Help
Sign In
buddhism
August 2008 
Fear and Shame in Buddhism
Posted on Jun 2nd, 2008
by 
MrTeacup
MrTeacup
Shame plays a huge role in our psyche, and it's a major area of concern in therapy. It seems like I'm constantly hearing about how our Western culture plays a huge role in making us feel shame and guilt, and I guess the unspoken suggestion is that Eastern cultures or Buddhist cultures don't have this, or at least not as much. There's an element of truth to this. Its true that some parts of our culture - the religious, traditional part - emphasizes sin and morality, guilt and shame. But we'd have to have an absurdly romanticized and distorted view of Buddhism to say that the same is not true in those cultures too.
In general, Buddhism seems to take a generally positive few of shame, seeing it as the basis for morality and right conduct. The sutras speak of Hiri (shame) and Ottappa (fear), and the Buddha says that these two states protect the world.
"Hiri has a direct connection one’s own virtues and integrity, while ottappa is also linked to the virtues and good name of one’s parents, teachers, relatives and friends."
This is a profoundly perspective than the modern, secular Western viewpoint, and has much more in common with traditional Christians such as Mormons and Southern Baptists. It's easy to whitewash Buddhist teachings and say "Well, they couldn't have meant the same thing as Christians!" But I think they did. Consider this:
The texts give the example of two iron balls. One is smeared with excrement and the other is red hot. A person offered these two iron balls refused the first because it is disgusting and rejects the second out of fear of being burned. Not taking the ball smeared with excrement is like the quality of hiri or shame in one’s mind. One finds immorality disgusting when one compares it with integrity. Not taking the hot ball is like ottappa, the fear of committing an unwholesome act out of fear of the kammic consequences. One knows that one might end up in hell or in states of misery. Thus one avoids the ten types of unwholesome behavior as if they were these two iron balls.Of course, the Buddha did not think that all shame and guilt was good. He listed 4 areas where shame was not good: one should not feel shame in working at a job; in learning from a teacher; in eating food; or having sex with one's husband or wife. But the important point here is that these are considered "imitation shame", unlike the genuine article which is considered not only good, but absolutely essentially to the Noble Eightfold Path.
Out of these simple observations, we find a few important ideas:
- We shouldn't whitewash traditional Buddhist teachings. Eastern cultures in general place an extremely high value on shame and guilt, and there is no doubt that many in Eastern cultures regard Western liberation from shame as obscene.
- Perhaps they have a point. It may well be the case that shame for one's immoral actions is a good thing, and we are too quick to discard it. Truth, integrity, morality and character might be important parts of spiritual life.
- On the other hand, the kind of shame that Buddhism recommends seems debilitating. In our individualistic culture, we only have our self-esteem to fall back on. We can't rely on family and community to give us a sense of identity and belonging; it is something we must create for ourselves.
- Western Buddhism should be able to integrate the valid insights from traditional culture and modern psychotherapy. The middle way is a constantly evolving path, as new extremes become apparent, and new, more creative ways of resolving tensions present themselves.
---
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4
Access: Public
Hi Mike,
“On the other hand, the kind of shame that Buddhism recommends seems debilitating. In our individualistic culture, we only have our self-esteem to fall back on. We can't rely on family and community to give us a sense of identity and belonging; it is something we must create for ourselves.”One thing that happens is that Green wants to reinvent the Eastern traditions to suit its own needs. It's very common, for example, for American neo Advaita to leave out the ethical underpinings of Advaita, even in the most radical way. Occassionaly they get some encouragement in this from Eastern teachers, but often it seems to be their own doing: they simply adopt what they like and discard what they don't like, and moral imperatives are not something they like. So they trash Western moral imperatives and pretend that they don't exist in the Eastern traditions. Or they believe that “enlightenment” or nonduality make all that stuff obsolete or illusional.
There's an American Advaita teacher named John Taylor, who was a student of Robert Adams who was a student of Ramana Maharshi. And John, who I really like, has as one of his Four Principles “Be Willing to Forever Deepen in Wisdom and Compassion.” This is a radical, revolutionary, and controversial idea in American neo Advaita. You might be amazed at how people will argue against this. They will literally argue that ethics have no place in authentic, deep spirituality, that the ultimate is simply to be unattached, and everything else is dualistic illusion or a “belief.”
Another thing to keep in mind is that these Eastern Amber teachings on moraility were developed for primarily Red students. A little fear, guilt, and shame is sometimes helpful there. It may not be the ideal, but it is the traditional method in all the big traditions. But it may not be as necessary for relatively evolved and sensitive Western students, who don't need it as much, who will largely be responsive to more subtle cues, and who might actually be harmed by it, as greater sensitivity and higher structures seem to go hand in hand. Since these structures are building blocks for higher stages, though, a little fear of bad karma or such might not be bad for anyone. I'm not saying acting out of fear is a good idea, but take away the fear of bad karma and we might see some undesirable results.
This is interesting. It's probably especially true for men. And it's worth contemplating just how individualistic our culture is for men especially. Self-esteem is an important building block, and we should take care of it and cultivate it in ourselves and others. At the same time, eventually, one can rely on a deeper, more impersonal energy to greater and greater degrees. One can ultimately find greater self-esteem in impersonal depth, though the personal self-esteem is still an important building block.
David
All good points, David. I think you are absolutely right and I think it speaks to the importance of taking a developmental view in sorting out some of these issues.
Thanks, Mike. It's interesting stuff. :)