Fear and Fearlessness

- as Depicted in Chinese Wisdom

This is part of an exciting collaboration with Mr. Jose Antonio Morales, who writes about fear and fearlessness. In the collaboration, among other potentials, we will each write on the other’s topic, with our own perspective.

It is truly an honor to be able to connect with both Substacks’ communities through this collaboration and share different perspectives.

To add to the breadth of perspectives, I would like to share something dear to my heart: Chinese culture. Below is just a small part as it is related to fear and fearlessness.

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Just like in other languages, Chinese has many ways of describing fear and fearlessness.

A good number of them have precipitated into idioms and sayings over the long history of Chinese culture and have become cultural wisdom that is still enlightening today’s Chinese world.

To share some of the wisdom here, I have compiled a list of Chinese idioms and sayings below on fear and fearlessness, and will provide my thoughts on them.

I hope in a way this may help support some of Jose’s points in his Substack, and also shed some light on fear, one of the negative emotions we deal with in building happiness.

At the same time, this may add a different cultural flavor and perspective on the subject for our readers.

I will present each idiom or saying in Chinese first, followed by its pinyin (for the sound, in case anyone is curious about the pronunciation).

Then I will offer a translation and/or an explanation, followed by some thoughts.

Here it goes, starting from “fear”:

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“瞻前顧後” (zhān qián gù hòu).

“To look ahead and behind back and forth”, (but not moving forward).

This idiom describes the prolonged hesitation to take decisive action due to excessive worry or fear about outcomes.

We all may have moments like this, especially when an outcome is critical.

However, delaying a move due to excessive fear may sometimes cost us opportunities, or worse, may lead to an even more severe outcome.

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"一朝被蛇咬，十年怕井繩" (yī zhāo bèi shé yǎo, shí nián pà jǐng shéng).

“One day bitten by a snake, for ten years in fear of a rope”.

This saying describes the long-lasting, over-sensitive fear once seriously hurt by something.

This reminds us that some fears are not rational, or are the lingering fears in our psyche even after the reason for the fears is no longer there.

So next time when you feel fearful of something as it reminds you of hurt in the past, make sure that it is not a resemblance just in form and not in substance.

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"畏權順勢" (wèi quán shùn shì)

“In fear of the power and going with the trend.”

This idiom describes the fear of a powerful force leading one to follow the trend to be safe.

Jose makes a point in the About page of his Substack that conformity is something the world pushes on us.

The fear, of authority or of deviating from social norms, etc, may hinder us from making our choices independently, preventing us from living a life freely.

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望而生畏 (wàng ér shēng wèi)

“One look and fear arises”.

This idiom describes the feeling of being intimidated by something immediately upon seeing it.

Although some things may be so formidable that we need to be in fear right away for a good reason, many times the fearful look might be just the appearance.

Before locking ourselves into fear by the first look, we may want to find out the truth beneath the appearance.

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Now, wherever there is fear, there is fearlessness.

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While we have the idiom 望而生畏 (“One look and fear arises”), we also have:

“大無畏” (dà wú wèi)

“"Great fearlessness (in the face of great danger)”.

This saying describes extreme courage or fearlessness. It is often used for heroic or altruistic acts.

This seems to imply that when we act for something larger than the self, courage may grow and transcend our fears.

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The following one makes the fearlessness even more clear:

“捨得一身剮，敢把皇帝拉下馬” (shě de yī shēn guǎ , gǎn bǎ huáng dì lā xià mǎ).

“Having prepared to lose one’s own life, one would dare to pull the Emperor off his horse (e.g., dethrone him).”

This saying tells that one would have no fear to do the most dangerous thing once ready to make the ultimate sacrifice in the worst case.

We might not want to do the most dangerous thing unless it is absolutely necessary.

But this saying gives us the hint that sometimes our fear might be because we haven’t prepared to face the worst case scenario.

Once we have thought through and prepared for the worst, our fear may recede.

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“初生牛犢不怕虎” (chū shēng niúdú bú pà hǔ).

“A newborn calf knows no fear of a tiger”.

This idiom is often used to describe young people’s youthful boldness without reality check yet.

It is not necessarily a negative statement, although it calls for caution.

In a way, it praises the young ones' boldness for not having been weighed down by reality, therefore not scared of taking actions.

Our world needs both the fearless boldness of young minds as well as the seasoned cautiousness of mature minds, right?

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We may find more wisdom below for reasons we should not be limited by fears:

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"吃一塹，長一智" (Chī yī qiàn, zhǎng yī zhì):

"A fall into a ditch makes you wiser (in taking a path)." or, “One only learns from one's mistakes”.

This idiom tells us that facing difficulties with courage leads to personal growth and wisdom.

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And this one below goes one step further:

“失敗是成功之母“ (shībài shì chénggōng zhī mǔ).

“Failure is the mother of success”.

As Jose advocates, we should take actions without fearing failures.

Success will be born from failures, if we take “nutrients” from the latter.

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And what our lives would be worth if we let fears stop us from living? As the one below warns us:

“畏首畏尾, 身其餘幾” (wèi shǒu wèi wěi; shēn qí yú jǐ)

“Too much fear would leave us little to live for”.

This explains itself.

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And finally,

“樂天知命，故不憂” (lè tiān zhī mìng, gù bù yōu).

“Rejoicing in a natural way of being, thus free from worries”.

Jose suggests that our inner true self is one without internal obstacles such as fear, anxiety, worries.

I agree, that’s our natural being and the foundation for our true happiness.

Realizing this, what we want to do is to work to overcome our inner obstacles, here with the help of Jose’s insights, in order to live a freer life;

By that, we will also lay the foundation for building an authentically happy life, armed with research-based knowledge and skills on building happiness introduced in this Substack.

Here are some other articles on dealing with negative emotions as part of building happiness:

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And some insightful articles on fear and fearlessness by Jose:

👉🏼 Fear is Not Your Enemy—But It’s Not Always Your Friend

On Identity, Awareness, and Living Fearlessly

This is our first collaborative article:

Happiness - did we get it right?

And don’t forget to follow Jose and subscribe to his publication:

Growing Fearless is an Adventure | Jose Antonio Morales | Substack

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(Graphs generated with Craiyon).