"Doubt" does not belong to the favourite topics of present-day Western psychological discourse. The sources quoted in Wilde's article on the definition and scope of doubt in the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, though, indicate that interests were not the same in the last century (1), and it is of course still possible to find the occasional mention in the current literature -the suppression of personal doubt in Janis' "groupthink" is one example (2). Generally speaking, however, the state of an undecided mind does obviously not figure among the subjects of major concern for the modern psychologist and even specialized dictionaries fail to list "doubt" as an entry. (3)
This differs distinctly from the situation in religious studies. A quick look into relevant reference works clearly demonstrates the importance of the role "doubt" plays in this field. (4) Thus one may well wonder how Buddhism, being both a complete system of practical psychology and one of the universal religions, is viewing doubt, and upon conducting a simple survey it becomes evident indeed that "doubt" has its firm place in the Buddhist universe.
There are a number of words found in Buddhist texts which can be translated as "doubt". In this short discussion, though, I will concentrate only on the mental factor which is called vicikicchaa in Pali, vicikitsaa in Sanskrit, and the tshom in Tibetan. The Chinese had a number of different ways of rendering this term among which yi became somehow the most widely used, a situation similar to the modern scenario where scholars employ a variety of English expressions -Ñaa.namoli spoke about "uncertainty" (5), Guenther and Kawamura called it "indecision" (6), Sharpa Tulku and Berzin preferred "indecisive wavering" (7) etc.- while the most common translation is simply "doubt".
Generally speaking, Buddhists view doubt negatively. In the Theravada system, it ranks among the fourteen unwholesome mental factors (akusalacetasika) or, to be more precise, it is one of the ten occasional unwholesome mental factors. Bhikkhu Bodhi stresses that "doubt here signifies spiritual doubt, from the Buddhist perspective the inability to place confidence in the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha, and the training." (8) The emphasis on "here" has to do, it seems, with an earlier commentary on the same text, namely Narada Mahathera's A Manual of Abhidhamma which at this place quoted the Majjhima Nikaaya commentary to the effect that "it is so called because it is incapable of deciding that it is as such" and claimed: "Vicikicchaa, as a Hindrance, does not mean doubts with regard to the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, etc." (9)
Whatever the "proper" definition may be -and other passages point into either direction (10)- doubt is seen as an obstacle to mental or psychological health which has to be removed. In the Buddhist traditions which became prevalent in Tibet it is even grouped together with the "root afflictions" (11). The definition usually given describes it as "the mental event in which one oscillates between two extremes concerning the four truths and the relationship between one's action and its results" and postulates that it "creates obstacles for everything positive and in particular for the vision of the truth". (12)
It is worthwhile mentioning, however, that the Tibetans did not stop here but rather began to differentiate types of doubt -one tending towards what is wrong, one equally divided between correct and incorrect view, and one leaning towards what is right. (13) Not only this, they also discussed whether all of these doubts were unwholesome, and many accepted the idea that while the first two kinds of doubt are actual root delusions, the last one does not fall into this category (14) , in other words, they acknowledged the existence of a doubt which is not negative.
This, however, is not the end of the story. In the Chan tradition which developed in China, doubt in the form of "great doubt" or "doubt mass" is even recognized as a vital step on the path. (15) And here we come to the other end of the Buddhist doubt value spectrum. What looked like a simple negation of any worth in the Indian schools underwent miraculous transformation during its spread through East and Central Asia. The "precious gift of doubt", as Jung called it (16), seems to be a rich field for detailed research awaiting the serious scholar.
 

 

1) See James Hastings, ed., Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1981 reprint), vol. IV, p. 862f.
2)See Daniel Goleman, Vital Lies, Simple Truths: The Psychology of Self-Deception (New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., first Touchstone edition 1986) p. 187.
3) For example Zhu Zhixian, editor-in-chief, Xinlixue dacidian (Beijing: Beijing shifan daxue chubanshe, 1989).
4) See e.g. Geddes MacGregor on "Doubt and Belief" in Mircea Eliade, editor-in-chief, The Encyclopedia of Religion (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987), vol. IV, pp. 424-430.
5) See Bhikkhu Ñaa.namoli, The Path of Purifiaction (Visuddhimagga) (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1979) p. 874.
6) See Herbert V. Guenther and Leslie S. Kawamura, Mind in Buddhist Psychology (Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1975) p. 64.
7) See Sherpa Tulku and Alexander Berzin, tr., A Compendium of Ways of Knowing (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1976) p. 22.
8) See Bhikkhu Bodhi, general editor, A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1993) p.85.
9) See Narada Maha Thera, A Manual of Abhidhamma (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1980) p. 101.
10) For one similar to Bhikkhu Bodhi's see Mahaasi Sayaadaw, A Discourse on the Sallekha Sutta (Rangoon: Buddhasaasana Nuggaha Organization, 1981) p. 309, for another less "dogmatic" formulation see e.g. Bhikkhu Ñaa.namoli, op.cit., p. 533.
11) See Jeffrey Hopkins, Meditation on Emptiness (London: Wisdom Publications, 1983) p. 256.
12) See Guenther and Kawamura, op.cit., p. 74.
13) See Jeffrey Hopkins, Cutting through Appearances: Practice and Theory of Tibetan Buddhism (Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1989) p. 240-241.
14) See Sherpa Tulku and Berzin, loc.cit.
15) See V. Walter Odajnyk, Gathering the Light: A Psychology of Meditation (Boston & London: Shambhala, 1993) p. 87-88.
16) See C.G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy (Bollingen Series XX, The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, vol. 12) (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993) p. 8.
 

 

 

 
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