https://www.nku.edu/~kenneyr/Buddhism/lib/misc/chanting/blessings.html#khandha
If memory serves me correct, this is what the Buddha taught when the monks were scared of all the dangers in the forest.
It's very instructive. Here, we use a verbal/mental fabrication to combat fear. The tool used was to have metta. To develop metta to all the sources of danger and fear. And to extend that Metta to snakes and bears. And, I can personally attest, metta is an antidote to fear.
Yesterday my bike was stolen from my back yard. I just happened to see the person stealing it, at least in the hazy darkness. I did get afraid, and my brain went into papanca overdrive. I was able to notice my mind originating and passing away all these thoughts. At the same time that I was *IN* those thoughts, meaning I felt the emotions coursing through me, and I felt the chemicals of adrenaline acting, there was a part of me (Citta?) that wasn't *IN*, that was just watching. And this control tower could reason with me. Explain that I wasn't in actual danger. That this bike was one I got from the bike shop. That I had enough. I recalled and reflected on all the Buddha had given up (as a prince) and all the hardships he had to face. And, though it wasn't consciously directed, in reflecting on last night, I did notice that I kept metta with me. Just as one is instructed with the more extreme "Simile of the Saw". (I also listened to audiobooks to distract, to ride out the adrenaline induced papanca).
But metta isn't an antidote to danger. As the SGI Buddhist taught me in college, being a Buddhist doesn't mean being a sap. One doesn't see a deadly snake, walk up to it, and practice metta. We avoid the dangers where we can. I know that I've heard the the Buddha had a boulder rolled at him by devadatta and the Buddha dodged it, but still got a painful rock splinter on his foot. The thing I'm highlighting right now is that the Buddha dodged. He didn't just sit, resigned at the danger coming. I also imagine that the Buddha would leave places/towns that were dangerous, where the vibe was bad. But he didn't do it just because it was uncomfortable. If the town was adherents of another religion and very dogmatic, why contribute to the strife and discord? There is also the Ajaan Lee story I heard at Wat Metta, where some primitive natives put poisonous food in his begging bowl. Ajaan Lee confronted them. He wasn't a sap that just ate it. At the same time, Cunda and the Buddha's last meal... He did eat the food he knew was poisonous. He accepted that impact on his skin suit body. The lesson there is that one doesn't have to be attached to life, even. (But it isn't all or nothing. It's situational and many-pathed. Or, to quote a jazz standard: it ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it.)
Summary:
Fear, with avoidable danger --> maybe avoid it.
Fear, feeding on fear --> subdue it with Metta. Then choose a wise course of action.
(I'm okay with the bike theft. But I'll be better with locking my bike.)
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