The Aesthetics of Excess

This article explores South Asian Buddhist analyses of feelings and their roles as intermediaries between the external world and moral choices and motivations. Specifically, I consider emotions that, in their extremity, may not at first appear to play a significant role in motivating moral action and yet are evoked frequently in Buddhist narrative: fear, horror, grief, and awe. I argue that the texts suggest a “moral naturalism” whereby the external world is structured morally. Feelings of fear and horror, insofar as they take their cues from such a moral structure, can provide trustworthy moral guides for those sensitive to them.