Do We Need Faith On A Buddhist Path?

In this Dharma talk, we dive into the unexpected role of faith on the Buddhist path. Even in a tradition that emphasizes direct experience and mindfulness, every step into the unknown is an act of faith. We explore how letting go of our fears and worries, with faith in the present moment, is what opens the door to wisdom—revealing that faith in the present moment is both necessary and transformative. Join us as we uncover how faith—often overlooked—supports our journey and deepens our understanding of the path.

Transcript

There is a classic or there's a verse in a classic Mahayana text that goes,

Faith is what allows us to enter the ocean of Buddha Dharma,

But it is wisdom that delivers.

And what this verse is pointing to,

What it's telling us is that it's showing us the interdependence of faith and wisdom on our path,

That it is faith that when we take this step into the unknown,

And every step on this path,

Very much every step on this path in the real moment is a step into the unknown in the present moment,

It is an act of faith.

And so when we are turning away from that it is that we do know,

Our stories,

Our dramas,

Our fears,

And then stepping into the unknown,

The groundlessness of the present moment,

This is an act of faith.

And that every time we take this act of faith,

Wisdom follows.

So faith first,

And then wisdom follows.

And we have all already taken many acts of faith on this path,

Even if we don't acknowledge it,

That it was faith.

That when we first came onto a spiritual path,

Right,

A Buddhist path,

A path of meditation,

Right,

We'd heard things about these paths that it would lead you to greater peace,

Less stress,

More happiness,

More calm,

But we didn't really know for sure if this was true.

And yet,

We entered our first Dharma talk,

Or we picked up our first Dharma book,

Or we entered a meditation class not really knowing it was an act of faith.

And in our meditation practice,

Right,

When we are turning away from our stories and our dramas,

And bringing our attention back to the breath,

Right,

So turning away from what it is that we do know that we are very familiar with,

And we are coming into what it is that we don't know,

The groundlessness of the present moment,

That is an act of faith.

So,

Faith enters,

And then wisdom follows.

To have wisdom,

We have to have direct experience.

This is a come and see for yourself path.

So,

When we are letting go of what it is that we do know,

And stepping into what it is that we don't know,

Having this act of faith,

We are having the direct experience of seeing for ourselves,

We didn't fall apart.

The world didn't fall apart.

In fact,

We were perfectly okay.

In fact,

That in the present moment,

The world opens up in ways that we weren't seeing before because we were so lost in our drama,

Seeing the world in this very tight,

Very narrow way,

And instead it opens up.

So,

This is a critical part of the path,

Having direct experience,

Stepping into the unknown,

Having the faith to step into the unknown,

To see for ourselves that we didn't fall apart.

And not only that we didn't fall apart,

That everything was okay.

And in that,

In that direct experience of seeing it,

That is the wisdom,

That is how the wisdom arises.

Wisdom doesn't arise in knowledge,

In dharma books,

In dharma talks,

Right?

We need this,

We need the pointers,

We need the reasoning that takes place when we're reading the books,

When we're listening to the teachings,

Right?

We need to be able to think about it,

Does this make sense,

Does this path make sense?

Yeah,

Reason plays a role here,

But reason is not wisdom,

And reason will not free you from your suffering.

That when you are in the depths of your despair,

In those darkest moments,

In your fears,

In your worries,

And everything,

And you are so lost in believing everything that you're telling yourself in that moment,

That your life is over,

That something is so terrible,

That mistake you made at work,

That this means your whole life is over,

You said something wrong,

You had a disagreement with someone,

And you can't take your attention off the thoughts because you're so believing that you're somehow doing damage control here,

That somehow you're preventing something terrible from happening,

And everything inside of you is screaming,

Don't let go of this,

That would be irresponsible,

It would be irrational,

It would be unreasonable,

And so we don't let go,

Because we were looking for reason to save us,

To bring us out of this,

Instead of faith,

We stayed with what we do know,

And refuse to let go into what we don't know,

And we do this because we are always putting reason above faith,

And it's easy to see why we do this,

Because we come to this path,

Typically we come to these paths,

Eastern religion paths,

Because they seem very reasonable,

They seem very rational,

When you hear the teachings,

And it describes your predicament,

And you think,

Oh my god,

I thought it was only me,

That actually this is a universal problem,

Oh phew,

So you understand,

Yes,

There's this relatability about the path that seems so reasonable,

And we have all the science to back it up,

We have all the studies that say or show what happens to our brain when we're meditating,

Doing different types of meditation,

What's happening to our brain when we're practicing mindfulness,

When we're practicing compassion,

And all of these things are very good for our brain,

So again,

It's very reasonable,

Or maybe you heard the Dalai Lama say,

That if science contradicts Buddhist beliefs,

Then Buddhism should change,

And this all sounds so reasonable,

It aligns already with our worldviews that we want to be a reasonable person,

But we have taken this to mean that faith doesn't matter,

That faith isn't part of the path,

And so when we even look back at all of the times that we have let go,

All the little disappointments,

All the little frustrations,

The little irritations,

And we assume that we let go of every single one of those because of reason instead of faith,

And so when our disappointment turns into resentment,

Or frustration into anger,

Or sadness into grief,

When it escalates,

We keep looking for reason to get us out of it,

Instead of faith.

Faith enters,

And wisdom follows.

We have to step out of what it is that we do know,

And be willing to step into what it is that we don't know,

In order to have the direct experience,

In order to have the wisdom,

Because we will never let go based on reason.

It is always faith,

And not blind faith,

Not just believe what I'm saying now,

And you'll find out if it's true when you're dead.

It's not that kind of faith,

It's verifiable faith,

Because when we look honestly at all those little times that we let go,

And we really do acknowledge I was letting go of what I knew,

The fear,

The worries,

The stories,

The dramas,

I was letting go of that,

And I was stepping into something I don't know.

The present moment,

The groundlessness of the present moment,

Having that direct experience of coming into what it is that we don't know,

Even when we're saying like,

Come in and feel what's here,

Right?

We don't know what's going to happen if we,

And it's because we don't know that we don't want to do it.

We fear,

No,

If I were to let go of the story and come in and feel this,

Something terrible would happen.

We don't know,

But yet we come in anyway,

And we feel our disappointment,

And we feel our sadness,

We feel our anger,

And we allow ourselves to feel it,

To breathe into it,

To be with it,

And it is not in the direct experience of being with it,

We're not falling apart.

In fact,

Just the opposite that we aren't falling apart,

We are starting to feel more at ease,

More safe.

We're able to have more compassion for ourselves because maybe we did screw up,

And now we can acknowledge,

Yeah,

You did,

And all,

You know,

I'm going to continue to screw up in the future,

This is part of life,

And what I need right now is a little kindness,

Maybe I need to apologize to someone also,

But not from a place of grasping,

But from a place of being okay,

Understanding,

Wisdom,

Having that direct experience.

And the Buddha says this in his own words in the Pali Canon,

Where he says,

One who has,

Excuse me,

One who has faith attains the deathless,

One who lacks faith does not attain the deathless.

So one who has faith awakens,

Has wisdom,

One who does not,

Does not awaken.

And I think it's very telling that throughout the Pali Canon,

The early Buddhist texts,

Which are the recordings of the actual words of the Buddha,

He uses the word deathless more than he would use the words awakening or enlightenment,

Because this is what he's pointing to,

Deathless being the negative way of describing awakening or enlightenment.

And I think he did this very cleverly,

Because in making,

By saying it in the negative,

In the deathless,

We can't make an image out of it.

And in awakening and in enlightenment,

We can make an image out of it.

And then we think we know what it is,

And every time we think we know what it is,

That's not it,

We are moving further away from what it is that we want.

So even in calling it the deathless,

He's building faith into that.

You have to have faith in this.

You don't know what this is.

This is the point.

And this is not to say that reason doesn't have a place.

It does.

We're not throwing reason out.

But we are recognizing that reason without faith will not lead to wisdom.

That every time we are letting go,

The first step in letting go is acknowledging we don't know what's going to happen.

I am leaving what it is I do know,

And I'm stepping into what it is that I don't know.

And acknowledging that,

And acknowledging that faith is part of the path,

It has a place.

It helps and supports us on the path.

So that when we have those moments when we're,

Just those little moments when we're,

The mind is kind of just desiring something,

Grasping at something,

Just needs something,

It's a little bored,

We need to be a little distracted.

You know,

We're probably reaching for our phones,

Reaching for the news,

Reaching for social media,

You know,

Reaching for a Dharma book,

Right?

I just need some words,

Something to calm me down right now,

Something to distract me.

And it's so easy in that moment for us to lie to ourselves,

Disguising it as reason.

Well,

I've had a really tough day.

I've had a long day.

I just need to entertain myself for a little bit with some news.

I just need to entertain myself a little bit on social media.

I just,

I just need to hear the way the teacher describes this,

This path of peace again.

I just need to hear it in that particular way again.

I'll do this on my own next time,

But right now I just need,

I need it something outside of me in order to feel okay again.

But when we acknowledge what I need right now is not reason and definitely not lies disguised as reason.

What I need is faith,

Faith in the Buddha Dharma,

The teachings,

Faith in the teachers,

Faith in the countless beings that have already walked this path before us and have attained the path of enlightenment.

Faith in the Buddha Dharma,

Faith in the teachings,

Faith in the faith in the Buddha Dharma,

Faith in the Buddha Dharma,

Faith in the Buddha Dharma,

Faith in the Buddha Dharma,

Faith in the Buddha Dharma,

Faith in the Buddha Dharma,

Faith in the Buddha Dharma,

And we breathe into it and we allow ourselves to be with what's here.

And as we do that,

The grasping starts to fall away and we start to feel that sense of openness,

Of spaciousness,

That sense of being okay.

I didn't fall apart.

In fact,

I thought this feeling of spaciousness and ease was going to come from my phone.

It was never going to come from my phone.

Now that was only going to lead to more grasping.

Yeah,

I had faith in the path,

In the Dharma.

If you're a Buddhist,

Faith in the Buddha.

And in that faith,

I was able to step out of what I know and step into what I don't know.

And the wisdom followed because I had that direct experience.

This is where our practice is so critical.

In that moment when we're grasping,

When we're wanting something,

To be able to take that step into the unknown,

To not put it off,

To not kick the can down the road.

No,

Next time I just need to be guided out of this.

But instead to come into our path,

Come in using our practice,

Come into the present moment,

The groundlessness of the present moment,

And trust that the wisdom will follow.

Or when we're feeling doubt,

Right?

Doubt about our ability to do this path,

Right?

Doubt being a loss of faith in ourselves.

And so we have faith,

Again,

In the path,

In the teachings,

In the Dharma,

In the countless beings that have walked this path before us and attained the deathless.

And we have faith in that.

And that gives us the motivation,

The energy to let go of what it is we do know and come in and feel the doubt,

To breathe into the doubt,

To allow ourselves to be with the feelings in a nurturing and kind way.

And then the wisdom follows.

And with that wisdom following,

Our faith in ourselves is restored.

So faith in the Dharma,

Bringing faith back to ourselves.

Or when we have those moments,

When the illusion of certainty is stripped away,

And everything feels so very uncertain,

And you're at a crossroads,

You're in a temporary situation,

And you don't know when it's going to change.

And everything in your mind,

All the stories,

Everything's spinning.

I've got to know how this turns out.

But we remember we have faith.

This is where my faith is needed.

I'm not going to find a reasonable answer to this.

Reason is not going to get me out of this suffering.

But faith,

Faith in my path,

Faith in the Buddha Dharma,

Faith in the teachings,

Faith in all of the teachings so far that have proven to be true,

That I can have faith in that.

And I can step out of what it is that I do know,

The suffering of needing this uncertainty to go away,

And step into the unknown,

The present moment of being with the feeling of uncertainty,

That it's okay to feel the uncertainty in the present moment,

To breathe into it,

To be kind,

To nurture ourselves in that moment,

Say it's okay to feel this.

It's okay to be with this.

And because we used faith to take that first step to bring us there,

The world opens up again.

We go from that narrow view,

I need to know,

And the world opens up and it becomes very vivid and rich and alive in this moment.

A moment ago,

I thought I needed to know how this was going to turn out.

But because of faith,

I can be okay in the uncertainty of this moment.

I can be okay in the groundlessness of the present moment.

I didn't fall apart,

In fact,

Just the opposite.

Faith enters,

Wisdom follows.

So we need reason,

We need knowledge on the path,

There's no question.

We need books,

We need teachings,

We need to contemplate,

Absolutely.

But we also need to understand that it is faith that transforms knowledge into wisdom.

If we don't take those steps into the unknown,

It will just remain an intellectual understanding,

And we will keep questioning ourselves,

Why aren't I getting it?

I keep falling back in the hole,

Why aren't I getting this?

And I would guess if you're not getting it,

It's because you're looking for a reason to bring you out of your suffering instead of faith,

Verifiable faith.

Because again,

This isn't wait until you're dead and see if it's true.

It's just in this,

You will know within a few minutes if it's true or not.

But we have to be willing to take that first step,

That first step into the unknown,

Which is the hardest step for us.

And yet,

It is the faith every time we step into the unknown,

Faith in the Buddha Dharma,

Faith in the teachings,

Faith in the path,

That gives us the courage to step into the unknown.

To see for ourselves what it is we don't know.

And each time that we acknowledge faith in the Buddha Dharma,

In the path,

In the teachings,

We are touching something deep inside of us that has already said yes to this.

We are honoring that first act of faith that when we came on this path,

We were able to step into the unknown.

So by continuously stepping into the unknown,

Verifying along the way,

Making sure that our faith is well-placed,

But to keep stepping into the unknown and trusting that the wisdom will follow.

To see for yourself if when you acknowledge the faith,

Are you coming out of the suffering more quickly?

Is the wisdom following?

See this for yourself.

This is a come and see for yourself path,

But we have to have faith.

We have to acknowledge faith as part of the path,

To be more balanced with our knowledge,

With our reasoning,

To balance the faith,

To acknowledge what an important part of the path this is.

Faith allows us to enter the ocean of Buddha Dharma,

But it is wisdom that delivers.

So try this out for yourself this week.

See if faith helps you to be more present.

When you're mindful of the little irritation in your mind,

That familiar feeling that there's something to push back on,

Something that needs your attention,

Can you acknowledge it is an act of faith to take one mindful breath,

Stepping into the unknown of what would happen if you let go of pushing back and seeing that nothing bad happened at all?

You just felt more at ease.

And in that direct experience of seeing for yourself you are okay,

The wisdom arises.

Or in that familiar feeling of the mind racing to the next moment,

The anxiety,

The desire to believe that your happiness is somehow on the other side of this moment,

Can you acknowledge the act of faith in taking a mindful breath that you are stepping into the unknown of the present moment and seeing for yourself that your happiness,

Your sense of being okay,

Your peace was never over there.

It was always here.

Notice the wisdom arising as you know for yourself that the peace you are seeking is always here.

And in those dark moments that we all have,

When you are so convinced that this does not apply to your path,

That you have to suffer and that somehow you have to think your way out of this,

And I'm not saying that there may not be something to do,

But can you free yourself from the suffering?

Can you breathe into what you're feeling,

Acknowledging this is an act of faith?

And it is faith based on all the times you took a leap in the past and you didn't fall apart.

Can you have faith in that moment that the present moment will hold you?

And that when you do that,

When you take that leap of faith out of your suffering with one mindful breath,

Followed by another mindful breath,

And another mindful breath,

And that sense of ease coming back into the body,

And you see for yourself that you didn't fall apart,

That in fact you came back whole,

And can you acknowledge the wisdom there because you had faith?

So see this for yourself.

Practice with this.

Acknowledging faith in the moment of letting go.

Is it giving you the strength to let go and take that step into the unknown of the present moment?

Acknowledging it is an unknown.

And see for yourself,

Does the wisdom follow?

Does the compassion follow?

Do you feel more ease and peaceful when you acknowledge faith is a continuous stepping into the unknown of the present moment?

And every time you do that,

The wisdom will follow.

Reviews

i love and appreciate this talk. grief is an interesting, challenging and painful journey…and yet it has strengthened my faith. I’ve been stretched further than i could possibly imagine and yet i’m still here. learning growing, transforming. i believe my souls journey is of exposure- meaning i’m here to be exposed to as many human personalities and human experiences as possible. and grief is numero uno 🙏 not only to learn human wisdom but to learn soul wisdom 🌹⭐️✨🌹⭐️✨🌹 namaste

Thank you for this dharma talk on faith - very timely. It is so important to be reminded in such a clear and simple way that indeed "it is an act of faith to take one mindful breath as we step into the unknown of the present moment." I will practice this with loving kindness towards myself and all beings. Thank you again. 🙏🏽