ABSTRACT
The link between fear and religious motivation has been a valid subject of investigation for scholars in modern anthropology and psychology, and writers in search of the psychological origins of religion have taken a special interest in this subject.2 In the Christian world these links have been highlighted by Kierkegaard among others. Fear often has a religious role in India too. However, except for a recent semi-scholarly essay on fear and Buddhism, nothing has been written on the subject of fear in Indian religions.3 In this chapter I wish to illuminate certain aspects of fear in the religious thought of the Indian sub-continent and Buddhism in particular. It will become clear, I hope, that fear has an important role to play in religious motivation in Buddhism.
