Eight great dangers
Eight great dangers (Skt. aṣṭamahābhaya; T. ‘jigs pa chen po brgyad འཇིགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་བརྒྱད་). Eight dangers or fears associated with practices of Tara and Avalokiteshvara in Tibetan Buddhism. These eight dangers/fears have an outer aspect and an inner aspect. While the outer dangers threaten our life or property, the inner aspects (the kleshas) endanger us spiritually. The eight dangers/fears are:
- drowning or water (Wyl. chu)
- thieves (Wyl. mi rgod)
- lions (Wyl. seng ge)
- snakes (Wyl. klu)
- fire (Wyl. me)
- spirits or flesh-eating demons (Wyl. sha za)
- captivity or imprisonment (Wyl. chad pa)
- elephants (Wyl. glang po)
Their respective inner counterparts are:
- craving or attachment
- wrong or false views
- pride
- envy or jealousy
- hatred or anger
- doubt
- avarice
- delusion or ignorance
Another way to think of them is to consider the flood of attachment, the thieves of wrong views, the lion of pride, the snakes of jealousy, the fire of anger, the carnivorous demon of doubt, the chains of miserliness or greed, and the elephant of ignorance.[1][2]
Practices
Two forms of Avalokiteshvara are particularly associated with protection from the eight dangers:
- Amoghapāśa, "Lokeśvara with the unfailing lasso"
- Ashtabhaya Lokeshvara, "Lokeshvara [who protects from] the eight great dangers"
Both Green Tara and White Tara are also associated with protection from the eight dangers.
In the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions, the Düsum Sangye prayer is often recited as protection from obstacles.
Notes
External links
Eight great fears, Rigpa Shedra Wiki
འཇིགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་བརྒྱད་, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
Eight Fears page, Himalayan Art Resources
