In Tibetan Buddhism, the texts speak of “eight great fears” that are common for sentient beings. These are understood to have both outer, inner, and ultimate meanings. Although outer fears are certainly causes for genuine distress, these fears do not only represent physical dangers. For Buddhist practitioners, they primarily represent internal obstacles that cause suffering in this life and in future lives by hindering spiritual development. The eight outer manifestations are thus understood as reflections of inner conditions and can be seen as metaphors:
1. Fire (མེ་ mé)
- Outer: Physical fires, burning,
- Inner: Anger, hatred, and aggression that destroys merit and mental calmness and peace
- Ultimate: The burning suffering of saṃsāra itself
2. Water (ཆུ་ chu)
- Outer: Floods, drowning, dangerous waters
- Inner: Attachment and craving that pull one into the depths of suffering
- Ultimate: The continuously flowing stream of saṃsāra
3. Lions (སེང་གེ་ seng gé)
- Outer: Wild beasts
- Inner: Pride and arrogance
- Ultimate: Self-grasping or ego-clinging that roars and prevents the development of wisdom
4. Elephants (གླང་པོ་ lang po)
- Outer: Trampling by elephants
- Inner: Ignorance, stupidity, and confusion that crush clear thinking
- Ultimate: The thickness, or massive weight of delusion
5. Snakes, serpents, or dragons (སྦྲུལ་ trul or lu )
- Outer: Poisonous bites
- Inner: Jealousy, envy, and spite that poison the mind and harm relationships
- Ultimate: The insidious, often hidden nature of habitual tendencies and hypocrisy
6. Thieves or robbers (ཆོམ་རྐུན་ chom kun or mi gö)
- Outer: Robbery, loss
- Inner: Wrong views that steal accumulated merit and wisdom
- Ultimate: Impermanence that steals away all conditioned phenomena
7. Imprisonment (བཙོན་ tson)
- Outer: Physical captivity
- Inner: Self-grasping
- Ultimate: Bondage to saṃsāra through ignorance
8. Demons/Spirits (འདྲེ་ dré and སྲིན་པོ་ sin po and ཤ་ཟ་ sha za )
- Outer: Harmful non-human entities, wild flesh-eating demons
- Inner: Doubt and disturbing emotions that create inner obstacles and agitation
- Ultimate: Delusion that obstructs enlightenment
Textual Sources and Tārā
The most prominent textual sources on the fears are works related to Green Tārā, the female deity who is specifically known as the protectress from the Eight Great Fears. There are numerous artistic representations of this Aṣṭamahābhayatārā in both India and Tibet. Depictions of Tārā and references to her protective role have been found in the Buddhist caves of Ellora, and in Orissa and the Bay of Bengal areas where she was believed to protect seafarers.1 Many representations have also been found at central Buddhist sites such as Nālandā University and in the paintings at Alchi in Leh. There, the representations accord with the 8th-century Kashmiri monk Sarvajñamitra’s 37-verse hymn, the Āryatārāsragdharāstotra.
The transmission of Indian Tārā practices to Tibet took place over centuries of development. When Atiśa Dīpaṃkara traveled to Tibet, he introduced devotion to Tārā and composed several works on her practices, some based upon the early works by the Indian poet-scholar Candragomin2, who was said to have had several direct visions of Tārā, and who was twice rescued by her from disaster at sea, as well as the root tantra, the Tara-mula-kalpa. Atisha is said to have composed this prayer that begins with the assertion that Tārā protects from fear while he himself was in danger of capsizing at sea.
༄༅། །འཕགས་མ་སྒྲོལ་མ་ལ་གསོལ་འདེབས་བཞུགས།
Prayer to Ārya Tārā
by Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraཨོཾ། འཇིགས་པ་བརྒྱད་སྐྱོབ་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །
om, jikpa gyé kyobma la chaktsal lo
Oṃ! Homage to you, lady who protects us from the eight fears!བཀྲ་ཤིས་དཔལ་འབར་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །
tashi palbarma la chaktsal lo
Homage to you, lady who blazes with the splendour of auspiciousness!ངན་སོང་སྒོ་འགེགས་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །
ngensong go gekma la chaktsal lo
Homage to you, lady who closes the door to lower rebirth!མཐོ་རིས་ལམ་འདྲེན་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །
tori lam drenma la chaktsal lo
Homage to you, lady who leads us on the path to higher realms!རྟག་ཏུ་ཁྱེད་ཀྱིས་སྡོང་གྲོགས་མཛད། །
taktu khyé kyi dongdrok dzé
You are the one who holds us always in your care—our guide, support, and friend;ད་དུང་ཐུགས་རྗེས་བསྐྱབ་ཏུ་གསོལ། །
dadung tukjé kyab tu sol
So protect us still, we pray, with all of your vast compassion!3
Other short Tārā practice texts also emphasize her qualities as protectress. In The Noble Sūtra “Tārā Who Protects from the Eight Dangers”, the Āryatārāṣṭaghoratāraṇīsūtra, the concluding verses of praise reads,
You protect from the eight dangers—
Lions, elephants, fire, snakes,
Robbers, waters, infectious diseases, and demons.
We pay homage to you!
In this world and in others as well,
Protect us from these eight dangers!4
Transforming Fears Through Practice
Practitioners are encouraged to rely on Tārā practices not just when facing dangers in the outer world, but primarily to transform inner experiences. In the practice texts and commentaries, the practitioner is encouraged to contemplate, thereby understanding and recognizing the inner fears that are the true enemies to mental peace and eventual awakening.
The practitioner utilizes visualization techniques to imagine light rays emitting from Tārā, dispelling both outer dangers and inner afflictions simultaneously. At the heart of this, as a Mahayana practitioner, the texts repeatedly stress the cultivation of compassion. As one understands that all other beings suffer from these same fears, one is inspired and motivated to adopt the bodhisattva’s compassionate activity and to become a protector from both outer and inner fears.
The Tibetan tradition’s extensive commentaries on the eight great fears reflect a sophisticated understanding of how external dangers can be an outward manifestation of internal psychological states. Moreover, they use the skillful means of reliance on the support and protective power of deities like Tārā to transform simultaneously on multiple levels. The practitioner can pray to her for protection from immediate physical danger while also seeking inspiration and guidance to uproot the root mental causes of suffering.
Additional Teachings
- In this Guru Rinpoche Day message, Phakchok Rinpoche addresses the inner fears that are driven by our emotions and attachment.
- Phakchok Rinpoche also advises how practitioners can overcome fear through Vajrayana practice.
- Khenpo Sodargye teaches on the Praises to the Twenty-One Taras.
- Erric Solomon describes antidotes for panic in this essay for Samye Institute.
- Himalayan Art Resources presents a short video on Tara and the Eight Fears.
Requesting Tara Practice
If you request the Tara Practice, the Druplas and Tsunmas of Nagi Gompa Nunnery will pray tomorrow morning for all mother sentient beings, including yourself and your family members and loved ones, to reduce fear, anxiety, and to overcome obstacles.
Footnotes
- Ghosh, Suchandra. “LOCATING SOUTH EASTERN BENGAL IN THE BUDDHIST NETWORK OF BAY OF BENGAL” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 74, 2013, pp. 148–53. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44158810. Accessed 11 May 2025.
- Tatz, Mark. “The Life of Candragomin in Tibetan Historical Tradition.” The Tibet Journal, vol. 7, no. 3, 1982, pp. 3–22. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43302172. Accessed 11 May 2025.
- Atiśa Dīpaṃkara, Prayer to Ārya Tārā
- “The Noble Sūtra “Tārā Who Protects from the Eight Dangers” Āryatārāṣṭaghoratāraṇīsūtra, Samye Translations, v. 1.27
