Rime Buddhist Center
Monastery & Tibetan Institute of Studies
"Achieving Peace Through Compassion"
700 West Pennway
Kansas City, Missouri 64108
(816) 471-7073
Lama Chuck Stanford
www.rimecenter.org
News
The following is Lama Chuck's monthly
column that appeared in the Faith section of
the Kansas City Star
newspaper on Saturday, August 20, 2005.
Other columns: 2005 — Jan
1 | Jan 29 | Feb | March | April | May | July
2004 —Feb/March | April | May/June
| July
| Sept. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec.
QUESTION: "Will religion help me to
overcome fear?"
ANSWER: Fear can be classified into healthy
and unhealthy types of fear. Healthy fears are those
that are a direct threat to our well being and are the
type that we can do something about. For example if you
encounter a bear in the woods you will feel fear, which
is good because the danger is real. Unless you are motivated
to move away, the bear may kill you. Likewise unhealthy
life styles can threaten our life, but knowing this can
also motivate us to makes changes to lessen the threat.
Unhealthy fears are the type that we can't do anything
about. The Buddha referred to this type of fear as delusion
and is the result of an uncontrolled mind. In modern
society there are a multitude of things that may frighten
us, such as fear of: terrorists, war, of being separated
from loved ones, of failure, of rejection - the list
is nearly endless! These types of fears we have little
control over.
From the Buddhist perspective we may not be able to
control everything in our life, but we can learn to control
our own mind. It is through the meditation practice that
we learn to control our own mind. Shantideva said, "Thus,
all fears, and all infinite sufferings arise from the
mind." and " "it is not possible to control
all external events; but if I simply control my mind,
what need is there to control other things?"
Your Friend In The Dharma,
Lama Chuck Stanford
Rime Buddhist Center
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I send lots of prayers, much health, peace, success
and happiness to you, with many blessings of the Triple
Gem.