Problems Bared, Essays on Buddhism

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18 control them. Fear, therefore, lurks in the unknown and is born in the imagination as a reaction thereto. The great unknown is, of course, the future, and having experienced over and over again the uncertainty of the present, all possible safeguards are being sought by man to make his future secure. Wealth and position provide but scanty protection in the present, and none whatsoever after death, which is the only certainty in life. Thus, speculation about a future life keeps the flame of hope eternally burning, but the wick on which the flame burns is fear. This fear is not a mere sentimental element in the religious attitude of the still young in mind; it is the very essence of religion and the source of all religious activity, whether it be praise, prayer or sacrifice, whereas the element of love in divine worship has been effectively squashed by that well-known retort in the first letter of St. John 1 , “he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen”. A mere physical feeling of weakness or impotence need not necessarily produce a sensation of fear. For, even in the animal world where survival is the birthright of the physically strong only, we find a spirit of total surrender without fear, prevailing in the young baby monkeys, who cling to their mother jumping from branch to branch, and still more in the kitten which is carried without the slightest resistance by the scruff of its neck. In love there is no fear; but in love there is no duality either. And thus it stands confirmed that fear arises from duality. Fear arises in the duality of attraction and repulsion, of attachment and aversion, of affection and animosity. Affection or attachment is a symptom in the process of expanding self-consciousness. Without “self” there can be no attachment, and without “self” there is nothing to be afraid of. But can detachment, and hence fearlessness, come through renunciation? 1 4.21
19 Renunciation, as an act of giving up, is only an act of craving, i.e., of attachment, in the opposite direction. But it is still attachment, and that is also fear. Ascetic renunciation is often a desire to escape, and that is fear of a challenge, fear of an experience, fear of the unknown. Detachment, on the other hand, cannot be the goal of striving, but it will be there when fear subsides. And thus, as long as renunciation is brought about through fear, i.e., through escape, there cannot be actual detachment. Renunciation is by choice; and choice is born of resistance, of opposition to the actual. Choice is attachment, and thus renunciation is attachment to the opposite, however noble that may be. And in the very choice of escape there is fear, there is attachment, there is craving. The most common way of escape is the search for company. Why do we want companionship in some form or other of its many varieties? Whether we seek a companion and call her a “sister” in a religious order, or “comrade” in the political field, a “guru” to get his advice, or a “priest” to console us, a “mate” to set up a home, or just someone, anyone, to have a drink with and a dance—and whether the companionship is with one or with a crowd, the church, the party—it is all the same, expressed in different forms: fear to be alone, physically, emotionally, intellectually, psychologically. Most problems of individuals are not concerned with themselves, but with society and environment: what will people say if I do or if I don’t do this or that? And what will happen to me, if I do not conform? It is obviously not the act which causes one to worry, but the effect of such act upon others in relationship. As such relationship is for most people more important than the action, both the intention and the result are warped and perverted. Why is it that fear of the environment makes people such “squares” to fit in snugly in a well-sheltered hole? It is again fear of the unknown, fear to be found out, fear to be nobody, to be naked, to be uprooted, to be alone. One believes that it is education, position, influence, money, which can give that
Page 3: Copyright Notice This work is licen
Page 6 and 7: 4 “What I would really like to do
Page 9 and 10: Introduction This collection of ess
Page 11 and 12: 9 dhism. True Buddhism cannot be fo
Page 13 and 14: The Problem of Conflict We are livi
Page 15 and 16: What is that goal of happiness, the
Page 17: For many it will be a struggle for
Page 22 and 23: 20 feeling of confidence and securi
Page 24 and 25: 22 (sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā), bu
Page 26 and 27: 24 live means to think deeply, to f
Page 28 and 29: 26 places. Then there is a problem
Page 30 and 31: 28 sibility of knowledge is an obst
Page 32 and 33: 30 there is no logic in dreams, no
Page 34 and 35: 32 It is not a striving with a desi
Page 36 and 37: 34 an experience is really lived th
Page 38 and 39: 36 nor perceived, which is not conc
Page 41 and 42: Existence I: Of Material Life No ph
Page 43 and 44: 41 ness. Matter is the non-mental,
Page 45 and 46: 43 cles of a body are not scattered
Page 47 and 48: 45 that matter has a mind of its ow
Page 49 and 50: Existence II: Of Personality There
Page 51 and 52: 49 of a particular phenomenon, but
Page 53 and 54: 51 which is peculiar to the individ
Page 55 and 56: 53 to be fettered; it does not want
Page 57 and 58: The Psychology of Rebirth All relig
Page 59 and 60: 57 so, this desire for continuation
Page 61 and 62: 59 deluded mind has something to fe
Page 63 and 64: 61 waves and eddies pass away, and
Page 65: 63 Then one might begin to seek els
Page 68 and 69: 66 there is no scientific view whic
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68 ditions in the past, producing e
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70 swift movement of javana is only
Page 74 and 75:
72 ture becomes discernible in the
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Dependent Origination II The scheme
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77 course is that the wounds become
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79 be understood then, that this co
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81 But even this delight. and zest
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83 tivities (saṅkhāra) which are
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86 What is needed is not political
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88 First, the Buddha’s very first
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90 walker thereon” (maggaṁ atth
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92 Yet, there is a difference in th
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94 towards the unveiling of a delus
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96 our mental pressure, in the hope
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98 great detail, in order to build
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100 the mind agreeable and amenable
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102 strange objects for concentrati
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104 conflict (dukkha) only, because
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Determinism and Free Will In this a
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109 doubt; as post factum there can
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111 volition arises in dependence o
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113 Evil, then, is that which does
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115 clinging. But intention, which
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Synthesis of Mind and Matter In thi
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119 the last century was all-round
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121 fact, it would appear that man
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123 with its constant frictions and
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125 ling power (indriya) which is t
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Evolution and Beyond Man’s recent
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129 different classes, or are they
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131 analogy just a little while mor
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133 with himself and through himsel
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135 nity to burst forth, in a way s
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137 our concentration on an ideal,
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About the Author Henri van Zeyst wa
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Problems Bared, Essays on Buddhism

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