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Faith

Good evening again, good morning, good afternoon, whenever it is you're listening, and a warm welcome.

Today, I'd like to talk about a topic that maybe for some of us isn't our favorite. I know it certainly wasn't my favorite before. I actually shied away from it, felt uncomfortable with it, and maybe even a little bit angry about it in some way. I want to build a little bit on the guided meditation, this idea of confidence that grows the more we practice, and really can be a support for us.

But that's not what was making me angry or what people shy away from. Sometimes the word "faith" is used rather than the word "confidence." Sometimes we might also use the word "trust" or "conviction." I thought I would unpack this a little bit for us, to explore, examine, and tease apart some of these different parts or elements of faith, trust, confidence, and conviction.

Specifically, the topic of faith can be difficult for some people because it's associated with mindless belief. Perhaps there is this idea that we have to proclaim allegiance to a particular doctrine or creed. And not only do we have to proclaim an allegiance, but then we will judge ourselves, or maybe we're judged by others, by one's degree of compliance or belief.

When we use faith in a Buddhist context, it's very different from this. It's natural, of course, that we might have different associations with this word, with the whole concept and idea of faith. But faith is a part of Buddhist practice. It's just not the kind of faith where we have to pledge allegiance to a doctrine.

I'll start with a quote that the Buddha gave before he was a Buddha. He talks about faith here, but clearly it can't be faith in Buddhism or faith in him, because he's not a Buddha yet when he's saying this. It's in the context of commenting on how he wished everyone a better life. He wanted people to have a good life, and it was summarized in this verse:

"Faith, morality, learning, intelligence, restraint, and justice; much good else: wealth, possessions, partners and children, flocks, kin, friends, colleagues, health, beauty, and happiness."

These things he wished for others, that they might keep and never lose. Faith is here at the beginning of this long list of all these desirable things that people might have in their life, and he was wishing that everyone might have this. So clearly, faith here isn't what we might be thinking it is. Instead, it goes with possessions, partners, children, health, beauty, and happiness. So what is faith in this context, and how might we consider it in Buddhist practice?

Three Aspects of Faith

I'd like to suggest that faith has different aspects—maybe you won't be surprised to hear that—and we can consider some of them.

One aspect is that it has a practical, volitional, cognitive value. That is, it provides motivation to do something. It underlies activity or action. It's like a readiness to do something with the belief and confidence that this thing you're going to do will lead you in a particular direction that you'd like to go. One aspect of faith is a mobilizing force, a way to stir up the energy to do something because you believe that what you're about to do will be supportive for you and your practice.

We can see that in one particular quote from the Dhammapada^[1], where faith is associated with diligence and is contrasted with laziness and sluggishness. These two little verses in the Dhammapada say:

"Whoever lives focused on the pleasant senses, unguarded, immoderate with food, lazy and sluggish, will be overpowered by Mara as a weak tree is bent in the wind."

Overpowered by Mara^[2]. Mara, we can understand, is this personification of things that get in the way of awakening. Being focused on the pleasant senses, unguarded, immoderate with food, lazy, and sluggish—these help create the conditions in which things will hinder or be an obstacle to greater freedom.

The next verse says the opposite:

"Whoever lives focused on the unpleasant, senses guarded, moderate with food, faithful and diligent, will not be overpowered by Mara, as a stone mountain is unmoved by the wind."

We're not saying that we have to focus on the unpleasant all the time; it's just countering being focused on the pleasant. It's a recognition that there's pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral in our experience, but sometimes we're only focused on the pleasant. Keeping the senses guarded means, for example, if you know you don't want to eat a lot of cookies, not going down the cookie aisle in the grocery store. If you know that you really need to sleep more, it's not starting that movie at midnight.

In this verse, "faithful and diligent" counters the earlier verse's "lazy and sluggish." This is the way we can consider faith as something that provides motivation and inspiration to act, to do something. It is aligned with an inspiration that has a heartfeltness. It's not just an action because we feel we have to do something to make something unpleasant go away. It's more of a feeling like, "Yes, this is the direction to go. This is the direction for greater freedom, greater peace, greater well-being." This is the practical, volitional aspect of faith.

Another aspect of faith is this heartfelt, emotional, affective aspect. It is a feeling of reverence, devotion, love, and esteem. How do we describe devotion? Not devotion with a sense of zealotry or blindness, but with a real commitment—a warm commitment. It's a feeling of confidence coupled with an attitude of devotion and commitment. We can think of it as a belief in something—a heartfelt, warm confidence.

We can find a short verse that talks about this aspect of faith. This verse takes place in the context of a number of brahmins^[3]. These were non-Buddhists; they weren't followers of the Buddha. Instead, they were priests of the dominant religion at the time. They go to the Buddha and ask him questions, and after he answered them, they were so inspired and touched by what he had to say that they became his followers.

One of the brahmins, Pingiya^[4], returned after seeing the Buddha and told some of the other brahmins how wonderful the Buddha was. One of the other brahmins said to him, "But Pingiya, why don't you spend all your time, your every moment with this person, Gotama^[5]?" (Gotama is the clan name of the Buddha).

Pingiya responds this way: "My faith, joy, mind, and mindfulness do not go away from the teaching of Gotama. Whatever direction the one of great wisdom goes to, there is the place I incline."

His heart and his mind are inclined towards the Buddha. Even though he's not physically there with him all the time, he has this connection, this commitment—we might use the word "devotion." So that's another aspect of faith. It's not a devotion that asks us to get rid of our intellect or our rational thinking. It's not a devotion that asks us to give up our autonomy. It's a warm-hearted commitment borne out of a recognition that there's something special here, something worthwhile.

How do we know that, or how do we tune into that? This is the third aspect of faith, which is the intellectual, cognitive, mental aspect. In this way, we might define faith as provisional knowledge. It's not so much a "belief in," but a "belief that." A belief that this is true: it makes sense to me, it's consistent with my experience, it's consistent with my understanding, but I don't know it firsthand myself right now.

It's a provisional understanding that implies a willingness to accept on trust certain teachings or propositions that we can't experience for ourselves directly at this time. This willingness to accept on trust might lack adequate evidence right now, but it isn't irrational. It's not inconsistent with our experience. We can see how there could be an experience that leads in that direction through practice. A big part of practice is making this transition from belief into knowledge.

Maybe you had a belief that meditation practice would be helpful and a support, and you started it. Before you had that first experience, there was something that encouraged you. Then you did some meditation practice and said, "Yes, there is something here that's valuable," and you continued. Your confidence and trust in the practice grew.

So there are three different aspects of faith. One is practical—it supports action. The second is emotional—a heartfelt commitment or confidence. The third is intellectual—a provisional knowledge, a belief that something seems reasonable but you don't have direct experience yet.

When we think about it, there are so many things we have this provisional knowledge for. Black holes, for example. It seems consistent that there might be this place in space where gravity pulls so much that light can't escape. I'm not a physicist; I don't know this for myself. But I'm trusting that the people talking about it know what they're talking about. It seems consistent with what I do understand about physics. There are many things like this where we have provisional knowledge. There's a little bit of trust or confidence that what they're saying makes sense, even though we don't have direct experience.

The Function of Faith

I've been describing some of these aspects of faith, but another way we can examine faith is to ask: What function does it play in Buddhist practice? What role does it have? How do people use it? How is it supportive? Rather than just describing what it is, how does it show up in people's lives and affect them?

As I mentioned in the guided meditation, confidence gained through having more and more experiences can provide encouragement, inspiration, and dedication. Not in a zealous or exaggerated way, but in a way that helps us feel a certain amount of reassurance or contentment. "Yes, this makes sense to me. This is a direction I want to go. My heart is in here, too—it's not just my mind."

One way that faith shows up in the Buddhist teachings is in a number of lists. Some people are like, "Oh no, please, not the lists!" I'm one of those people who likes the lists; I kind of enjoy them. I'll share a few lists with us.

The obvious one is the list of the Five Faculties^[6]. Of course, faith is the first element in that list: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. You'll notice that faith is first and wisdom is last. There are two things I'd like to point out here. First, faith is not standing by itself; it's with four other elements. When the Buddha talks about cultivating and developing the faculties, he doesn't say to cultivate and develop faith by itself. It's developed with these other qualities.

At the beginning of this talk, I read a long list of things that the Buddha wished for other people, and faith was part of a collection of positive things. That's always the case: faith shows up as part of a group of practices or qualities that can be cultivated or developed. It does not show up by itself. And very often—actually, I think every time—it's the first element in the list, which suggests that it's a starting place. Faith is not the end. It's not the goal of practice. It's a support, and it's a place to begin our practice.

I'd like to introduce you to some other lists that talk about faith. The Five Factors that Support Meditation (also called the Five Factors for Exertion, translated two different ways). The first element is faith. The second element is health, defined as being seldom ill or afflicted, and having an even digestion. The third is honesty, defined here as revealing oneself as one really is to teachers and fellow practitioners—completely honestly knowing oneself and being able to share that with those who want to support your practice. So: faith, health, honesty. The fourth is energy. We are familiar with this; it's applying effort toward abandoning unwholesome things and cultivating wholesome things. It involves steadfastness or perseverance. And then wisdom. Here we are again: wisdom is the last one, and faith is the first. Faith is one of these Five Factors that Support Meditation.

Here's another list. Don't worry, the whole talk is not going to be filled with list after list, but I wanted to share one more: the Five Qualities that Allow a Person to Live Happily. We all want to live happily, and those of us with a meditation practice want to have supports for it. The sutta says that if a person has certain qualities, they will live happily without distress, anguish, or fever. (Of course, they don't mean 'fever' literally; it's used metaphorically to mean not getting agitated or upset.) What are these five qualities? Faith is first, then conscientiousness, prudence, energy, and wisdom.

What I'd like to point out here is that faith is just a support for our practice. It's not the purpose of practice; it's not a substitute for practice. Instead, it's a way to help us find our way with cultivating wholesome qualities, abandoning unwholesome qualities, and allowing wisdom to rise.

Defining a Person of Faith

The last way that I'll look at faith here: First we talked about its different aspects. Then we talked about its function, how it works with other qualities as a support for our lives. Then we might ask, "Is it ever actually flat-out defined anywhere?"

The answer is yes. Sometimes faith is defined in terms of a person of faith. A person of faith is one who places faith in the enlightenment of the Tathagata^[7]. Many of you know "Tathagata" is how the Buddha speaks of himself. This is faith in the enlightenment of the Buddha.

There are two different ways we can understand this. One is that enlightenment is possible; enlightenment did happen. Or we might have faith in the Buddha's enlightenment—that what he is teaching comes from a place of awakening, a place without greed, hatred, and delusion. So it's faith that enlightenment exists, or faith in the Buddha as a teacher.

Maybe each of us gets to find our own way with this, and maybe it changes at different stages in our practice or in different circumstances. I like to think about how both are true. The Pali^[8] supports interpreting it either way: faith that enlightenment exists, and faith in the Buddha as a teacher.

This can be a support for us. Maybe it's some provisional knowledge—it makes sense, and we can see how we have more and more freedom and ease the more we practice. Maybe there's some heartfeltness, a commitment to the Buddha and his teachings. When we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma^[9], and Sangha^[10], there's a heartfeltness. Faith that enlightenment is possible, or faith in the Buddhist teachings, supports us. It helps us continue with our meditation practice and continue listening to Dharma talks.

This is one thing I love about studying and practicing together: there is such a depth here. There's a richness. It feels—if I'm allowed to use that kind of language—like it has a certain juiciness, an aliveness. With faith, we're invited to explore, examine, and investigate its three different aspects. We investigate how faith might work with other qualities and factors to support awakening, support our meditation practice, and support living happily.

May our faith be a support for us so that we can be a support for others. Of course, we're not just practicing for ourselves, but for others, so that we might make our communities and those we come in contact with a place where people can bring the best versions of themselves. Thank you.