Fear the Right Things

A common prayer in Tibetan Buddhism, especially in the Gelug tradition is the ... I think it's called "Three Great Aspirations Prayer" and it goes like this:

Please bless me to constanly fear the burning fires of the three lower realms of cyclic existence,
To take heartfelt refuge in the Triple Gem
And to continue putting enthusiastic effort in the abandoning of negativities and accumulating virtuous deeds.

For quite sometime, I have modified them so that I shift the fear aspects to fearing the actual things that are to be feared, i.e. greed, anger and ignorance. These are the three root vices and are the cause of rebirth in the lower realms. If you are a Buddha or Bodhisattva, going to the lower realms would not arise any fear in you. Going to those places in and by themselves is not an issue. For people like us who cannot as yet control our greed, anger and delusions, the issue should be on creating seeds that could pop up any moment that causes one to take rebirth there. For instance, there were cases of people losing their temper suddenly and do something stupid, such as killing the people they have otherwise loved. It's just in that moment of confusion and emotional mess, that they have done something stupid. And we could be "these people" someday if we do not have control over our actions and emotions. And we better act now if we do not want to be reported in the news for the wrong reasons.

So, I have added some other words (shown in red below) to the prayer above and now, it sounded like this:-

Please bless us to constantly fear the burning fires of the three lower realms of cyclic existence,
That are caused by unfettered greed, desires, attachment, lust, sudden acts of anger, tantrums, hatred, temper, violence and other delusions that are caused by deep ignorance and stupidity,
To take heartfelt refuge in the Triple Gem to uproot all these (causes),
And to continue putting enthusiastic effort in the abandoning of negativities and accumulating virtuous deeds.

Ever since I realise that it is the three root evils that are to be feared, I have since then recited this prayer using my own version as above. I find that it is useful because it reminds me of the proper things to be feared. Fearing the right things is part of spiritual risk management. I hope that this is of use to you and always remember it.

With this message, I am sending to all my readers a "HAPPY SEASONS GREETINGS" and "A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011".