Fear of Awakening?

Q: Is it possible to have fear of awakening?

A: Yes, it is possible to have fear of awakening. Usually it’s a matter of your defilements. They don t want you to be awakened. There’s also fear of abandoning your sense of who you are, which is why the Buddha has you focus not on what you are but on what you’re doing.

When you focus on your actions, then the fear of awakening gets weaker because you see more and more clearly that your actions are causing suffering, but if you make them more skillful the suffering goes down. As you keep pursuing the issue of skillful actions in greater precision, your own concern about what you are goes down as well. And that weakens your fear of awakening.

This reflection by Ajaan Geoff is from the book, Karma of MIndfulness (See Retreats), Mindfulness of Dhamma III, Q&A.