The Gift of Fearlessness

People fear many things--death, poverty, illness, imprisonment, and so on. The gift of fearlessness is being able to respond to people's fears and needs with wisdom and compassion. As practitioners of the paramita of giving, we can alleviate people of their fears, whatever their origins.

Of the schools of early Buddhism, only one is still prominent, the Theravadin, concentrated mostly in Southeast Asia.

At his first sermon after his enlightenment, the Buddha expounded the Four Noble Truths (Pali: Dhammacakka-pattavana Sutta). They are the truth of suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way out of suffering by means of the Eightfold Noble Path, which consists of right view right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditation.

The Thirty-Seven Aids to Enlightenment, the bodhipakshika-dharmd ('thingspertaining to enlightenment'), are divided into seven groups:

• 1) The Four Foundations of Mindfulness (satipatthana): mindfulness of breath, mindfulness of feeling, mindfulness of mind, and mindfulness of mental objects (dharmas).
• 2) The Four Perfect Exertions (samyak-prahanani): to avoid unwholesome acts not yet committed; to cease unwholesome acts already committed; to engage in wholesome acts not yet done; to continue wholesome acts already engaged in.
• 3) The Four Roads to Samadhi Power (riddhipada): concentration of intention, of effort, of mind, and of daring.
• 4) The Five Mental Faculties (indriya) of faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom.
• 5) The Five Corresponding Powers (bala) of faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom.
• 6) The Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bodhyanga): mindfulness, knowing between right and wrong, exertion in practice, delight in the teachings, purification of the passions, equanimity and non-discrimination.
• 7) The Eightfold Noble Path (ashtangika-mdrga). See endnote No. 2.

Also known as the four immeasurable and outwardly radiant states of mind (brabmd-viharas) cultivated by a bodhisattva: loving-kindness to all beings (maitri), compassion to those in suffering (karuna), joy in the liberation of others from suffering (mudita), and equanimity (non-discrimination) to all beings, whether friends of foes (upeksha).

Bodhi-mind (bodhicitta) in the narrow sense is the initial arousal of the aspiration to enlightenment experienced by the incipient bodhisattva. Coincident with the aspiration to enlightenment, the bodhisattva also vows to help sentient beings even before achieving self enlightenment. More broadly, bodhi-mind also refers to "awakened mind," or enlightenment.

The fives skandhas ("heaps" or "aggregates") are the constituents of a sentient being: form, sensation, perception, volition, and consciousness. The first skandha, form, is the material factor, the other four are the mental factors.

The ten bhumis, or transformation stages of the bodhisattva path to buddhahood, are described in various sutras, among them the Dashabhumika-sutra. At the first bhumi, the bodhisattva has aroused the aspiration to enlightenment (bodhicitta) and takes the bodhisattva vows. At the tenth and final stage, the bodhisattva attains complete enlightenment and is identified with the dharmakaya, the transcendent buddha-nature.

The Ten Paramitas consist of the Six Paramitas plus the following: skillful means (upaya), bodhisattva vows (pranidhana), manifestation of spiritual powers (bala), and true knowledge of the Dharmas (jnana). The latter four paramitas were later additions to the original six, and all ten characterize the practice of avowed bodhisattvas.

The Buddhist sutras are the recorded teachings of the Buddha, while sastras are commentaries on the sutras by later scholars.