theirreligious discipline will improve.58 In the Sayings on the Limbs ofWisdom in the Sam. yutta Nik�aya sam. vega is one of the results ofmeditating on the idea of a skeleton.59 Other objects of meditation,which would have the same effect of creating fear and disgust withtransient things like the human body, are corpses in different stages ofdecay.

The same list is found in the A_nguttara Nik�aya where we are told thatthe idea of a skeleton (at.t.hikasa~n~n�a), the idea of a worm-eaten corpse(pul.avakasa~n~n�a), the idea of a discoloured or bluish corpse (vin�ılasa~n~n�a),the idea of a festering corpse (vipubbakasa~n~n�a)60, the idea of a corpsefull of holes (vicchiddakasa~n~n�a), and the idea of a swollen corpse

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(uddhum�atasa~n~n�a) are all signs of concentration (sam�adhinimitta).61

This kind of meditation is reflection on impurity (asubhakammat.t.h�ana).In the Abhidamma the ten impurities – corpses in different stages ofdecay – are part of a compendium of meditation subjects. Those whonight and day follow the teaching (s�asana) of the Buddha always havethe realization of impurity (asubhasa~n~nin), says the Itivuttaka.62 TheItivuttaka devotes onesuttato sam. vega.63 The monk who is possessedof two things lives at ease and is disposed toward the destruction ofthe �asavas, the intoxications of the mind which trap man in sam. s�aricexistence. Such a monk is on his way to Arhantship. The two things aresam. vegaand exertion (padh�ana) which comes as the result ofsam. vega.

We saw above that the Buddha is sometimes thought of as a lionin his detachment from the affairs of the world and the lion becomesan important metaphor also in the ideas of the induction of religiousfear. An interesting explication of the function of fear in P�ali Buddhismis found in the simile of the lion.64 Here the role of the Buddha inthe world of gods and men is compared to the role of the lion in theworld of animals. When the lion roars all other animals experience fear,agitation and trembling (bhayam. sam. vegam. sant�asam. �apajjanti). Theycreep into their holes, jump back into the water, run off into the forestor fly up in the air. The king’s elephants break their bonds, void theirexcrements and run to and fro. In the same way, when a Buddha arisesin the world and teaches the Dhamma the gods experience fear, agitationand trembling.65 They realize that they are impermanent, unstable, notto last and prisoned in a person (mayam. hi kira bho anicc�a addhuv�aasassat�a sakk�ayapariy�apann�a ti). In other words they are subject to thevicissitudes ofsam. s�ara just like other creatures. The function of theBuddha in the simile of the lion is to create fear through his teaching.The content of the Dhamma is intended to evoke fear in those who listenand when this fear is effectively translated into religious motivationone will strive to attainnirv�an. a.

Sam. vegaoccurs with the same meaning of an emotional perturbationmotivating the religious life in the Pr�atimoks.as�utra of the Sarv�astiv�adins.It is part of the pessimistic introductory description of the condition ofthe world. Everything is in rapid decay, soon men will be like beasts,and the importance of the religious life is growing correspondingly.The monk should cultivate his feelings of affliction and open his eyesto the miseries of the world.Sam. vegais a desired mental state whichwill make the monks listen attentively to the teaching of the Buddha.66

Buddhaghosa enumerates eight causes ofsam. vega, the at.t.hasam. vegavatthu, which should be contemplated upon by the monk


when the mind needs to be encouraged on the path of religion. Theseare birth (j�ati), ageing (jar�a), sickness (vy�adhi), death (maran.a), sufferingof loss (ap�ayadukkha), suffering of past and future rooted in the roundof rebirth (at�ıte vat.t.am�ulaka dukkha), and the suffering of the presentrooted in the search for nutriments (pacuppanne�ah�arapariyet.t.him�ulakadukkha).67 Later in the Visuddhimagga, Buddhaghosa spells out the con-nection between religious motivation and fear in more detail.68 Firstly,he looks at knowledge of appearance as fear (bhayatupat.t.h�ana~n�an.a). Tothe person who has this knowledge, the formations (sankh�ara) and theirinevitable cessation and dissolution appear, both in the past, present andfuture, as terrible beasts, lions, tigers,yakkhas, rakkhasas, etc. Thenfollows knowledge of contemplation of danger (�ad�ınav�anupassan�a~n�an.a),whereby the three types of becoming (bhava), the four great elements(mah�abh�uta), the five constituent elements (khandha), the six innerand outer�ayatana, i.e. the sense organs and their objects, the seventypes of consciousness (vi~n~n�an.a), etc. appear as terrible dangers suchas snakes, murderers, disease, etc. Then, as the result of seeing every-thing as great danger, comes knowledge of contemplation of dispassion(nibbid�anupassan�a~n�an.a).

According to Buddhaghosa, then, when the monk meditates on fearhe comes to see all formations and all becoming as danger. All formsthat life may take are dangers because everything is necessarily subjectto dissolution and cessation. From seeing all formations as danger hegrows dispassionate. From the dispassion and detachment arises thedesire for deliverance. It is a commonplace in the P�ali literature thatdispassion and detachment are a prerequisite for – or even a constituentof – religious realization.Vir �aga is often used to glossnibb�ana. Butin Buddhaghosa’s exposition of fear dispassion presupposes fear andis a stage in between fear and the desire for freedom. In fact, saysBuddhaghosa, tradition has it that the three kinds of knowledge leadingup to the knowledge of the desire for deliverance are essentially thesame thing.69 The appearance as fear comprises contemplation ofdanger and contemplation as dispassion. What we are left with, then, isa complex of fear and contemplation of danger leading up to the desirefor deliverance or Nibb�ana. Religious motivation is in fact a result offear in Buddhaghosa’s exposition.

Mah�ay�ana Buddhism also has the idea that fear is an essential moti-vating factor on the way to embracing the path of the Bodhisattva.�S�antideva’s Bodhicary�avat�ara is apparently meant to induce such moti-vation. “Realizing that you are like a captive fish, how right it is foryou to be afraid right now”, and “Out of the fear of suffering, and while

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meditating on the praises, one should create desire”,�S�antideva says.70

In meditating on the Buddhas and Bodisattvas one should remain pos-sessed of fear.71 Suffering and fear are indeed constructive and positivethings for�S�antideva as long as they lead to the adoption of the religiouslife.

“The virtue of suffering has no rival, since, from the shock it causes, intoxicationfalls away and there arises compassion for those in cyclic existence, fear of evil,and a longing for the Conqueror”.72

The way from fear to the adoption of the life in religious exertion isdescribed in a vivid and personal manner by the Madhyamaka scholar.Someone who is taken away to have a limb cut off is seized with fearand sees the world in a completely different way. But even this isnothing compared to the fear experienced by the one who realizes thehorrors of sam. s�aric existence. It is a tremendous fear that transformshis life.

“With cowering glances I search the four directions for deliverance. What saint willdeliver me from this great fear? / Right now I go for refuge to the mighty Protectorsof the world, who have undertaken the care of the world, the Conquerors who removeall fear. / Trembling with fear I give myself to Samantabhadra, and again freely Igive myself to Ma~njughos.a. / Terrified I cry out in anguish to the Protector Avalokitawhose conduct overflows with compassion. I have done evil. May he protect me. /I have transgressed your command. Now, at seeing the danger, terrified, I go to youfor refuge. Destroy the danger, quickly!”73

If we return to the�Siks.�a Samuccaya we will find more material thatshows how fear was thought to be a determining motivating factor forthe adoption of the religious life. Fear is a prominent theme in thepraise of the life of seclusion in the forest. The Bodhisattva who hasleft the world and dwells in the forest observes that the life of seclusionalone does not make anybody an ascetic. Indeed, there are a numberof beings who live in the forest – animals, robbers, can.d. �alas – and arenevertheless devoid of ascetic qualities (�sraman.agun.a). So what is thedifference between the Bodhisattva and these other forest-dwellers? Itis the Bodhisattva’s motivation. He must ask himself: To what end haveI come into the forest (kimarthamahamaran.yam�agatah. )? The answer isfear (bhayabh�ıta).

“It was fear that brought me to the forest (bhayabh�ıto’smyahamaran.yam�agatah. ). Fearof what? The fear of worldly society, the fear of company; the fear of passion,hatred, delusion; the fear of pride, intoxication, hypocrisy, pain; the fear of praise,envy, and jealousy; the fear of form, sound, smell, taste, touch; I was afraid of theideas of individuality and possession, afraid of arrogance and of doubt, afraid of theM�ara of the elements of being, the M�ara of sin, the M�ara of death, and the M�araof the gods;”74


�S�antideva’s list continues. The aspiring Bodhisattva was frightenedby different kinds of ideas and feelings of worldly life as well as theprospect of rebirth in hell or other low forms of existence. He concludes:“It was the fear of all such terrible things that led me to go into theforest”.75

The forest itself, however, is full of fear and dangers and withoutthe right attitude to these fears no advancement is possible for themonk dwelling in the wilderness. A clue to understanding the role offear in Buddhism is the determination and skill which are needed inorder to take advantage of it. For the common man fear is destructivesimply because he is not able to employ it in a constructive way. Forthe advanced monk the opposite is the case. A good example of howfear is thought of as something which must be taken control of andchanneled correctly is found in the summary of the five fears. Thereare future or potential fears (an�agatabhaya), which when contemplatedupon (sampassati) should make the monk live to attain the unattained.76

These are about the dangers that may cause the monks’ death in theforest. Animals, for instance are, a prominent threat to his safety.

“Take the case of a monk, forest-gone, who reflects thus: I am now quite alone inthe forest; and living here alone, a snake may bite me, a scorpion may bite me,or a centipede may bite me, and cause my death; and that would be a hindranceto me. Behold now, I will put forth energy to attain the unattained, to master theunmastered, to realize the unrealized”.77

The list continues with all the different fears of forest life that maylead to the death of the monk. Interestingly, the fears include not onlythe threat from animals – apart from poisonous creatures there arelions, tiger, hyenas, etc. – but there is also the fear of social breakdowndue to famine and bad crops or the movements of people threatenedby robbers.78 This reveals how even the forest-dwelling monk in thelast instance is dependent on the world for his existence and religiouspractice. The point of all these different fears, however, is to use themin a constructive way. All the fears that are not yet realized, but whichthe monk can behold in the future (an�agatabhaya), must make themonk exert himself (viriyam. �arabhati) to attain the unattained.79 Theexpectation of horrors should cause a motivating fear that sets the mindfirmly on the right path.

It is clear, then, that in Buddhist literature, both of the H�ınay�anaand the Mah�ay�ana, fear is seen as an important means to religiousachievement. However, as far as I have been able to determine, this isnot the case in other Indian soteriologies, except, to some extent, inJainism. Of course, there is a large number of traditions that I have

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not been able to look at in this brief survey and a more thoroughexamination of the role of fear in different branches of Hinduism mayprove me wrong. However, if we accept for now the assumption thatfreedom from fear as the goal of the religious life is a general idea inIndian religions, whereas fear as an essentialmeanson the way towardsthe goal is more or less peculiar to Buddhism, then we may want toask why this is the case. Why was Buddhism alone in developing theidea of fear as a primary incentive to religious striving? To answer thisI think we need to look at the ideas of mission in early Buddhism andthe role of fear in missionary activity.

FEAR AND MISSION

From the literature which has been available to me in this study it appearsthat freedom from fear is anaim of religious striving in different Indiansoteriologies, whereas the idea of fear as ameansto religious striving –fear as motivation – is found first of all in early Buddhism and, perhapsto a lesser extent, in Jainism. How did fear come to have this position inBuddhism? We may find a clue to answer this question by looking againat the conversion stories in the early Buddhist literature. R. Gombrichhas pointed out that while the term skill in means (up�ayakau�salya) isof later origin, the skill of adapting the message to the audience is ofenormous importance in the P�ali canon.80 G. MacQueen has shown thatone of the major themes of the�Sr�aman. yaphalas�utra is the Buddha’sskill as a teacher.81 Having quoted passages from theUp�ali s�utra wherethe householder Up�ali, a lay supporter of the Jains, is converted by theBuddha to the frustration of Nirgrantha J~n�atiputra, MacQueen says:

“So the Buddha was accused of knowing an enticing device (or, knowing conversionmagic: �avat.t.anim. m�ayam. j�an�ati). Whether he knew such or not, there is no doubtbut that he must have been a highly skilled teacher”.82

In the �Sr�aman. yaphalas�utra, the Buddha employs his skill in meansin converting Aj�ata�satru and the Buddhist literature gives many otherexamples of the Buddha’s conversion magic. As in the case with theJaina lay supporter in the Up�ali S�utra, the missionary activity of theBuddha often takes place at the expense of other sects and a senseof contest is often reflected in such passages. Fear is an essential partof some of the paradigmatic conversion stories in this literature. Thebiography of the Buddha himself is the prime example, but fear is alsoa prominent factor in the conversion stories of other people. This makesit natural to ask the question of whether the emphasis on fear couldhave something to do with the missionary stance of Buddhism.


In one of the most outspoken expressions of the missionary zeal ofthe early Buddhists in the P�ali literature, it is evident that fear is used asa means to convert new people to the growing movement of renouncers.In the Mah�avagga of the Vinaya Pit.aka I.15–20 the Buddha tries towin over a group of matted hair ascetics,jat. ilas, to his movement.The Buddha performs many wonders in order to show that he is ofgreater perfection than his competitors. That there indeed was a certaindegree of competition between different teachers of the time seemsevident from the stories about people like P�uran.a Kassapa, MakkhaliGos�ala, Ajita Kesakambal�ı, Pakudha Kacc�ayana, Sa~njaya Belatthiputtaand Nigan. t.ha N�ataputta. However, in the Buddha’s competition with thejat. ilas his magical powers have little effect. The leader of the mattedhair ascetics believes himself to be of greater power and of greaterreligious perfection than the Buddha and has no wish to give up hiscurrent practices in order to join the Buddhists. When every attempthas been made to convert the ascetics, the Buddha finally resorts to hisultimate weapon, namely his ability to induce fear and unease.

“Then it occurred to the Lord: “Now for a long time it will occur to this foolishman, “Truly the great recluse is of great psychic power, of great might; but yet heis not a perfected one as I am”. Now suppose I should deeply stir this matted hairascetic?” (yam. n�un�aham. imam. jat.ilam. sam. vejeyyan ti.) The Lord spoke thus to thematted hair ascetic Kassapa of Uruvel�a: “Neither are you, Kassapa, a perfected onenor have you entered on the way to perfection, and that course is not for you bywhich you either could be a perfected one or could have entered on the way toperfection”.83

The Buddha inducessam. vega in the ascetic in order to converthim to Buddhism. This has the desired effect and as a symbol of theBuddha’s victory the ascetics cut off their matted hair and throw awaytheir braids, carrying poles and their devices of fire-worship. What wehave here, then, is an account of the missionary zeal of the Buddhaand his movement in which the creation of fear is the ultimate meansto conversion.

If we look at one of the most important stories of missionary activityin P�ali literature – the visit of the Tath�agata to La_nk�a in the first chapterof the Mah�avam. sa – we get a strong impression of the importance of fearin the spread of Buddhism to new territories. In fact, the Mah�avam. sa setsthe visit of the Buddha to Sri Lanka in the context of the conversion ofthe jat. ilas. During the Buddha’s campaign of proselytizeing among thematted hair ascetics Kassapa of Uruvel�a prepares for a great sacrifice.The Buddha reads the minds of Kassapa and sees that he wishes theBuddha to stay away. This, of course, is part of the competitive stanceof the relationship between the Buddha and thejat. ilas. Instead of

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appearing at the sacrifice of Kassapa, the Buddha begs for alms andeats a meal, and then he goes to La_nk�a because he knows that the islandwill be a stronghold of his doctrine. When he arrives there is a greatgathering of yakkhas living in the island.

“To this great gathering of the yakkhas went the Blessed One, and there, in themidst of that assembly, hovering in the air over their heads, at the place of the(future) Mahiya_ngan.a-Th�upa, he struck terror (sam. vega) to their hearts by rain, storm,darkness and so forth. The yakkhas, overwhelmed by fear (bhaya), besought thefearless Vanquisher (abhaya jina) to release them from terrors, and the Vanquisher,destroyer of fear (abhayada), spoke thus to the terrified yakkhas: ‘I will banish thisyour fear (bhaya) and your distress (dukkha), O yakkhas, give ye here to me withone accord a place where I may sit down’. The yakkhas thus answered the BlessedOne: ‘We all, O Lord, give you even the whole of our island. Give us release fromour fear’.84

The Buddha descends among the yakkhas and dispels their fears andthe cold and darkness. Then he preaches to the yakkhas, who are tooshaken to put up any resistance, and converts them all to his Dhamma.In short, the Buddha uses certain techniques to induce fear (sam. vegaand bhaya) in the potential converts and when they are sufficientlyperturbed he promises to deliver them from their fear and distress. Itseems that when the early Buddhists went out to win followers one oftheir strategies of proselytizeing was to induce fear in potential convertsand at the same time offer a path to fearlessness. (This is, of course,a pattern familiar to social scientists who study conversion techniquesin modern sects.)

This view of Buddhist missionary activity contradicts much of whathas been said about the spread of the Buddha’s Dhamma both byscholars and by Buddhist texts themselves. It is often said in the P�aliliterature that the behaviour of the monks and nuns is supposed tobring satisfaction or pleasure (pas�ada) to non-believers (appasanna)and increase the number of believers (pasanna).85 N. Dutt’s summaryof Buddhist missionary activity as relying exclusively on the excellentpersonality of its propagators and the rationality of its doctrines is typicalof a tendency among scholars to see Buddhism, and, more importantly,all its historical and geographical manifestations, as inherently peaceful,tolerant and cognitively pleasing.86 M. Wijayaratna points out that theP�ali texts constantly emphasize the need for monks and nuns to exhibitexemplary behaviour in front of lay people. “The Buddha’s teachingspread thanks to the exemplary conduct of his disciples”,87 he asserts.�E. Lamotte seems to have had an ambivalent view of the early spread ofBuddhism. On the one hand he does realize that the Buddhist missionaryactivity involved zealous persuasion and even straightforward frighteningof potential converts:


“In order to gain the sympathy of the masses, the third century missionaries exploitedthe eternal themes of popular preaching, suitable for striking the imagination andprovoking a psychological shock. The discourses listed by the chronicle struck allthe sensory key-points in turn. The missionaries began by commiserating over thewretchedness of humanity, threatened by hell, condemned from all eternity to oldage, disease and death, a slave to its own body and senses: : : Then they celebratedthe joy and peace which a virtuous and zealous man enjoys: : : ” 88

Interestingly, Lamotte builds his view of the nature of Buddhistmissions in part on the contents of the discourses that the missionariesare said to have preached to the people of different countries and endsup with a picture that is very close to that of the preachers of hellfire anddamnation that we are used to from medieval Christianity. However,he does not seem to be very comfortable with this position, for hechanges his view in the conclusion to the chapter on the Buddhistmissions, when he asserts that “private initiative played its part in themissionary movement, but the efforts of individuals fade before theintrinsic expansionary power of the Good Law which required nothingmore than politically favourable circumstances to manifest itself”.89

I think the idea that Buddhism spread primarily through its owninherent qualities is a naive view of missionary activity. The Buddhisttexts themselves do indeed emphasize the exemplary conduct of themembers of thesam. gha and the inherent qualities of the Dhamma,but when we try to reconstruct actual Buddhist missionary activityin Asia a blind trust in such assertions is misguided. References to“fire and brimstone preaching” are not at all prominent compared to thereferences to mendicants who light up the world with their holiness. Butthis is only what we should expect. The few references that contradictthe general impression of peaceful conversions are the most interestingfor the scholar. Without going in detail on the complicated matter oftextual transmissions90 I find it reasonable to assume that a number ofreferences to mission in Buddhist texts might have been invented orrevised in order to make the Dhamma seem like the natural religion thatpeople of all countries embrace happily, while in reality it was preachedwith far more fervent techniques of persuasion.91 Furthermore, I wouldlike to emphasize that in ascribing the missionary success of Buddhismexclusively to the qualities of the Dhamma and its advocates, scholarsadopt, I suspect often unwittingly, the highly questionable positionthat sees religion, in this case Buddhism, as an autonomous entity,something which existssui generis, and cannot be understood byreference to something outside the religion itself.

As we saw in the simile above, the Dhamma of the Buddha is supposedto make gods and men tremble and shake – like animals hearing the

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roar of the lion – and adopt the religious life which leads to freedomfrom fear. Fear is presented as a fact of sam. s�aric existence just like painor unease (dukkha). We saw above that according to Buddhaghosa thefour noble truths can be understood as fear (bhaya), the origin of fear(bhayam�ula), the freedom from fear (nibbhaya), and the means to attainthis (tadadhigamup�aya). A characteristic of Buddhist philosophy andsoteriology is its stress on the point of departure. The situation of livingbeings is one of pain and fear, the P�ali texts say, and they explain whatthis situation entails and how it originates. This emphasis on the pointof departure, the situation from which one must seek deliverance, gaveearly Buddhism a particularly dynamic missionary stance. The senseof urgency created in potential converts through this strategy probablymade them more receptive to the missionary efforts of the Buddhists.

The weapon of fear has been part of the missionary arsenal ofBuddhists and perhaps other Indian traditions, but again fear is worthlesswithout its negation, freedom from fear, and the ability to induce fearmust be seen in conjunction with the ability to relieve fear and soothethe minds of people in distress. The Buddha induces fearand is thebestower of fearlessness (abhayada), as the Mah�avam. sa says. Accordingto Mah�ay�ana mythology Avalokite�svara typically bestows fearlessnessto terrified beings (bh�ıt�an�am. sattv�an�am. abhayam. dad�ati) and a commonepithet of this popular bodhisattva isabhayada.92 Another figure ofthe Mah�ay�ana pantheon who is associated with freedom from fear isAmoghasiddhi. Amoghasiddhi is one of the Dhy�an�ı Buddhas and isdepicted iconographically with his right hand in showing the sign ofno-fear,abhayamudr�a.

We may note that the gift of no-fear (abhayad�ana) is an importantaspect of the life of the Indian renouncer in the Hindu tradition, too,although here it takes on a very different role. The renouncer mustgive the gift of no-fear to all beings. The H�ar�ıtasmr.ti, for instance,prescribes the vow ofabhayatowards all beings for the person whois about to become asam. ny�asin.93 J. F. Sprockhoff has discussed thegift of no-fear in the context of the adoption of the life of asam. ny�asin(sam. ny�asasv�ık�ara). According to Sprockhoff thesam. ny�asa-ceremonyhas three core elements, among which is the gift of no-fear to allbeings.94

CONCLUSION

Fear is an essential aspect of sam. s�aric existence and the goal of the lifeof the renouncer is the stage where there is freedom from fear. Fear


is, in other words, a painful thing from which human beings shouldtry to free themselves. On the other hand, fear is absolutely necessary.Without fear nobody would strive for religious realization. Without fearpeople would not exert themselves to achieve deliverance from fear.

The point of departure for this article was the initial appearanceof a contradiction in the treatment of fear in Indian religions and, inparticular, in Buddhism. The solution to this puzzle is the fact thatfear has very different functions under different circumstances: it is thetalents and discipline of the individual that make the difference. Theadvanced are able to apply fear in a constructive way, as a motivatingfactor in the religious life. In those who are not able to channel fearinto religious motivation it is just a confusing and destructive feelingcreating problems in everyday life.

I mentioned in the introduction that the links between fear and religionhave been a valid topic of scholarly investigation in anthropology andpsychology in the West. In an essay which attempts to say somethingabout experiences which are so basic to human existence across culturesit seems reasonable to return to a general angle of approach in theconcluding comments. We saw that fear of sickness and death was abasic idea in the Buddhist material. If we adopt a bird-view of humanreligiosity it seems that such fear is a basic factor of human emotionallife but that, although it is addressed by religious doctrine, there does notseem to be a straightforward relationship between beliefs and such fear.To put this statement in perspective let us look at some data from a non-Indian context. The relationship between fear of death and religiosity hasbeen the point of departure for a substantial number of social scientificstudies in a modern Western, in most cases Protestant Christian, setting.Still, the relationship is an elusive one and no certainty has been achievedas to the exact correlations or the possible causal connections. In thesocial scientific study of the relationship between the fear of death andreligiosity there have been a number of different findings. Some researchhas discovered negative correlations between religiosity and fear, whileother research has found positive correlations, and other research againhas not found any significant correlation whatsoever. The confusionis due to different methods, different definitions of fear or religiosityand different samples. One serious shortcoming has been the lack ofdistinctions between different aspects of fear of death and religion. Inthe studies that have taken this problem seriously, however, it seemsthat one can detect a certain negative correlation between religiosityand the fear of at least certain aspects of death. J. W. Hoelter and R.J. Epley, for instance, broke fear of death into distinct dimensions.95

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By using their multi-dimensional scale they found that religious peopleare less likely to fear the unknown aspects of death. They suggestedthat religiosity may serve to reduce these aspects of fear by dealingdirectly with them through a belief system.96 A more recent study byJ. A. Thorson and F. C. Powell concluded that people who are morereligious are less concerned with death. Those who had more anxietyconcerning death were lower in religiosity.97 These researchers also useda multi-dimensional scale which brought out some of the subtler pointsof their findings. For instance, it seems that one reason for the loweranxiety among the more religious is the fact that they look forward toan afterlife.98 A negative correlation between fear of death and beliefin an afterlife had also been discovered by Osarchuk and Tatz.99

If we compare these modern Christian examples with our ancientIndian data we have two large and multifarious religious traditions atdifferent times with fundamentally different beliefs about the nature oflife, death and possible afterlives and still one unambiguous parallelbetween the two is their preoccupation with and anxiety about death. Asthe Christian cases show, although the belief in an afterlife in heavenmay make some people less anxious about death, clear correlationsbetween beliefs and emotions in this area are more or less impossibleto find. Fear of death seems to be a universal phenomenon and a primeundertaking of religious doctrines is to address this fear. Still, at leastas far as can be determined from the limited samples in this article,fear of death does not seem to vary significantly with different beliefs.

First of all it seems unlikely that the double role of fear identifiedin Indian – and in particular Buddhist – material is exclusive to thereligions under investigation here. I would think that fear could be bothan aspect of the miserable state of human beings on earth and at thesame time the motivational basis for religious striving independently ofthe actual belief-system in question. In order to make a full circle wemay return to the great Western writer on religious fear, Kierkegaard.For Kierkegaard despair and anxiety are key concepts of his religiosity.According to Kierkegaard, the possibility of despair is man’s advantageover the beasts because it implies spirit; to become aware of the despairis the Christian’s advantage over the natural man, and finally, to behealed of the sickness of despair is the Christian’s bliss.100 By acting onfeelings of despair and anxiety and by embracing the Christian messagea person can free himself from despair. In other words, despair becomesa motor in a religious process for Kierkegaard. It seems, that the role offear as a motivating factor in religious life is not especially Indian afterall and perhaps we could expect that a more thorough comparative or


phenomenological study of fear in religion would support M. Argyle’sand B. Beit-Hallahmi’s assertion that just as religious beliefs displaysimilarities across cultures, so do the psychological mechanisms involvedin belief, ritual and myth.101

NOTES

1 �S�antideva,The Bodhicary�avat�ara, Translated by K. Crosby and A. Skilton. Oxford1996. p. 140.2 See for instance Morris, B. (1994).Anthropological Studies of Religion. Cambridge.p. 141ff.3 Weerasinghe, H. (1997). ‘Fear: A Buddhist Interpretation’. InRecent Researches inBuddhist Studies. Essay in Honour of Professor Y. Karunadasa, Editors Kuala LumpurDhammajoti, Asanga Tilakaratne and Kapila Abhayawansa. Colombo. pp. 612–629.4 For references to this theme in�Saivism see Doniger O’Flaherty, W. (1973).Asceti-cism and Eroticism in the Mythology of�Siva. London. p. 236.5 Masson, J. L. and Patwardhan, M. V. (1970).Aesthetic Rapture. The Rasadhayaof the N�at.ya�s�astra. Deccan College. vol. 1, p. 54.6 Dhammapada 212–216.7 Mah�as�utras: Great Discourses of the Buddha. Edited by P. Skilling. Volume 1,Oxford 1994. p. 305.8 Majjhima Nik�aya I. 20–21. Translated by Bhikkhu�N�an.amoli edited and revisedby Bhikkhu Bodhi (1995).The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. Boston.p. 104.9 Sutta-Nip�ata 964.10 A _nguttara Nik�aya II. 121.11 Brekke, T. (1997). ‘The Early Sam. gha and the Laity’,Journal of the InternationalAssociation of Buddhist Studies20, 2: 7–32.12 D�ıgha Nik�aya III, p. 182. Rhys Davids, T. W. and C. A. F. (1921). Dialogues ofthe Buddha, part III, p. 174.13 Lamotte,�E. (1980).Le Trait�e de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse. Louvain la Neuve.V. p. 2249.14 Brekke, T. ‘Contradiction and the Merit of Giving in Indian Religions’,Numen,forthcoming.15 Ling, T. O. (1962).Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil. London. p. 156.16 Dhammpada 317, translated by Radhakrishna in Radhakrishnan, S. (1992).TheDhammapada. Oxford. p. 158.17 D�ıgha Nik�aya III. 148. Rhys Davids, T. W. and C. A. F. (1921). Dialogues ofthe Buddha, part III, p. 141.18 Mah�avam. sa I. 23–27.19 Sam. yutta Nik�aya III. p. 84–86 and A_nguttara Nik�aya II. p. 33–34.20 The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom. Translated by Edward Conze. Delhi 1990.p. 320–21.21 Williams, op. cit. p. 43. The word�sa_nka, however, is mostly taken to meandoubt,and the negativenih. �sa_nka may sometimes have the meaning offreedom from doubtbesidesfreedom from fear.22 Jain, P. (1990).The Jain Path of Purification. Delhi, p. 120.23 Williams, R. (1991).Jaina Yoga. Delhi, p. 42.24 This missionary strategy is essentially similar to those used by many modernsects. For instance, social scientists have described how religious groups in America

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induce psychological distress in potential converts. When the convert is brought closerto the group he or she will feel a relief which will create strong emotional bondsand make it difficult to break away. See for instance Galanter, Marc (1989).Cults.Faith, Healing and Coercion. Oxford. p. 87–97; Lofland, John (1966).DoomsdayCult. New Jersey; Balch, Robert W. and Taylor, David. ‘Seekers and Saucers: TheRole of the Cultic Milieu in Joining a UFO Cult’. In Richardson, James T. (1978).Conversion Careers. In and Out of the New Religions. Beverly Hills/London.25 Milindapa~nho, p. 145 ff. Rhys Davids, T. W. (1925).The Questions of KingMilinda. London. p. 206 ff.26 Sam. yutta Nik�aya III, 83.27 Therag�ath�a 189–90.28 Sam. yutta Nik�aya I. 106.29 Buddhavam. sa p. 64.30 The Clarifier of the Sweet Meaning, commentary on the Chronicle of Buddhasby Buddhadatta Thera. Translated by I. B. Horner. London 1978. p. 386.31 Abhidharmako�sabh�as.yam. By Louis de La Vall�ee Poussin. English translation byLeo M. Pruden. Berkeley. Vol. IV. p. 1141–2.32 ibid.33 The Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosa, Edited by C. A. F. Rhys Davids. London1921. vol. 2, p. 512. The Path of Purification, Translated from the P�ali by Bhikkhu�Ny�an.amoli. Colombo 1964. pp. 586.34 Sam. yutta Nik�aya I. 154.35 �I _s�adida�sopanis.adah. . Ten Principal Upanshads with�S�a _nkarabh�as.ya, Delhi 1978.p. 367, Upanis.ads, translated by Patrick Olivelle, Oxford and New York, 1996, p.101.36 See for instance Ch�andogya Upanis.ad 4.15.1, Br.had�aran.yaka Upanis.ad 4.3.21.37 �I _s�adida�sopanis.adah. . p. 574, Olivelle p. 169.38 Olivelle, pp. 285–6.39 Olivelle, pp. 232–3.40 Translation in Olivelle p. 188.41 The explication of�Sa_nkara’s views on fear contained in his commentary on theTaittir�ıya Upanis.ad is based on the text in�I�s�adida�sopanis.adah. . pp. 302–304.42 Olivelle, p. 13.43 �I�s�adida�sopanis.adah. . p. 648.44 General similarities and interbreedings between Ved�anta and Buddhism have beentreated in some detail by several authors. See for instance Jennings, J. G. (1947).The Ved�antic Buddhism of the Buddha. London.45 �S�antideva,The Bodhicary�avat�ara, Translated by K. Crosby and A. Skilton. Oxford1996. p. 67.46 Williams, Paul (1994).Mah�ay�ana Buddhism. London and New York. p. 61.47 �S�antideva,The Bodhicary�avat�ara, p. 34.48 ibid. p. 120.49 �S�antideva,�Siks. �a Samuccaya, Edited by C. Bendall. The Hague 1957. p. 198.50 For an example of how the Madhyamaka sought to refute the idea of the Self inthe Ved�anta see Qvarnstr�om, O. (1989).Hindu Philosophy in Buddhist Perspective.Lund.51 Sutta-Nip�ata 207.52 Sutta-Nip�ata 107.53 Sutta-Nip�ata 572.54 t�ıvrasam. veg�an�am�asannah. . Patanjala Darshana of the System of Yoga Philosophy


by Maharshi Kapila. With the commentary of Vyasa and the gloss of VachaspatiMishra. Edited by P. J. Vidyasagara, Calcutta 1940 p. 25, Translated in Woods, J.H. (1914). The Yoga System of Pata~njali. Cambridge, Mass.55 Canto 3,4.nivartay�am�asa ca r�ajam�arge sam. p�atam�artasya pr. thagjanasya / m�abh�utkum�arah. sukum�aracittah. sam. vignacet�a iti manyam�anah. . (Trans.: Johnston, E.H. (1935–36).The Buddhacarita or the acts of the Buddha. Edited and translated.Calcutta.)56 Th�upavam. sa. The Chronicle of the Th�upa and the Th�upavam. sa. Edited and trans-lated by N. A. Jayawickrama. London 1971. p. 164.57 D�ıgha Nik�aya III, p. 214, Rhys Davids, T. W. and C. A. F. (1921). Dialogues ofthe Buddha, part III, p. 206.58 Sam. yutta Nik�aya I, p. 197ff. Rhys Davids, C. A. F. (1950). The Book of theKindred Sayings, part I, pp. 250 ff.59 Sam. yutta Nik�aya V, p. 130. Woodward, F. L. (1956). The Kindred Sayings. PartV. London. p. 111.60 Woodward’s translation has left outvipubbakasa~n~n�a, the festering corpse.61 A _nguttara Nik�aya II, p. 17. Woodward, F. L. (1952). The Book of the GradualSayings. Vol. II. London. p. 16–17.62 Itivuttaka, p. 93. Woodward, F. L. (1935). The Minor Anthologies of the PaliCanon. Part II. London. p. 182.63 Itivuttaka, p. 29–30, Woodward, p. 137.64 Sam. yutta Nik�aya III. p. 84–86 and A_nguttara Nik�aya II. p. 33–34.65 The basically identical accounts in the Sam. yutta Nik�aya and the A_nguttara Nik�ayadiffer in how they sum up the contents of this Dhamma. The A_nguttara Nik�ayatalks about the Dhamma which teaches the constitution, the origin, the ending andthe way to end the existing person or individuality (sakk�aya) whereas the Sam. yuttaNik�aya describes the Dhamma as the teaching of the nature of body (r�upa), feeling(vedan�a), perception (sa~n~n�a), activities or coefficients of consciousness (sa_nkh�ar�a)and consciousness (vi~n~n�an.a). This last list is, of course, a standard enumeration ofthe five khandhas and it seems reasonable to take thesakk�aya of the A_nguttaraNik�aya too as referring to the khandhas.66 acir�ad dhi manus.y�an. �am. mr.gasam. j~n�a (bhavis.ya)ti tasm�at sarvair �ayus.madbhirudvignaih. sam. vegam�apannaih. tasy�anuttarada�sabaladharadharmar�ajacakravartinah.paur�an. sucaritakarmavip�akanirj�atasyamr.s. �av�adapai�sunyap�arus.y�abaddhapral�apavivarjitasya saty�anuvartivaca(nasyaanvardha)m�as�avav�ad�anu�s�asanam. �srotavyam. Pr�atimoks.as�utra der Sarv�astiv�adins.Edited by Georg V Simson. G�ottingen 1986. p. 2.67 The Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosa, Edited by C. A. F. Rhys Davids. London,1920. vol. 1, p. 135. The Path of Purification, Translated from the P�ali by Bhikkhu�Ny�an.amoli. Colombo, 1964. pp. 140–141.68 Visuddhimagga 645ff.69 Visuddhimagga 651.70 �S�antideva,The Bodhicary�avat�ara, pp. 68–9.71 ibid. p. 36.72 ibid. p. 51.73 ibid. p. 18. Certain verses have been left out here.74 �S�antideva, �Siks. �a Samuccaya, Edited by C. Bendall. The Hague 1957. p. 198.Translation in�S�antideva,�Siks. �a Samuccaya, Translated by C. Bendall and W. H. D.Rouse. Delhi 1990 (first ed. 1922). p. 192.75 ibid.76 A _nguttara Nik�aya III.100 ff.77 A _nguttara Nik�aya, vol. III. Translated by E. M. Hare. London 1952. p. 81.

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78 A _nguttara Nik�aya III. 104. For a study of Buddhism’s relationship to the dangersof nature see Schmithausen, L. (1997).Maitri and magic: aspects of the Buddhistattitude toward the dangerous in nature. Vienna.79 ibid. 100ff.80 Gombrich, R. (1996).How Buddhism Began. The Conditioned Genesis of theEarly Teachings. London and Atlantic Higlands, N. J. p. 17.81 MacQueen, Graeme (1988).A Study of the�Sr�aman. yaphalas�utra. Wiesbaden.82 ibid. p. 261.83 The Mah�avagga of the Vinaya Pit.aka I.20.17. Trans. I.B. Horner.84 Mah�avam. sa I.23–27. Translation inThe Mah�avam. sa. Translated by WilhelmGeiger. London 1934. pp. 3–4.85 Wijayarantna, M. (1990).Buddhist Monastic Life. Translated by C. Grangier andS. Collins. Cambridge. p. 130.86 Dutt, N. (1980).The Spread of Buddhism and the Buddhist Schools. New Delhi.p. 22ff.87 Wijayaratna, op. cit. p. 130.88 Lamotte, �E. (1988).History of Indian Buddhism. Translated from the French bySara Webb-Boin under the supervision of Jean Dantinne. Louvain la neuve. p. 307.89 ibid. p. 310.90 For some views on the historical value of early Buddhist literature see Brekke,T. (1998). “The Historical Value of the Khandhaka of the Vinaya Pit.aka.” WienerZeitschrift f�ur die Kunde S�udasiens42: 23–40.91 A similar point has been brought out in the works of Ren�e Girard who says that atypical feature of myths is that they tend to undergo revisions through time wherebyreferences to violence are cut away bit by bit until one is left with stories that seempeaceful if slightly half-baked as in the myth of the death of Baldr in Scandinavian orthe birth of Zeus in Greek mythology. Girard, R. (1989).The Scapegoat. Baltimore.p. 166ff.92 These examples are taken from theIndex to the Saddharmapun. d. ar�ıkas�utra, editorYasunori Ejima, Tokyo 1985. Vol. 1. p. 76.93 H�ar�ıtasmr.ti, 6.5.94 Sprockhoff, J. D. (1994). ‘Zur “Weihe” des Asketen’,Wiener Zeitschrift f�ur dieKunde S�udasiens38: 61–83. See especially pp. 63–63 and pp. 77–80. See alsoSchmithausen, L. (1997).Maitri and magic: aspects of the Buddhist attitude towardthe dangerous in nature. Vienna. p. 32, note 66.95 Hoelter, J. W. and Epley, R. J. (1979), ‘Religious Correlates of Fear of Death’,Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion18: 404–411.96 ibid. p. 410.97 Thorson, J. A. and Powell, F. C. (1990). ‘Meanings of Death and Intrinsic Reli-giosity’, Journal of Clinical Psychology46, 4: 379–391.98 ibid. p. 386.99 Osarchuk, M. and Tatz, S. J. (1973). ‘Effect of Induced Fear of Death on Beliefin Afterlife’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology27: 256–260.100 See for instance Hannay, A. (1991).Kierkegaard. London and New York,p. 202. Gardiner, P. (1988).Kierkegaard. Oxford and New York, p. 111.101 Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin and Argyle, Michael (1997).The Psychology of religiousbehaviour, belief and experience. London and New York. p. 230ff.


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the role of fear in indian religious thought with special reference to buddhism

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