Cultivating the Four Powers to Transcend the Five Fears

There is an intriguing narrative preserved in the Saṃyukta Āgama.
 
One evening, the Buddha led Śakra (Indra), the king of devas, in outdoor walking meditation. They walked for hours on end, testing the patience of the Buddha’s attendant, Venerable Nākapāla. Because the Buddha had not yet retired for the night, the attendant could not go to sleep either.
 
In an attempt to nudge the Buddha into resting, Nākapāla devised a plan to startle him. Wrapping himself in a shaggy woolen cushion, he disguised himself as a Makura demon—a malevolent spirit dreaded by the people of that era. Suddenly leaping out from the shadows, he bellowed: “The Makura demon is here! The Makura demon is here!”

The Buddha immediately rebuked him, saying: “How foolish you are, Nākapāla! Do you truly believe you can frighten the Tathāgata with a demon? The Tathāgata has transcended all fear long ago!”
 
Though Nākapāla’s behavior was absurd, the Buddha nonetheless affirmed that he would ultimately realize the pure Dharma in a future life.
 
This story does more than illustrate the Buddha’s absolute transcendence of fear—a state of realization so profound his own disciples could scarcely fathom it. In the verse that follows, the Buddha reveals a deeper truth: upon reaching the other shore of liberation, one is freed not only from the dread of demons and ghosts, but from all objects of perception, all conditioned phenomena, all dualistic distinctions between self and other, and the entire mass of suffering, anxiety, and fear born of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

How do we reach this other shore of liberation? How do we root out fear once and for all? In Saṃyukta Āgama Sutra 670, the Buddha explicitly teaches that by perfecting Four Powers, we can completely distance ourselves from Five Fears. These four strengths are:

• The Power of Awareness (Jñāna-bala)
• The Power of Diligence (Vīrya-bala)
• The Power of Blamelessness (Anavadya-bala)
• The Power of Sustaining Others (Saṅgraha-bala)

1. The Power of Awareness

This is the capacity for spiritual awakening—seeing reality exactly as it is. It enables us to discern what is wholesome and unwholesome, what is blameworthy and blameless, and what brings benefit or harm to oneself and others. Through this insight, we clearly know which teachings to cultivate and which to abandon. We learn to distinguish inferior states from superior states, the dualistic from the non-dualistic, and that which accords with dependent origination from that which does not.
 

2. The Power of Diligence

This manifests as the Four Right Efforts: preventing unwholesome states from arising, eradicating unwholesome states that have already arisen, generating unwholesome states not yet born, and nurturing the wholesome states that already exist.
 

3. The Power of Blamelessness

This is the cultivation of purity across our three karmic gates—maintaining flawless, harmless conduct in our actions of body, speech, and mind.
 

4. The Power of Sustaining Others

This is the magnetic capacity to draw sentient beings together through the Four Methods of Convergence: generosity, kind speech, beneficial action, and empathetic collaboration. In practice, this means supporting others through material or spiritual giving, uplifting them with caring words, aiding them through wholesome deeds, and walking alongside them through life’s trials and tribulations (Saṃyukta Āgama Sutra 667).
 
Conversely, in Saṃyukta Āgama Sutra 671, the Buddha warns of the alternative. When our actions of body, speech, and mind are unpurified—marred by unwholesome desires, lack of faith, laxity, indolence, scattered mindfulness, lack of concentration, deluded views, and a selfish failure to protect or embrace others—we become deeply entangled in the fundamental, existential dread of being unable to truly live well.
 
— Editorial Office


Related articles: 

Understanding Fear: What Are You Afraid of?

Cultivating the Four Powers to Transcend the Five Fears

A Terrifying Event That Could Cause the Disappearance of the True Dharma

Story Section: What Is Truly Worthy of Fear

[Practice Section] Practices for Letting Go of Fear

Resource: Issue 430 of Humanity Magazine, Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation
Photo: Venerable Chang Duo (常鐸法師)
Translation: 小熊
Editing: Keith Brown, Patricia Yang