nathan wrote:I will leave you all to simply speculate (please, please don't waste your time) how it is that I can have an absolute faith in the BuddhaDhamma and unswerving commitment to it while at the same time maintaining a personal relationship to Jesus Christ and an unabashed acknowledgement of God Almighty. I do.
For me, there is no 'problem' with faith in any of these regards. The Dhamma I practice, day in and day out, is focused on an exhaustive examination of the experience of being and becoming that I am having. If I take the simple principle 'all that arises also ceases' and I apply this to the present moment I certainly do see and know and realize and understand that it is true. I can see also that it is true not only in the present moment but across many varying time spans. In regards to all things in my experience, all that arises also ceases.
Examining in the moment I discover not only that this is so but I also discover why. Examining in this way I see not only cause and effect but causes and effects across time. There are consequences and therefore a moral and ethical dimension within each of those moments of my experience. This is, all of it, neither faith nor verification, this is investigation and discovery; this is seeing, this is knowing, this is realizing, and upon reflection it is understanding. It is in this way, by investigating and by discovering, that the suffering is revealed, that the desire is revealed, that the cessation of suffering is revealed and that the path of practice leading to the complete cessation of suffering is revealed.
There are eight steps on the path to liberation and there are many enlightenment qualities to be developed in keeping with this same simple practice of realizing. This work is not done via ignorance, this work is done by the discovery of ignorance and it's removal through realizations, many, many, many realizations. The truth is like climbing a mountain. I take the steps and every now and then I turn and look at the view from there. Then I go back to climbing towards the top. From the first step to the last in awareness of moving forward, there is no mystery involved in this.
We are the mystery. We are the creatures who exist in terms of the various forms of faith argued about time and again.
"I, me and mine", unarguably the greatest fallacy of all time, is the baseline faith we all come from, is our "common sense", is the creed or "faith" in which we all either are or were the "true believers". This "path to freedom" is walking a reasonable and straightforward path out of that "blind faith in myself", that ignorance, by means of an investigative process which is ongoing 'work' thereby discovering the "truth of myself" which is the ongoing reward. Every moment in which I take a step towards further waking up is one step closer to the very same full disclosure of the true nature of what I am; not only because it is not self but because it is whatever it is nonetheless, which owing to accepting the persisting ignorance has become a prison for only more of this being and becoming in 'faith'.
If there is an endemic need for faith which is blind it is not surprising at all because we have all been well and truly fully blind. We may begin with only hope but with only one step, with one moment of examination and discovery, this is enough of the actual path for that to no longer be the whole truth. There are parts of the path where turning back is possible and there are extents beyond which turning back is not possible. There is not even one moment of actual investigation and discovery which can not be said to lead to seeing, knowing, realizing and even eventually understanding something about something. That, for all of our ignorance, is our only hope of anything but ignorance.
Practicing well and understanding well leads to increased peace to increasing extents. Certainly well past the point that one is troubled about what other people call this peace. For the kind of absolute certainties that everyone only argues about as abstractions it is not enough to 'do' the eight steps. One must get them 'done'. ASAP
upekkha
Nathan, thank you for your declaration of faith -- I find it refreshing. These days people like Ven. Ananda and Vakkali -- those with great faith- would be derided by many as being highly emotional and contrary to the dhamma.
It is, unfortuneatly, unpopular in many Buddhist circles to just let lose and declare one's absolute faith and love for Buddha (i.e. God for other faiths -- Buddha is known as the Brahma kaya, Dhamma kaya -- literally the body of God and the Law, and Raja abhi Raja or King of kings.) --
Buddhism is about getting rid of all our WRONG views about God and wrong views about just about every other thing and establishing that love with truth so that our faith becomes unshakeable.
Until then, in Buddhism faith is one of the most powerful strengths (bala) out of 5 strengths...so your faith (in Buddha dhamma and Jesus) is a strength not a weakness.
Of course with me I have a commitment to Buddha dhamma and a personal relationship to Buddha. For example, the Buddha anusati (recollection of Buddha) is as if having Buddha "face to face".
Here is the purest declaration of "bhakti" and faith from early Buddhism:
Buddhassaahasmi daaso (WOMEN: daasii)va, Buddho me saamikissaro.
I am the Buddha's servant, the Buddha is my sovereign master,
Buddho dukkhassa ghaataa ca, Vidhaataa ca hitassa me.
The Buddha is a destroyer of suffering & a provider of welfare for me.
Buddhassaaham niyyaademi, Sariirañjiivitañcidam.
To the Buddha I dedicate this body & this life of mine.
Vandanto'ham (Vandantii'ha.m) carissaami, Buddhasseva subodhitam.
I will fare with reverence for the Buddha's genuine Awakening.
N'atthi me saranam aññam, Buddho me saranam varam:
I have no other refuge, the Buddha is my foremost refuge: