I’ve spent the last several posts exploring the topic of Buddhism’s five great fears—fear of dying, fear of illness, fear of dementia, fear of loss of livelihood, and fear of public speaking. These are ancient teachings that reflect the universality of these fear states, even for lifelong monastics, who developed these teachings. Fear is the arena of Buddhist practice; all fear ultimately derives from constriction of ego, and the liberation that the Buddha taught goes straight through and into these fears. In one sense, these great fears are ego’s worst nightmare; in another, they are the ground of awakening. Continue Reading »
The fifth “great fear” of Buddhism is, strangely enough, the “fear of public speaking.” The other four—fear of death, fear of illness, fear of dementia, and fear of loss of livelihood—are so obviously great fears that it is curious that fear of public speaking is included with them. Certainly those who have this fear can report that it is paralyzing—similar to a panic attack. One person I know who had this fear said, quite calmly, that they would prefer to slit their throat rather than speak before an audience.
There is little teaching or analysis in the Buddhist texts about this fear, so I can only guess about it. Continue Reading »
Posted in Fear | Tagged aging and worry, fear of public speaking, five great fears | 5 Comments »
I ended my last post with the teaching “every breath, new chances.” This is something that one of my early Zen teachers liked to say. As I said before, this is the “upside” of the fact that everything changes. One of the hallmarks of negative mind-states such as sadness, grief, or depression is the sinking conviction that this is it, nothing will ever change for the better. This is the “death-spiral” or feedback loop that sends people deeper and deeper into despondency. Continue Reading »
Posted in Worry | Tagged aging and livelihood, aging and worry | 3 Comments »
The fourth “great fear” of Buddhist teaching is “fear of loss of livelihood.” It is interesting that this doctrine was formulated by monastics living a life of mendicancy and voluntary poverty. One would think that the vow of poverty would liberate monks from the ordinary anxieties of earning a livelihood, but of course the monks and nuns were utterly dependent on what was put into their begging bowl by local villagers. If nothing was put in, there would be no meal that day. Continue Reading »
Posted in Fear | Tagged Aging and Buddhism, aging and money, aging and worry | 9 Comments »
Buddhist transformation is all about emotion. Actually, that’s not literally true; a lot of meditation, especially for Westerners, is about de-constructing and seeing through the illusory world of self that thinking creates. But neuroscience has now demonstrated what Buddhist meditators have long known: that as meditation matures, the discursive thinking aspect of mental activity subsides, and a different, more primal awareness emerges. Continue Reading »
Posted in Aging and Meditation | Tagged Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, unconditional love | 9 Comments »
The comedienne Lily Tomlin, in her persona as the bag lady, once said, “I tried reality once, and found it highly overrated.” From a Buddhist standpoint, the same could be said for thinking. The various schools of Buddhism all have a highly technical literature, whose collected works fill a good-sized room. That being said, the core insight of the Buddha was not a cortical event—it was not a thought. It was a direct apprehension of the real.
In the West the operative phrase on this subject has been Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am.” Continue Reading »
Posted in Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation | Tagged aging and karma, Thought of Enlightenment, training the mind | 12 Comments »
What a downer of a topic! Who wants to think or talk about dementia, Alzheimer’s, losing one’s mind? Yet it is the “third great fear” in Buddhist teaching, so clearly the ancient Buddhists wanted to talk about it. They knew that the best way to transform and dissolve fear is to face it. Well, today I’m going to try something that may not be possible—find a positive, uplifting and encouraging way to talk about this.
Well, let’s start by being honest: pretty much everyone over a certain age either knows someone who has dementia (maybe a parent) or worries about getting it themselves, or both. Continue Reading »
Posted in Aging and Buddhism, Fear | Tagged Aging and Buddhism, aging and worry, buddhism and dementia, Death and Dying, loss | 20 Comments »
My theme the last few posts has been the “five great fears”—fear of death, fear of illness, fear of dementia, fear of loss of livelihood, and fear of public speaking. This week I’d like to take a break from talking about fears, and talk instead about gifts—in particular, the gift of human birth. Continue Reading »
Posted in Gratitude | Tagged Aging and Buddhism, aging and gratitude, human birth | 11 Comments »
When I had cancer, and again when I was recovering from encephalitis, people would ask, “Do they know what caused it?” I found this rather interesting, that people were so concerned to find a reason. I wasn’t concerned about the reason at all, I was concerned about getting well. But people wanted to know. I think it was partly their anxiety Continue Reading »
Posted in Illness | Tagged aging and gratitude, Illness as gift, zen and gratitude | 16 Comments »
Fear of illness is universal, even more so as we age and wonder about heart attack, stroke, cancer. Even an annual physical or a blood test can make the heart pound. I don’t know if we are more or less fearful now that we have the miracles of medicine to help us. In earlier times, when there were no antiobiotics and no surgery, people had to rely on a strong constitution, preventative practices, and faith. Children got to see sick and dead people all the time. It was the kind of life in which Buddhism grew, and the life that billions of people still live in the world today.
I have been ill about ten years out of sixty two—first cancer and that long recovery, and then encephalitis and an even longer recovery. I hated being sick, although my cancer doctor kept a photo for years in his office of me bald, jaundiced and grinning broadly to encourage his other patients. Continue Reading »
Posted in Gratitude, Illness | Tagged Aging and Buddhism, aging and gratitude, Illness as gift | 9 Comments »
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Lewis Richmond
Author and Buddhist teacherLewis leads a Zen meditation group, Vimala Sangha, and teaches at workshops and retreats throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
He has published three books, including the national bestseller Work as a Spiritual Practice.
This website is dedicated to his teachings on aging as a spiritual path.
Lewis also leads a discussion on aging as a spiritual practice at Tricycle magazine's online community site.
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