Learn Buddhism: Faith In Buddhism

Do you need to have blind faith in Buddhism? Faith in things you can't prove such as karma, rebirth, samsara, etc.? This is one of the most often-asked questions (and concerns) about Westerners exploring or entering Buddhism for the first time. The short answer is that we have faith in Buddhism, but it isn't what you expect. However, faith is a crucial component of the path in Buddhism in order to make progress and understand why we practice.
Learn more in this episode!

Transcript

Welcome to another episode of Learn Buddhism.

I'm Alan Pito.

Do you need to believe in everything inside Buddhism?

From the different concepts and beliefs,

Rites and rituals?

Do you have to have a sort of faith or blind faith in Buddhism?

This is perhaps one of the most common questions I see asked by Westerners first coming into or exploring Buddhism.

And often they are coming from another religion,

Typically that they grew up in,

Where faith means something specific there.

You have to unconditionally believe in each particular beliefs in that particular religion.

I'm being very general here,

But essentially that.

So does Buddhism have faith?

Yes,

It does.

But is it the same type of faith?

Because the Buddha did say you need to analyze or verify or test out,

If you will,

My teachings.

Just don't take it for the word itself.

And that,

To a lot of Westerners,

Comes out,

Well,

This is a very scientific religion.

I should be able to independently test and verify everything here for me to believe it.

And if I can't,

And if there's no way to do that,

I'm just not going to believe in it.

And that usually takes us down a whole other road in quote-unquote Western Buddhism,

Where things are starting to be picked away and thrown away because can't verify that,

Can't test that.

So therefore it must have been added in later on or,

You know what?

I just don't like it or I don't believe in it.

And you have this kind of whittled down version of Buddhism that's not really practiced by the majority of Buddhists around the world,

But it could also feel like,

For Westerners,

Rediscovering true Buddhism.

And so that's getting to a whole other topic to itself.

But what I want to express and talk about in this episode is we do have faith in Buddhism,

But it's probably not what you expect,

But it's crucial and important in Buddhism.

So in Buddhism,

We do have faith.

And if you want to replace faith with another word,

Maybe trust might be a good word.

So we do trust in Buddhism.

And so this faith we have is going to be important for us on this path.

And if we just take a step back for a second,

The Buddha did explain that.

We are living essentially in a delusional world,

Delusional existence,

Because we're ignorant of the Buddha's truth that he taught,

The Buddha Dharma.

We don't really understand what we're perceiving,

What we're seeing and interacting with,

And all these different things.

And we're just making emotions we don't understand.

And I usually gave in my prior episodes this example of just imagine like a super dirty window and you can't see outside it,

But you hear noises and you hear shadows going by and your mind's racing like,

Well,

I assume it's going to be this or that.

But if that window is completely clean,

Then you go,

Oh,

It was just a branch.

It was the wind hitting against the window or,

Oh,

That's just a person walking by.

And so now you have a clear understanding,

Enlightenment,

Right?

And you're no longer fearful.

You understand the true nature of things.

But we don't have that.

We right now,

As much as we think we got things figured out,

We're just assuming perceiving things through this dirty,

Muddy,

Filthy window.

And we can't really see things at a fundamental level that the Buddha taught.

So because of that,

No matter how much we throw in our modern viewpoints at Buddhism,

We're not going to come to things that are going to be acceptable to us.

Because we can't scientifically prove certain things.

And this is also what you see a lot in Western Buddhism,

Like,

Well,

I can prove karma.

I can prove rebirth,

The cycle of rebirth,

Samsara.

I can prove the realms of rebirth.

I can prove these different entities and beings in all these realms and you name it,

All these different things will come up.

And because of that,

We are starting to strip away Buddhism.

Now,

You may go,

You know what?

I just don't believe in that.

That's okay.

It's okay not to going into Buddhism,

Not believe in things.

And what I mean by that is maybe you're like,

I don't believe in it,

But I'm going to be open to it.

And I think that's what I really want to express in this episode.

A lot of times we go into things with a closed mind,

Even though we think we're not,

We may go,

Well,

I'm going in with an open mind.

I'm going to prove whether it's real or not real or true or not true.

But what happens is we're going in with this closed mind,

Pretty much,

You know,

Already coming up with our own conclusion,

Right?

I know I can't scientifically prove karma.

So I know I'm going to get to this result,

But I'm going to say I'm going to,

Of course,

Scientifically prove it or whatever the case might be.

Knowing what the outcome is,

I'm not going to be able to,

Or rebirth or whatever it might be.

But then we got to look at if you went into a lot of things in life like that,

Like even in school,

Well,

I'm going to go into this science class or mathematics class or history class or whatever it might be.

You know,

I know what I know,

And I'm going to go in there and no matter what that professor or teacher teaches me,

Even if they can prove it,

I don't want to believe it.

And that might be a little more of a stretch for you or maybe a little closer for you.

But it's the same thing with Buddhism.

We're not going to be able to find this verification,

If you will,

To things that will satisfy us because your mind doesn't want to really satisfy that.

We are really challenging and battling our mind and perceptions,

Assumptions in a way it doesn't like.

Because if you kind of remember from past episodes and maybe books and videos from teachers you may have read or seen,

That with Buddhism,

Our mind is like this wild ox or bull going through like a china shop,

Right?

You know,

We can't control it.

It's just doing whatever it wants to,

But we think we got it under control,

But we really don't.

So your mind doesn't like to be challenged.

You know,

We're basically trying to tame our mind.

We're trying to get rid of the three fires,

Three poisons of greed,

Anger,

And ignorance.

We're trying to do all these things because,

As the Buddha taught,

We want to ensure that we are getting rid of the three fires,

Three poisons,

Because they are giving rise to unwholesome karmic actions,

Which are thus chaining us,

Trapping us in this fourth cycle of rebirth.

And that's the problem.

That's unsatisfactory.

That's the suffering.

That's the dukkha that he's talking about.

This impermanence existence we have each time.

Right now,

We're all impermanent.

So that's the problem.

But when we start stripping that away,

Then why are we practicing Buddhism,

Right?

But even in that context,

I was talking about the mind.

Let's assume that you've already tried meditation,

Right?

You see how your mind quickly comes in,

And this is a practice of Buddhism as well,

To settle that mind,

Right?

Your mind is trying to constantly take you somewhere else,

These fleeting thoughts,

Right?

And you can think about it in this more broader context.

It's not going to be malicious in any way,

But why should it help you gain enlightenment?

That's what you're trying to do.

So when we are going in with a certain mindset,

We are not allowing ourselves to be open to the teaching.

So this doesn't mean that you have to maybe,

Right now you're thinking,

Well,

Does that mean I need to be ignorant?

Or do I need to just go,

Well,

Whatever,

I'll just believe whatever comes my way.

That's not what's being said.

What's being said is,

Go in with an open mind,

Especially with an open heart.

If you really look at the old teachings and texts of Buddhism and what the Buddha taught,

It's really,

We're talking about opening your heart,

If you will,

This trust we have in the Buddha.

We have in Buddhism the triple gem.

If you're already Buddhist,

You probably have taken the triple gem ceremony,

And that is essentially faith,

Trust that you're doing right there.

If you're just exploring Buddhism,

That's fine.

You can absolutely believe whatever you want to.

That's okay.

But when you become a quote-upon-quote Buddhist,

You're taking your faith,

You're taking trust,

You're taking refuge in the triple gem.

You're taking in the Buddha as the teacher.

He's your teacher,

Right?

You're taking refuge,

Trust,

Faith in the teachings,

The Dharma,

The Buddha's Dharma,

The Buddha Dharma,

Because that's the liberating path.

And also taking a refuge,

Faith,

Trust inside the Sangha,

The monastic community,

Because we don't have the physical Buddha in our world anymore.

You can't go up to him and say,

Hey,

Can you explain this?

Or in our modern terms,

We don't have that.

But we have monastics,

And they are our connection to the Buddha,

This lineage going back.

So we have this precious triple gem that we're putting our faith and trust in.

And even when I got started in Buddhism,

And even hundreds of millions of Buddhists around the world,

Even in Buddhist-dominated countries,

Not everyone's going in there going,

Yes,

I fully understand karma or rebirth or all these different concepts or emptiness or whatever.

They're not going in there going,

I understand all that.

They're going in there with faith,

Trust,

Heart open,

Because they realize,

You know what?

I'm a sentient being.

I'm a human being right now.

So I'm a sentient being.

And sentient beings are clouded to the truth.

The Buddha was a remarkable being.

You know,

He was at heart to God's mom,

Became enlightened,

Became the Buddha,

And set forth to teach us dharma,

The liberating path.

And because of that,

We absolutely revere our teacher there,

Because he provided something that we have been denied from.

We couldn't find this on our own,

But he found it for us and he shared it with us.

So that is remarkable.

So we got a teacher,

A teacher that we trust,

Right?

And then what does a teacher do?

They teach.

So there must be some type of text,

Right?

And so we have his sermons,

If you will.

And so we have all those teachings.

And of course,

When we talk about the different traditions of Buddhism,

We also have the Mahayana sutras as well.

And we have different Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

So we got lots of different things in a Buddhist religion that are all a part of that.

And as I mentioned,

We got the Sangha as well.

That helps us understand those teachings and how to apply them in our everyday life.

So when we're looking at this triple gem,

It is opening our heart to it,

Is opening our minds and everything else going,

You know what,

I don't believe in rebirth,

But you know what,

I could be wrong.

I'd like to learn more.

And so I'm going to drop my guard.

I'm going to open up my heart.

I'm going to go in this,

Knowing that that's my view right now.

But I need to let that go.

You know,

It's almost like you're carrying around a big,

Big rock.

You know what?

Drop that rock and be able to walk more freely,

Right?

And so in Buddhism,

You're probably not going to be dropping that huge rock that you're carrying right now,

But you're going to be essentially chipping it away.

So the more you learn about,

If you open your heart,

Your mind,

You know,

Your trust to this triple gem,

You're going to be chipping away at that rock.

So it's going to get lighter and lighter and lighter.

And hopefully at the end of the path,

You've gotten rid of that rock altogether.

You're awake in the light and realize nirvana.

But it's important for us to open up our hearts and our minds and that trust.

And that's what we do as Buddhists.

So as I mentioned before,

Just exploring Buddhism,

Or maybe you want to take certain parts of Buddhism,

For example,

Well,

I just want to do the meditative teachings and,

You know,

I just want to just feel happier.

You can definitely use whatever parts of Buddhism that you want to,

But it would be no different than other religions,

Where maybe I want to take parts from all these other religions and use it in my life.

You can absolutely do that as well,

But that wouldn't necessarily mean you're part of that religion.

And so that's why it's so important to open yourself up to all these teachings,

Put faith,

If you will.

And I like using that word because it's so encompassing of what we're talking about in Buddhism,

In the context that we're talking about Buddhism,

That we are putting our faith,

That deep trust,

You know,

That open heart to the Buddha,

The Dharma,

And the Sangha,

Because it is helping liberate us.

I don't know how to get,

If I lived in a small little town and I've never lived or anywhere else in my life,

I've never left the city boundaries or the town boundaries of this town,

Never left,

You know,

Over the hill,

Anything like that.

And I got the Buddha coming,

He's like,

You know,

I can drive you to this major city,

You know,

Right?

Now,

I don't even know what he's talking about,

Because it's a major city,

You can do this and that or whatever.

I'm like,

Okay,

You know,

I can't even envision what you're talking about,

Nor can I understand even how to get there.

It's like,

We can get there,

We can take this route,

Right?

But even when he's talking about that route,

Maybe I've never driven a car before,

Or even understand what it even looks like outside of my town,

As we're going past different parts of the country,

I may not understand what even that looks like,

Right?

Maybe I've never even seen snow before in my life,

Something like that.

And so we look at the Buddhist path that way as well.

I don't fully understand all this.

And I don't understand really,

When,

You know,

The Buddha talks about in my,

You know,

Example,

There,

A city and what snow looks like and hills and all this stuff,

Mountains,

I mean,

I don't know what he's talking about.

But I put faith in him,

Because maybe he connected with me in a certain way.

He talked about something that I connected with,

And that's usually us in Buddhism as well.

There's some part of Buddhism that we have connected with,

That we put our faith and our trust inside with the Buddha,

The Dharma,

The Sangha,

That made us become Buddhists,

Understanding we don't know everything.

So as I get in that car,

You know,

Maybe some other followers as well,

And the Buddha is driving us down there.

And even when we have to take the turn to drive,

He's helping guide us down there as well.

And when we look at the Sangha,

The monastic community,

Right,

They are also like the teacher's aides,

If you will.

Like when you're in school,

There's going to be a teacher's aide or professor's aide or whatever.

They are helping us as well,

Because remember,

We don't understand all this.

We are learning.

We are practicing.

We're trying to get down that road as well.

So this whole big,

Long thing is about you opening your heart,

Your mind,

Trusting in that triple gem.

And that's a big thing as well,

Because you don't have to do that.

In Buddhism,

There's no requirement for you to take refuge in a triple gem.

Now,

If you want to be a Buddhist,

Of course,

Which means you put your trust in the Buddha,

Dharma,

And Sangha.

Well,

That's what you're doing.

But if you're,

Again,

As I mentioned a little bit earlier on,

You're just exploring.

You know,

You just want to learn about Buddhism,

Maybe take some practices and do this and that.

That's perfectly OK.

I mean,

It's,

Again,

No different than what you could do with other religions.

But as Buddhists,

We're doing it because we have a goal.

We have a purpose.

And again,

Not because maybe we fully understand everything,

But we trust this teacher,

The head of our religion,

If you will,

The Buddha,

Saying,

You know what,

We're caught in this samsaric cycle,

This forced rebirth,

And each conditioned existence is temporary,

It's impermanent,

It's always changing.

But we don't believe in it.

And so that's making us create these karmic actions and trapping us and etc.

,

Etc.

It's just unsatisfactory and it's suffering.

And you can escape that.

I'm going to show you how to do that.

That's why we want to become Buddhists.

Not so we go,

You know what,

I just feel a little bit happier.

Or maybe I can say,

Hey,

I've attained this level of enlightenment.

No,

That's not what Buddhism is about.

Those could be side benefits or,

You know,

Pluses that you get from Buddhism.

Like as you start practicing Buddhism,

Everything from your morality,

Your conduct,

Your wisdom,

Your concentration,

Determination,

That all develops because those are all important things that we have in Buddhism.

But that's not the goal of Buddhism,

If you will.

The goal is to become enlightened.

So you get rid of those three fires,

Greed,

Anger,

Ignorance,

So that you can stop creating unwholesome karmic actions,

Which are trapping you in rebirth in the samsaric cycle,

Which is unsatisfactory because they're impermanent.

And the Buddha said,

Anything impermanent is suffering,

Essentially.

And so that's the goal here.

So when you're beginning in Buddhism,

I know you're going to have skepticism.

I know you're going to go,

I just I don't understand that,

Especially not just when it comes to concepts and beliefs,

But also even rituals,

Ceremonies and everything else,

Because yes,

A lot of it is going to be cultural in aspect.

What I mean by that is maybe,

For example,

They're speaking in a particular language from where your temple is at,

Or maybe there's certain holidays and ceremonies that we don't practice in the country you live in.

And so that's OK as well.

You can benefit greatly from that by interacting with different cultures.

You can learn a lot and open your heart a lot that way as well.

But that doesn't mean that what is not being taught isn't true or beneficial or helpful.

And I've talked about this before as well.

Like one example I often give is when we bathe the baby Buddha for his birthday.

And when I was a new Buddhist,

I'm like,

Why is that even a practice?

You know,

I mean,

It looks so to me in my Western eyes like,

Yep,

That looks purely cultural.

That has zero to do with Buddhism.

I'm never going to do that.

It wasn't until I actually understood the,

On one level,

Symbolic and Buddhist practice portion of it.

I was like,

Wow,

That's amazing.

You know,

You're cleaning off the defilements really in your own mind as you're putting the ladle and putting water over the baby Buddha.

And there's like different,

There's a different structure as you do it,

Different steps.

And you're also doing a very symbolic,

You know,

As I mentioned,

Symbolic step.

But it's a great thing because you're there with other people,

Other Dharma friends.

There's monastics there.

So it's an event as well.

You connect with others on this bus,

If you will,

Going on this road to that city that the Buddha talked about.

Right.

So this is just like one of many,

Many different things.

But if you were just completely closed off of it,

Well,

You could,

You could still do that,

But you might be missing a wonderful way to practice Buddhism.

And probably something you're going to enjoy.

I think it's fantastic.

You know,

It's just something that you have to really open your mind to.

And a lot of times,

Especially for Westerners,

We don't like things that we're not comfortable with or believe we should accept.

And including maybe even chanting or reciting in a different language.

And that's,

Of course,

Another episode and topic as well.

But chanting,

Reciting in some of these other languages is a lot faster than it would be in English.

And but it's really nothing that you have to be concerned with.

And what I mean by that is like going,

Well,

I need to be closed off to that or I'm not going to do that.

Don't worry.

Go into it.

You'll be OK.

Put your faith and trust in the process and in the religion and you'll be OK.

This is something that's challenging to do.

I definitely understand.

But when you're able to do this,

I believe you're going to essentially open your eyes and your mind.

And your heart to things that you may have never even realized about before with Buddhism.

And that makes it so much more richer and wonderful to practice inside this religion.

And that's what I hope you get out of this is open that heart,

Open that mind,

Let it go.

Hopefully you can let that rock down a lot faster than I talk about.

You want to wait to the very end,

But you can get that rock completely chiseled out or just dropped.

Beautiful.

And you're going to find a lot of Buddhists,

Western Buddhists who have gone into Buddhism,

Of course,

They find that this is a very helpful practice as well,

Because you're going to be able to hopefully understand things a little bit better that way.

And if you have,

For example,

Still questions about a particular concept or teaching,

And maybe you've been going to Dharma talks,

Which is a wonderful way to learn about these,

But also your Buddhist practice,

You have to practice as well.

But you still don't understand something.

That's okay.

See if there's another monastic or teacher that can help you understand it.

Maybe ask another Dharma friend,

Another lay person follower,

Like,

Hey,

Have you understood this?

You know,

It's a different way to understand it.

Online,

There's plenty of different,

You know,

Videos and websites.

And there's also books out there by different monastics.

Maybe there's one that speaks to you.

I've had that same experience before where I didn't understand a particular concept,

Heard it explained a different way by another monastic,

And I'm like,

I got it in a way that I understood it.

And so that's maybe just what you need.

But I wasn't closed off to it.

I'm like,

I still want to understand this,

But I still don't really understand maybe this or that portion of it.

So keep that mind open.

Keep that heart open.

Trust in the process.

And that's your faith inside Buddhism.

Do you have any questions about faith in Buddhism?

I'd like to hear from you.

If you're on Spotify,

You can leave a reply or you can send me a message from my website,

AlanPeto.

Com or my social media.

Thank you.

And I'll talk with you in our next episode.