Fri, 19 Jun 2009
Three Kinds of Faith
Lama Phurbhu Tashi quizzed me Tuesday about the three types of faith. Fortunately, I had heard Khenpo Tsultrim talk on the subject during the Spring Retreat so I was able to give the answer: longing faith, clear faith, and trusting faith. Here are my notes on what Khenpo Tsultrim said about faith during the Spring Retreat:,/p>
Through pondering the dharma we develop unshakable faith in the dharma. Otherwise, one will abandon it when our life turns bad. One monk said if I didn't understand the benefits of the dharma, I would abandon my vows. Wisdom is more beneficial than faith and devotion. They are like closing your eyes and holding the hand of another. Longing faith requires knowledge. You must understand the defects of samsara and the qualities of enlightenment. We have a small understanding of suffering but don't understand it like an enlightened person does. It's said that an arhat experiences suffering like a hair in the eye, while an ordinary person experiences it like a hair in the palm of the hand. Suffering arises from the afflictive emotions. And these arise from self-grasping. But self-grasping is not the same as caring for yourself. With self-grasping we feel envious of the happiness of others. The purpose of practicing the dharma is to escape from samsara. I'm not sure if it will make you rich or famous, but it will lead to liberation.
Clear faith is the nonconceptual joy you feel when you are in a holy place or meet a holy person. But this is only an experience and not realization. It is not permanent. Understanding is said to be like a patch and experience is like a cloud. Realization is like a mountain. That is the reason for going on pilgrimage, to gain some clear faith.
Trusting faith really needs wisdom. Without wisdom, it will be difficult. Naropa followed Tilopa because he understood the benefits of the dharma. So we need wisdom and not just blind faith. One hundred percent blind faith could have the same benefit, but that is difficult to have. If Naropa hadn't jumped, we wouldn't have this lineage. With trusting faith one does not contravene the dharma. One of Buddha's disciples went off to meditate in the mountains and thought he became an arhat. But we he returned to the town and begged for food he saw that his afflictive emotions were still there. So if your trusting faith is strong, you will not abandon the dharma. The Tibetan king who invited Atisha to Tibet was taken prisoner by a Muslim king. He said he would release the king if he became a Muslim, but he refused to do so. If one has faith in the dharma, one will generate bodhicitta, and become a son of the buddhas. Bodhisattvas are called some of buddhas. This is because one day they will become enlightened. Faith enables us to transcend suffering and leads us on the path to enlightenment.
Sometimes we think we have strong faith in the teachings. But if we only practice what we like and not what we dislike, that's not faith. If you have strong faith in the dharma, you are like a yak eating grass, you always want more. By having faith in the sangha, you will become a non-returner. Since even worldly results are not achieved without faith and confidence, what can be said about spiritual goals?
Faith is a dirty word to a lot of Buddhists, who love to quote the Kalama Sutta. But it's pretty simple: you need faith because the results from Buddhist practice do not show up right away. Meditation is a difficult skill to master and it takes years to get it right. It's as if someone handed you some seeds and said they were marijuana seeds. You would have to plant the seeds, water them, clear away the weeds, and it would take a while before you were sure it was marijuana and even longer before you could smoke it. So you would have to have faith in the person who gave you the seeds and for the same reason practicing Buddhism requires faith.
