Do You Need Faith For Enlightenment?

We have all had faith in our practice at one time or another, but we rarely acknowledge it as faith. That quality of trusting that we don't really know what this is, but we're willing to move towards it anyway. That's faith. And yet, somewhere along the way, we forget, or most likely never acknowledge, that faith is integral to this path. Because this is a path of letting go of what we think we know and turning towards what we don't know - we can't do that without faith.

Transcript

So I want to start with a Zen student goes to his master and he's very eager to become enlightened.

So he asked the master,

He says,

If I meditate every day for four hours a day,

How long before I become enlightened?

Master thinks about it and he says,

10 years.

I think 10 years would be about right.

The student's a little discouraged.

He's kind of looking forward to a little bit sooner than that.

He goes,

Well,

What if I,

What if I meditate eight hours every day?

Then how long before I become enlightened?

The master,

Without thinking about it,

Not skipping a beat,

Says 20 years.

The student is mortified.

It's getting longer because what the master is trying to say is that if you are grasping at enlightenment,

If you are chasing enlightenment,

It is getting farther away from you.

And we have this tendency on the spiritual path to see enlightenment as something to be attained,

As something that we can become,

As something that we can get a thing,

A goal.

And the moment that we do that,

The moment that we see enlightenment as something to get,

We start chasing it.

And as soon as we start chasing it,

It starts getting further away from us.

And as it gets further away from us,

We get really upset because we think it's not working.

Right?

We get frustrated and disappointed because we think,

You know,

It's not happening fast enough.

Why isn't this happening?

I'm still getting frustrated and irritated.

This isn't supposed to be happening anymore.

Right?

Or we get,

We start comparing or we become competitive with it.

And we start imagining that everyone else is getting it ahead of us.

What's wrong with me?

Why aren't I getting it?

They're all getting it.

And there won't be enough left for me because everyone else is getting it.

And it's a zero sum game when we're chasing it.

And we start looking for shortcuts,

Trying to take our practice into extreme measures like whether we're,

You know,

Trying to starve ourselves or not get enough sleep,

Trying to meditate beyond what is sustainable for us,

For where we are in our path.

And then we get burned out.

Enlightenment just gets further away because we can't make enlightenment happen.

We can't force it.

We can't control it.

Right?

Just like we can't force,

We can't control moments of awe,

Moments of wonder.

Right?

And we have,

We have those moments of awe when we're out in nature and we kind of see something and it just,

You know,

Takes our breath away.

Right?

But you can't plan that.

You can't control that because we can spend hours in nature and only have a couple of moments of awe.

We can go in nature and be irritated and not have one moment of awe.

Or those moments when we're just,

We're so moved with something just moves us with love or compassion or empathy.

Right?

And we don't know why did this situation move me versus another situation.

I mean,

If we were really seeing,

We'd be moved all day long.

Right?

We'd be really touching what's real here and be connecting and having understanding and empathy for all of the suffering that's going on.

But we can't control these things.

We can't force these things.

We can't,

We can't manufacture these moments of awe,

Being emotionally in awe.

Right?

They're spontaneous.

And they are the result of just so many different causes and conditions arising that all of a sudden all come together in this moment.

And it's awe,

Or just emotionally,

You're just awe,

You're just touched.

And it's so many things coming together.

You can't possibly pinpoint what was the one thing that tipped it over the edge.

So many things.

And in enlightenment,

Where it is the most profound and deepest insight into the nature of reality,

The deepest moments of awe,

Of wonder,

Of connecting,

Of really seeing how all of this really is,

Seeing all of the causes and conditions,

Seeing how we're all a part of this massive tapestry,

No longer seeing the delusion of separateness,

Right?

Just cutting,

You know,

This deep,

Deep insight.

We can't control that either.

We can't make it happen.

We can't force it to happen.

We never know when it's going to happen.

And this creates a bit of a conundrum for us on the spiritual path.

Because on the one hand,

We need to have the desire to end our suffering.

But then if we take that desire and we start chasing enlightenment,

It gets further away from us.

You know,

We need to do something.

We need to practice.

We need to meditate and practice mindfulness and heart-opening practices and contemplation and study and prayer.

We need all of these things.

But then we also need to remember we're not controlling any of this,

That we can't force any of this.

And so the bridge that connects this conundrum,

This paradox in spirituality,

Is faith.

It's faith,

A word that we do not like to hear in the West,

Faith.

You know,

We have this idea of faith as,

You know,

As a monotheistic religion,

As something that,

You know,

Weak-minded people need faith,

Right?

Because they can't reason on their own.

They aren't rational enough to have the confidence on their own to understand this or that.

You know,

And then we see our own practices,

Like the more Eastern practices that we're following is really serious practices.

You know,

Practices that are evidence-based.

We don't need that pesky little thing called faith.

And yet faith is where we let go.

Faith is the path of letting go.

And everyone who is on this path started on this path because of faith.

When we,

Whether you came to a teaching,

You read a book,

You know,

You heard about the Buddha,

You heard about Krishnamurti,

You heard about Nisargadatta,

Eckhart Tolle,

You heard about these enlightened beings,

Deepa Ma,

Just to throw a woman in there,

Mai Chi Ka,

Two women in there,

There's lots of women actually in there.

You know,

You hear about this and you hear about these beings that have transcended the normal suffering of everyday life,

Of the doubting,

Worrying,

The fears,

The delusion of separateness.

And that they see the world in this way,

Where they live in peace and harmony.

And they feel the sense of connection to everything around them.

And it sounds so beautiful and so peaceful.

And we're thinking,

Wow,

I want that.

That sounds good.

And so we have faith that what they are telling us is real,

That this state of a mind is real.

We don't really have any evidence other than what they're telling us.

And then when we venture on this path and we start becoming meditators,

And we're having faith that we can do this too,

That we actually can attain these states of enlightenment.

So we have faith when we start the path,

When we start the practice,

We don't acknowledge that it's faith.

We definitely don't acknowledge it,

But we have it.

And then somewhere along the way,

Because we didn't acknowledge the faith,

And because we still have the same controlling mind,

We get a few years into our practice,

Maybe 10,

20,

30 years into our practice.

And we realize we're still trying to control it.

We're still trying to force enlightenment.

We're not acknowledging faith whatsoever.

I just need to go on the right retreat.

I haven't been going on the right retreats.

I haven't been going on enough retreats a year.

You know,

I'm not meditating enough.

I'm not doing this right.

Oh,

I have the wrong practice.

This is what's going on.

And we're so desperately trying to control enlightenment,

Seeing it as something out there,

Something to get to,

We start chasing it,

Trying to control it.

And we completely miss that we just get stuck in another cycle of suffering,

Chasing enlightenment.

Before we were chasing material happiness,

We were chasing success,

Validation.

And we go,

Oh,

You know,

I'm so over that.

I don't do that anymore.

But now I'm just chasing enlightenment over here.

This is where the majority of spiritual seekers are today,

Chasing enlightenment,

Thinking it's something out there that you can get something to be attained,

Something to become,

And ignoring that faith is a necessary part of the path,

That faith actually gets you back on the path of enlightenment.

That when we have faith in trusting the process,

That yes,

We still do the practices.

Yes,

We still need to be doing them,

But not being attached to any result.

You're not trying to measure how far I am along the path against someone else,

Just knowing that wherever I am,

I am accepting wherever I am.

Because if this is where I am,

Then this is exactly where I should be based on all the causes and conditions.

It is exactly where I should be.

There is nowhere else that I should be.

And it's faith that allows us to let go and accept that,

And faith that I'm not controlling this awakening process.

I'm not controlling any of this.

I'm definitely not controlling the awakening process.

So when we go through those stops and starts,

Right,

Where we're present,

We're mindful,

And we're feeling really good,

It's like,

Oh,

This is nice,

This feels good.

And then we get triggered,

Something gets us,

We get a little irritated,

And we're like,

Oh,

Darn it.

I thought,

You know,

I thought I was done with that stuff.

And we go,

Oh,

Yeah,

I'm not controlling this.

You are awakening,

You are in the awakening process.

It's a back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.

Because it's a gradual path of awakening.

And that's what we need in the gradual path of awakening,

Is faith.

If it's a sudden enlightenment,

You know,

You don't need faith,

You just got the rug pulled out from under you.

And it can be very destabilizing to have a sudden enlightenment.

Steve Taylor,

The spiritual,

He's a psychiatrist and a spiritual teacher from out of the UK.

He writes about this,

Documents people that have become enlightened over the years through various forms.

And the sudden enlightenments,

For people that don't have a spiritual path,

It's very destabilizing for them.

But they don't need faith.

They don't actually,

They probably need it afterwards,

After the enlightenment,

Because they're not sure what's happened.

And I know when I sweat.

When I,

I mean,

Most of you know this,

When I left home 10 years ago,

You know,

It was faith that gave me the confidence to be able to leave.

But you know,

Each time,

And I left twice,

Right?

The first time I went to the monastery,

And then I came back,

And then I left again.

But each time I left,

I was in tears.

I was terrified.

What am I doing?

But I knew two things that were true.

I knew one,

The material world would never bring me satisfaction and happiness and peace.

And it didn't.

And I had been on the path long enough,

Because at that stage,

I'd been practicing for 15 years,

And I'd been on the path long enough.

I had seen that the more that I,

You know,

The more that I tilted towards my spiritual path and away from the material world,

The happier and the more peaceful I was becoming.

I mean,

I didn't have any,

I didn't know if this was going to work out or not.

I had no idea.

But I did take an extraordinary leap of faith.

I mean,

I left my home.

I left my job.

I left my income.

I left my boyfriend.

I left my,

I didn't leave my dog.

As you guys know,

Buddy came with me.

But you know,

Buddy and I went off on our own.

I had no idea whether this was going to work or not.

I was spending my savings,

You know,

Just trying to live,

Having confidence that,

Yeah,

This is going to,

You know,

Take care of this moment,

Do what's right in this moment,

Follow your path,

Follow your practice,

Do your best,

And it will all work out.

And there's that quote that says,

You know,

Take care of this moment,

And the rest will take care of itself.

And I used to say that quote,

And just come back to this moment,

It doesn't matter.

Just come back,

It will all take care of itself.

And it did.

It didn't mean that there weren't a few times where I was a little panicked.

And I thought,

What are you doing?

You know,

You're in your 50s.

You have to go through all your money.

Who's going to hire you?

You need to go back to the corporate world.

You know,

But I had faith.

I had this enormous leap of faith that this,

I would do this.

This was more important than anything.

And Pamela,

Actually,

It's great that you're on the call today,

Because Pamela was my first client,

The first person that I taught meditation to 10 years ago.

And I remember,

And she reminds me of this often,

That I told her,

I would rather be homeless and enlightened than stay living in,

You know,

What I would call a traditional householder's,

You know,

Layperson life.

And it's true.

Although it wasn't like I was really saying I wanted to be homeless,

I didn't necessarily want to be homeless.

But it was that I had that much faith that what I'm doing is right.

This is the right path.

And it will take care of itself,

Take care of this moment,

The future will take care of itself.

And,

And it has.

So this,

This is a path of faith.

It's a path of,

Of letting go of what we know,

And what we know doesn't work,

And stepping into the unknown,

Stepping into what we don't know,

What we think we know,

But we don't know.

You don't know until you're there.

But you've got to let go to get there.

You've got to be willing to step into the unknown to get there.

You've got to have faith to get there.

Faith to let go,

Faith to,

To trust the process,

To learn to trust the process that is happening,

To enjoy the journey,

The adventure,

The ride,

Right?

You know,

Of course,

Yes,

We forget again,

You know,

That's part of the path.

We remember,

We're present,

We're mindful,

Then we forget.

Oh,

Yeah,

I'm not controlling this.

No problem.

And you remember again,

And you're back.

And it's just this back and forth and back and forth.

Because it's a gradual path of awakening.

And it's a little bit every time you do this,

Every time you let go of the steering wheel.

And you say,

I don't really know if the car is not in,

You know,

The car is going to wreck here or not.

Because we don't really know that.

But we let go of the steering wheel.

And we go,

Wow,

I didn't crumble,

I didn't fall apart.

I didn't forget to eat,

I didn't forget to shower,

I didn't forget to feed the dog.

Everything still,

You know,

Carried on fine.

The only difference was that I wasn't burdened any longer by this sense of control of chasing something outside of me.

That there was a sense of peace and harmony within and a piece of sense of peace and harmony with the exterior world as well.

Because recognizing the exterior world is making is contributing to what this is right now in this moment,

All of the causes and conditions,

The rain,

Contributing to the sweat that's arising right now,

Right?

It's all,

You know,

It's all arising based on causes and conditions.

But it's faith.

We've got to have faith.

We've got to ask ourselves,

Why do we not have faith?

You know,

What is it that's preventing us from having faith?

And look at the ways in which in fact,

You have had faith on this path,

But just chose to pretend you really didn't.

And then you practice and you practice and you let go.

And the faith eventually,

Because you keep letting go and letting go of the steering wheel because of faith.

And then eventually you see,

Oh my God,

You see it for yourself.

There is no one steering.

I had faith that no one was steering.

And now I see there is no one steering this because that's what we are trying to see.

And we are all the result of causes and conditions.

There is nothing independent and inherent inside of me,

Nothing independent,

Nothing solid,

Nothing other than,

All just causes and conditions arising.

But this is a big leap of faith to ask us to see this because we so have in our mind what this looks like.

And we have to let go of what we think it is.

We have to let go of any image of what you think enlightenment is.

Because any image is going to turn into a goal,

Is going to turn into something to be attained.

And then it is going to move further away from you.

We've got to have faith in there to say,

I just got to let go and trust this.

You know,

If you've come so far on this path,

You've had faith along the way.

And there's a point where you just,

You jump in both feet and you say,

You know,

This path has served me really well.

No one stays on this path because it's not working.

We stay on this path because it is working.

But then so many people fall short of that final leap.

Because they're trying to control,

They're trying to say that you know what it is,

You don't,

Whatever you think it is,

That's not it.

Because you can't imagine it.

You can't even,

It's not something the rational mind,

You can reason yourself through it.

You can just know it.

And faith,

Little bit by little bit,

Poco a poco,

Letting go.

And you get there.

And eventually the two converge.

And you're like,

Thank goodness for that faith.

Because faith got me here to see this.

It's a necessary part of our practice.