The Abhaya Mudrā of Buddha: A Discussion.
We are, more or less, familiar with different Mudrās (symbols) of Buddha; and their meaning. One of these mudrās known as the Abhayamudrā means the posture or gesture of fearless. It is also known as Varadāmudrā as well. When the Buddha is shown with the Abhayamudrā; he shows Abhaya-fearless gesture to his fellow beings. He, then, becomes an Ahayadātā– the giver of fearlessness.
The Buddhist interpretation of Abhaya Mudrā is both spiritual as well and worldly. According to early Buddhist scripture, the Buddha did not rely much on an almighty providential authority, but earthly and practical view of life. Yet, his Abhaya Mudrā remained uniquely outstanding. Buddha is not a creator, or destroyer nor a protector as in the case of Hindu god Śiva. Buddha’s is a self-reliance teaching; so grace or providential protection is out of question in terms of salvation. However, the Abhaya Mudrā in Buddhist Art has different displays, according to different region, and meanings viz., the Gandhara Buddha images both in sitting or standing; and the gesture means preaching of the first sermon- the Dharmacakrapravartana– (the turning the wheel of righteousness), the South-East Asian countries-Thailand, Laos and Cambodia have the same meaning, but the image could be in standing or walking position. However, the term ‘Abhaya Mudrā’ is a combination of two words; ‘abhaya’ which means fearless and the ‘mudrā’ mean symbolic patterns of fingers. And the meaning of the combined two words is the ‘symbol of fearlessness’. The symbol could not be spoken or verbally interpreted, but spiritually felt and understood only.
Here is a general speculative interpretation of the Buddha’s Abhayamudrā, and interpretation of it according to the Buddha’s teachings as found in the Buddhist canonical literatures. The view of this discussion differs from broader scholarship’s interpretation and which are known to specialists only; and, therefore, since this is a only a blog posting, it should not be viewed as a scholarly piece, but a speculative interpretation only. I would like to interpret that the Abhaya Mudrā in Buddha images is meant to show the spreading of Buddha’s universal principle or the righteousness (Dharmarājya) in the ruling of the universe. In other word, it is the Dharmavijaya – the conquering and ruling the universe with the five universal rules (Pañcasīla) or means. However, I do not intend to use any literature from the (school of) Art, but a few Buddhist canonical references.
From the comparative standpoint, I am not aware of any definition of the Abhayamudrā, but, from the Buddhist standpoint, a Sanskrit Buddhist sutra provides a short description of how an Abhayamudrā is shown in Buddha. Thus Shuyu Kanayoka quotes from the Mahāvairocana Sutra as:
“Stretch the right hand and five fingers up, turning the palm outside. This is the sign of non-fear. One who makes this mudra is called a non-fear giver. …..I-tsing commented on the Mahāvairocanasutra, “This posture when assumed makes one appear as if beckoning with the hand is almost identical with the Śākya mudra of the Yogācāra system. One who makes this mudra is able to banish all kinds of impurities and to dispel all fears.” In the same fasc., occurs the statement, “this mudra symbolizes the five characteristics of the attainments of Buddha and Bodhisattvas, namely, faith (śraddhā), diligence (vīrya), mindfulness (smriti), concentration (dhyāna) and wisdom (prajñā). (Shuyu Kanaoka – (1961) Abhaya-dāna in Encyclopedia of Buddhism Vol. 1. (Ed By G.P. Malalasekera), Colombo: Government of Ceylon Press, p. 20)”
The Abhayamudrā is associated with the Bhaisajyaguru Tathāgata- one of the Mahāyānī Buddhas, and many other Bodhisattvas who make this mudrā and one of the forty hands of the Bodhisattva Shahasrabhujavalokitesvara makes this mudrā and recited the mantra ‘Om ānaya hum phat.”(Ividem. P.20 )’
However, from the general Buddhist standpoint we are allowed to make a statement that all the fears are born out of worldly behaviors of day by day routine. The Sāṃsāric (worldly) behaviors of human include killing, steeling, drinking alcoholic beverages, lying out of which according to Buddhist social ethics, come the fear as well as the personal character degeneration.
According to the Pali Buddhism or the Theravāda tradition, there are several precepts for the follower; 227 precepts for the monastics, ten for a novice, and ten for lay monastic (upāsakas), a set of five precepts for general Buddhists are indicated in the canonical texts. Among these five precepts are:
- abstaining from injuring a living being (pānātipātā verāmani sikkhāpadam);
- abstaining from taking anything which is not given (adinnadānā verāmani sikkhāpadam);
- abstaining from sexual misconduct (kāmesu micchācāra verāmani sikkhāpadam);
- abstaining from telling lie (musāvādā verāmani sikkhāpadam); and
- abstaining from drinking alcoholic beverages (surāmereya majjapamādatthāna verāmani sikkhāpadam).
The Pali Sutra tells us that all the social problems or insecurities are rooted in the heart of these five precepts. These five precepts are supposed to be the foundation for one’s good character. In Cakkavattīsīhanāda Sutta of Dīgha Nikāya (3:26.8), the cakkavatti king (universal monarch) instructed his fellow rulers to follow these five precepts if they wanted a righteous and just society. This cakkavatti king is identical with the Buddha; and the Buddha is also known as dhammarāja. The dhammarāja reins his universe or cosmic world with the righteous means, i.e., five precepts are the righteous means here.
Furthermore, a cakkavatti rājā is equal to the righteous Buddha (dhammiko dhammar jā) and the Buddha is the Dhammarājā who reins his kingdom with righteous rules- the five righteous principles of precepts. The Sutra gives a story of a ruler who did not rein according to these five precepts. The result was that his kingdom became corrupted; killing increased in the country, so did steeling, lying, sexual misconduct and toxic uses among the people. Entire kingdom became full of violence, hatred and citizen became full of delusion. Laziness spread all over the kingdom. The king did not distribute sufficient wealth to his subjects. Due to the lack of proper distribution of wealth, poverty increased, so did the greed. People started to steal other’s property, when they were asked, they lied of stealing, and punishment was introduced. Seeing the punishment people started to lie more to avoid subsequent results. The civilization collapsed. On the other hand, in the future, when a different king ruled and used five righteous rules and reined his kingdom, the happiness returned. The kingdom started to prosper.
Finally, scriptural origin of the Abhaya Mudrā in Buddhism is not clearly known. It is not described in any of the early canonical texts. With the exception of (the school of) Art, the Abhaya Mudrā did not play an important part in monastic or non-monastic environment either. Furthermore, however remote and vague this speculative interpretation of the five precepts and the Abhaya Mudrā could be, the practical aspect of the mudra is found in an incident when a drunken elephant was let by Devadatta and his princely friend- Ajātasattu, towards the Buddha, the Buddha raised his right hand with the Abhaya Mudrā which could be considered as the origin of the Mudrā in Buddhism itself, and the Buddha probably meant, ‘hey you drunken beast! I am fearless, compassionate to everyone. May you be happy and free from fear. So when we see raised palm of the Buddha, we see the five fingers- each finger representing a precept. This five fingered raised palm mudra could be interpreted here multiple ways- the five precepts for a layperson to follow which will bring good result in social environment; the five golden rules to reign a cosmic or worldly kingdom by the ruler, so the prosperity will continue; even just a blessing gesture from a superior being.
Venerable Lokananda Bhikkhu
A concluding remark could be added here that when we see an Abhayamudrā of a deity, we anticipate the Devine graceful protection; but when we see such a mudrā from the Buddha statue, we not only anticipate the blessings, but also should anticipate a number of instructions to follow- the five precepts, an assurance ‘do not fear’ (as long as you are righteous), or just simply ‘sukhī bhavatu’ (‘be happy’). -Lokānanda Bhikkhu.