Description
None else but fear is thy enemy, thy death, disease and distress. Overcome fear and then there is no death, no disease, no distress for thee. Not death, fear of death is thy problem and redemption from fear is thy redemption from death', said the universal teacher and the compassionate Buddha. 'Abhaya', freedom from fear, is thus the essence of Buddha's philosophy, though different from the ‘abhaya’-related doctrine of other theologies, in India or abroad, in Buddhism ‘abhaya' is not something granted by a divine agency outside oneself, or granted against an outside enemy. After his long rigorous penance and search within the Buddha realised that fear, which enshrined within oneself, was one’s arch enemy. The Buddha hence commanded: ‘Enter into thyself, search thy fear – thy arch enemy, defeat it, and seek thy redemption’. The Buddha does not grant freedom from fear, but only leads the mind beyond it. Hence a posture imparting ‘abhaya’ – fearlessness, has in the Buddha's iconography a widely different connotation. In other sects in India, the deities, while imparting 'abhaya' by one hand, carry in other, or others, different weapons for their devotees’ protection; in the Buddha's ‘abhaya’ imparting icons this other hand is engaged in meditation for it is in meditation that one finds the subtlest weapon for ensuring 'abhaya'. Finish: Gold
