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The Way to Fearlessness - Diana Clark

The following talk was given by Diana Clark at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on November 14, 2023. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

The Way to Fearlessness

I wanted to talk a little bit about fear. I talked about that last week when I was here, and those of you who listen to the 7 AM morning sits know that I'm doing a week on fear there as well. There are a number of reasons for this. We have fear, and it shows up in our lives much more than we realize. Fear underlies so many of the things we do and the decisions we make.

Sometimes it's a fear of boredom. We think, "I can't be bored, I have to make sure I have my phone with me." We are afraid that we will be alone with ourselves. Maybe there's a fear of our shadow side—we're afraid of what might arise if we're quiet and really touch into the anger, sadness, or shame. We avoid going there because we're afraid of what's going to happen.

We might have a fear of failure, so we don't try new things. We don't stretch ourselves, put ourselves in unfamiliar settings, try for different jobs, or make changes. We might have a fear of endings, making us awkward when it's time to say goodbye and leave. We hold on too tightly, or we don't even want to deal with it when a coworker leaves or somebody moves away. There's an uncomfortableness and fear around endings.

There's also a fear of not being in control. We aren't in control as much as we think we are, but there's a fear surrounding that feeling of lacking control. Of course, we want things to go the way we want them to go. There's also the fear of feeling unworthy. Everybody is worthy—being unworthy doesn't actually exist—but that doesn't mean people don't feel that way. People often feel they have to succeed or serve in order to be worthy. If we look closely, we will see that fear is so prevalent and plays a huge role in our lives. This is part of the reason why fear is something to look at, become familiar with, and learn to work with.

The F.E.A.R. Practice

Last week, I talked about the F.E.A.R. practice:

• F is for Friend: Befriend the fear.
• E is for Explore: Explore the fear.
• A is for Allow: Allow the fear.
• R is for Release: Release the fear.

It's not necessarily that we are actively doing the releasing, but releasing of fear happens naturally when we are exploring, allowing, and being friendly with it.

The Buddha gave some teachings on fear. I'm not going to go into all of them today, but wouldn't it be easier if there just wasn't fear? If fear just didn't arise, it would be so much easier. Think of how much freedom we would have and the things we could do. We could benefit and support ourselves and so many others if we didn't have fear.

The Chariot to Fearlessness

The Buddha talked about the road to fearlessness. I stumbled upon a verse tucked away in the Samyutta Nikaya¹. It's not commonly discussed, but I thought we'd play around a little bit and explore these instructions toward fearlessness. Instead of just learning how to be with fear, how do we just not have fear?

It is written in verse, which is very common. However, translating Pali verse into English depends on your point of view: it's either really difficult or really easy. It doesn't follow usual grammar rules, uses highly unusual word forms, and contains vocabulary that is archaic even for Pali. In modern times, a lot of interpretation has to be done. The verse points toward something, and we have to make sense of it. I'll share my interpretation to encourage you to find your own way with what's being said.

Not only does it use verse, but it also uses a metaphor: the idea of a chariot. At the time, that was the fastest vehicle available. According to this teaching, to get to fearlessness, you just have to get on the right chariot going in the right direction.

The verse goes like this:

The path is called the straight way, and fearless is its destination. The chariot is called unswerving, fitted with wheels of Dharma. Conscience is its leaning board, mindfulness its upholstery. I say the Dharma is the charioteer, with Right View running out in front. One who has such a vehicle, whether a woman or a man, by means of this vehicle is in the presence of Nibbāna.

The destination is fearlessness, which is moving toward Nibbāna². This is the recognition that ultimate freedom includes freedom from fear. There is a shedding of many fears because so many of the fears I described at the beginning are fears about our sense of self: How will we look to others? Will we be safe and have security?

As we find our way toward greater peace and freedom, the sense of self is not as hungry for attention, and it doesn't need to be fed or protected. It's not driving the ship quite as often.

The Straight Way

Let's start with the first stanza:

The path is called the straight way, and fearless is its destination. The chariot is called unswerving, fitted with wheels of Dharma.

The path is called the "straight way." You may know this about the Noble Eightfold Path—it is a foundational teaching in this tradition as the way to awakening. In other places in the suttas, it's also called the straight way.

The Eightfold Path has eight parts. I'm using the word "Right," but it can also be translated as "wise," "correct," or "appropriate." The path consists of Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. These eight factors are often summarized into three buckets: Sīla, Samādhi, Paññā³, which translate to ethical behavior, mental development, and wisdom. We will see in this verse that all three of these get mentioned.

Fearless is its destination. As we have more freedom, the sense of self doesn't need to be propped up as much. For somebody who is completely awakened, they no longer have this idea that there's a central core or essence to their experience. It isn't that they have a central core to which things happen; instead, there's just a bunch of things happening. This isn't something you have to believe or adopt as a view, but it can become part of one's experience.

To be fearless means to no longer have fear because there isn't a core that has to be protected. You are with whatever is arising, without building a story around it. If something awkward happens, you don't add on, "Oh my gosh, I'm so embarrassed that I tripped." There isn't anything extra added onto it. It's just, "Oh, that's an experience, and it felt like this."

As there's more freedom, there's also more connection. It's not an aloofness or a separateness. Instead of trying to protect a core, you want to connect and support other people. If you didn't have fear, it would be so much easier to show up when others are having difficulties. It would be easier to say the things you know would really help someone, or to support people when they're waiting for test results from the doctor.

The Unswerving Chariot

The verse continues: The chariot is called unswerving. This aligns with the idea that the path is the straight way. I also like to think of "unswerving" as meaning it doesn't go to other destinations. If we follow this Eightfold Path, we aren't going to end up someplace terrible where we don't want to go. It will bring us to fearlessness, greater freedom, and peace.

When do we usually swerve? In a modern car, we often swerve to avoid something for our safety. But what if this path means we don't have to avoid anything? Everything becomes part of the practice. Everything gets folded in. We don't have to try to disown parts of ourselves, and we don't have to try to avoid certain situations. Instead, our capacity to be with difficulty grows. Our capacity to hold what's uncomfortable expands. We start becoming more and more comfortable with being uncomfortable. We learn to simply notice, "Okay, uncomfortableness feels like this. Pain feels like this."

Our confidence to be with difficult things grows. We're all going to get sick, and we're all going to have people, pets, and family members who die. It's unavoidable. I love this idea that the path is going straight, and it's able to meet whatever arises next.

This is the practice. Meeting whatever arises is the path. Sometimes we view hindrances like restlessness as an obstacle. We think, "I'll be able to meditate as soon as this restlessness settles down," or, "As soon as this sleepiness goes away." It turns out that restlessness is the practice. To be with restlessness, feel it in the body, explore it, and learn how to hold it is the work. We discover what causes it to increase or what caused it to arise in the first place.

The chariot leading us to fearlessness meets whatever is in the way. We use the factors of the Eightfold Path as supports. Right Action is about ethical behavior—showing up in a way that doesn't cause harm to others or ourselves. Being mindful means being present for what's happening, even if it is exactly what we don't want.

Sometimes we get exactly what we don't want. Let's say it's the ending of a relationship we desperately didn't want to lose. It doesn't help to pretend it isn't happening. Bringing mindful attention helps to unpack the dreaded experience. It helps to turn toward it and ask, "Okay, what's needed here? How can I be sensitive to what's needed?"

This chariot is unswerving, and it is fitted with wheels of Dharma. A contemporary expression for this is "where the rubber meets the road." The Dharma is not just philosophical ideas, concepts, or notions that exist only in our minds. The Dharma is really how we show up in the world. The Buddha's teachings are deeply pragmatic. He didn't just say, "Believe this stuff." He encouraged us to show up in a certain way, deeply concerned with what leads to suffering and the ending of suffering. He encouraged us to discover this for ourselves, disregarding speculative views or metaphysics. When asked about the nature of the cosmos, he didn't answer because that kind of thinking doesn't lead to the end of suffering.

Fitted with wheels of Dharma means our practice is active in the world. What parts of the Eightfold Path can we bring forward? Maybe we can bring mindfulness, Right Action (not harming), Right Intention (bringing compassion), or Right Effort (looking at what's wholesome and helpful versus what isn't).

Conscience and Mindfulness

The second stanza states:

Conscience is its leaning board, mindfulness its upholstery. I say the Dharma is the charioteer, with Right View running out in front.

Let's unpack this. Conscience is its leaning board. I tried to look up what a "leaning board" is on a chariot, but it's not very common. In my mind, someone standing in a chariot needs something in front of them to protect them from falling forward onto the horses. The leaning board keeps them safely inside.

The Pali word translated here as conscience is Hiri⁴. The Buddha called Hiri one of the guardians of the world. It is the recognition of how uncomfortable it is when we've done something unwholesome—when we've done something we knew wasn't the best thing to do, but we did it anyway. Hiri is the wish to not cause harm, based on a respect and care for ourselves and others. It isn't an external voice saying, "You should not do this." Rather, it's an internal feeling of, "Oh, it feels awful when I cause harm, and I respect others, so I want to take care."

This feels like a beautiful way to be in the world. It requires sensitivity to what feels uncomfortable within ourselves, built on the wish to support both ourselves and others. Conscience as the leaning board keeps us from falling out of the chariot that is carrying us toward fearlessness.

Then there is the curious expression: Mindfulness is its upholstery. The Pali word here is parivāraṃ⁵, which can mean covering or drapery. I like to think of it as a covering that protects the passengers from whatever they need protection from—like the hot Indian sun or the rain. Mindfulness protects us.

If we can bring attention to what's happening, it protects us by enabling us to access our best wisdom. We are less likely to be caught off guard. When something is uncomfortable, we often start blaming others, or we collapse and shut down. When that happens, we're no longer connected to reality; we're too busy yelling at the other person, yelling at ourselves, or shutting down entirely. Mindfulness allows us to stay present, sensitive to what's happening, without blunting our awareness. Some things in our lives are deeply difficult to be with, but having the aspiration to pay attention is better in the long run than trying to avoid or pretend the pain isn't there.

The Charioteer and Right View

The next line says: I say the Dharma is the charioteer. The charioteer doing the driving is our practice, or the teachings of the Dharma. The Dharma guides the journey. It dictates where the chariot goes, but also how fast. Maybe things need to move slowly. Maybe we need to stop and pick up some passengers, or let some off. The Dharma acts as a guide wanting what's best for us, leading us toward less suffering.

The charioteer follows Right View: with Right View running out in front. Right View is the first element of the Eightfold Path. I use the word "Right" not moralistically as the opposite of "wrong," but to mean the most appropriate or helpful—like using a screwdriver as the "right" tool for a screw, instead of a hammer.

Right View is a perspective or frame of reference that provides a straightforward understanding of how to bring suffering to an end. It encompasses the Four Noble Truths: This is suffering, this is the origin of suffering, this is the cessation of suffering, and this is the path leading to the cessation of suffering. This perspective guides the charioteer. It is the way to Nibbāna and the way to fearlessness.

Our views, orientations, perspectives, and beliefs form the basis on which we make decisions. For the most part, they are unseen. We don't even know we have them. They seem like an inherent part of ourselves or the natural way of the world. But our core views may not be accurate or true, and they might not lead us to the end of suffering. We might hold views like, "The world is an unsafe place," "I'm only worthy if I serve others," "It's important to always be comfortable at all costs," or, "It's important to never be vulnerable." Right View reorients us to be sensitive toward what is actually leading to suffering and what is leading away from it.

The Presence of Nibbāna

The final stanza goes:

One who has such a vehicle, whether a woman or a man, by means of this vehicle is in the presence of Nibbāna.

The lines whether a woman or a man are just trying to be inclusive. Today we would say, "no matter your gender." Notice that they're not saying you have to be a monastic or come from a certain background. If you are in this vehicle—on the straight way with the Eightfold Path, where the rubber meets the road—you draw close to Nibbāna.

I was thinking about the phrase is in the presence of Nibbāna (or "has drawn close to Nibbāna"). It doesn't say that you get to Nibbāna, but that you are really close to it. Perhaps they don't want to give the impression that Nibbāna is a location—someplace over there that you'll get to later. Nibbāna is found here. It's so common to believe we have to seek, go, and find. Even the metaphor of a chariot suggests a journey. But there's a paradox here.

There's an analogy I heard years ago that has stayed with me. If you want to get to Nibbāna, and it feels like Nibbāna is over there at "Point B," and you are currently here at "Point A"... it turns out the way to get to Point B is to be completely, fully at Point A. Right here, with whatever is happening.

The way to fearlessness is the way to Nibbāna—freedom, peace, and ease. This path includes ethical behavior, mental development, and wisdom. Sometimes we feel that to be fearless, we just have to summon courage. But it is an interesting exploration to look at the relationship between our ethical behavior and our fear. What happens if we clean up any little areas of unethical behavior or white lies? What views do we hold that might be promoting fear? What would it be like to view our experience simply through the lens of: "This is leading to suffering, and this is leading to less suffering"?

We can learn to feel into our wisdom, remaining sensitive to our views and our fear.

The path is called the straight way, and fearless is its destination. The chariot is called unswerving, fitted with wheels of Dharma. Conscience is its leaning board, mindfulness its upholstery. I say the Dharma is the charioteer, with Right View running out in front. One who has such a vehicle, whether a woman or a man, by means of this vehicle is in the presence of Nibbāna.

Thank you. Let's open it up and see if there are some questions or comments about how ethical behavior, mental development, and wisdom have a role with fear and support us in finding more fearlessness.

Q&A

Questioner 1: Thanks, Diana, I really appreciate it. Quick question. You mentioned Sīla, Samādhi, Paññā. How would you define the difference between concentration and mindfulness?

Diana Clark: There are a number of different ways we can explain this. When we start mindfulness practice, we often begin with the breath. As we often teach it here at IMC, if something compelling arises, we turn our attention to that. Let's say there's a loud dog barking. We just rest with the dog barking and notice it. When it's no longer compelling, we come back to the breath. If the knee hurts, we go to the knee, then come back to the breath. In this way, with mindfulness practice, the notion of "distractions" doesn't exist. Whatever seems troubling, we just turn toward it and fold it into our practice. Mindfulness is inclusive; whatever is arising, we're paying attention to.

Concentration is a little bit more exclusive. You decide, "I'm going to be on the breath. I'm going to be on the breath. Dog is barking—breath. Just breath." We don't bring our attention to anything else; we just stay centered on the breath. We bring a sense of wholeness, collectedness, and centeredness exclusively around the breath. Does that make sense?

Questioner 2: Hearing all this tonight, I'm really aware that it's about fearlessness, not courage. In my mind, there's definitely a difference. Courage is what I have to do when I'm not fearless and I have to do the thing anyway. Was there a concept of courage, as different from fearlessness, when this verse was written?

Diana Clark: Yes. Viriya⁶, which is one of the faculties, is sometimes translated as courage. It can also be translated as energy or effort. So yes, there is absolutely the idea of courage in the teachings.

Questioner 3: Thank you for your talk today about fearlessness, which we all need. I reflected on the concept of Ahimsa paramo dharma (non-violence is the ultimate duty). There are two parts to fearlessness around the world. One part is courage for oneself in dealing with fear. But the second part is equally important. In the story of Angulimala⁷—who used to chop off people's fingers to make a garland, killing people and committing terrible violence—the Buddha took it upon himself to educate Angulimala. As Angulimala was preparing to attack, the Buddha essentially said, "I have stopped. When will you stop?" It was transformational for Angulimala to be educated and learn that violence is a bad thing. As Ananda Coomaraswamy points out in his book The Dance of Shiva, violence even in thoughts is equivalent to violence. So it's a twofold matter. One is my own fearlessness as the charioteer, but there is also a duty to carry passengers and educate them away from violence.

Diana Clark: I'll say one thing about the story of Angulimala. For those who don't know, Angulimala was a mass murderer who was going to kill the Buddha. He was running toward the Buddha, and the Buddha seemed to just be casually walking, but Angulimala couldn't catch up to him. Angulimala yelled, "Hey, stop!" and the Buddha replied, "I have stopped. You stop."

Angulimala saw that the Buddha was completely unafraid of him, and also couldn't be caught. The Buddha had stopped doing things that were unethical; he had stopped causing harm. When Angulimala saw a radically different way of being—true fearlessness and non-violence—he was deeply moved, eventually becoming a follower of the Buddha and becoming awakened himself. It is a very famous story showing the different ways in which fear and fearlessness show up.

Thank you all for your time, and I wish you all a lovely rest of the evening. [Laughter]