Faith

Ajahn Gambhīro

Impermanence pulls the carpet out from under our feet, but at the same time transforms our values, the qualities which we seek out as valuable in our experiences.

If we don’t understand the change, it causes confusion, followed by doubt. Even though we might know what we should be doing, we get stuck in the sense of doubt and meaninglessness, and we can’t even begin.

Why do you get up in the morning to do anything? Why does it matter at all?

If I keep asking ‘why’ and dig into the layers of my constructed self like this, the first layer reveals a matter of habit, ‘because this is what I did yesterday’. Under that, the answers are formed out of stories I tell myself about myself and the world I live in.

Under that, there is some degree of reasoning, philosophy and abstract ideas. Under that, I am desperately trying to hold onto something solid, and I start defending my ideas with personal memories and experiences (‘because when I was like this and this …’), or I refer to famous names (‘because this and that teacher said …’).

Under that, I have to give up and confess that it is a matter of faith and personal conviction. What I do is simply what I decide there and then. At the end, I stand there and have to admit that I don’t know, but I believe that doing such-and-such makes sense.

Faith is not a fixed quality in the mind.

We have the capacity to choose credible statements which we perceive will guide us toward a greater understanding and happiness. We can test any given belief by applying it in practice and by observing the results, and we can then support or abandon that belief accordingly.

I may review, investigate and update what I believe about what makes sense to me, but until my experience verifies it, my reasoning has to be supported by faith. Otherwise, I will not make an effort in any direction, and my life will be governed by blind habits and external pressures.

Faith is the fuel for the virtues of resolve and energy. Later on, faith will be reinforced by experiencing the results of practice, but without fuel, our car doesn’t even start.

This reflection by Ajahn Gambhīro is from the book, Wordless Questioning, “Why,” (pdf) pp. 111-113.

Past, Present, and Future

Ajahn Sundara

Luang Por Waen calls the present ‘correct Dhamma’. He refers to the past and future as ‘drunken Dhamma’. That conveys the right message. We are lost if we are not in the present moment because the present moment is mindfulness; mindfulness is present moment awareness. Past and future exist only through our thoughts, which remember the past and project the future. The Forest Masters are very creati…

The Human Capacity to Make Changes

Ajahn Jayasāro

The Buddha said that those who abandon foolish actions and devote themselves to the path of wisdom and compassion illumine the world like the full moon emerging from behind a cloud. Showing others through our life the human capacity to make real and positive changes is a wonderful gift that everyone of us can share with the world. This reflection by Ajahn Jayasaro is from the book, Food for the He…

On Caregiving

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

The Buddha’s instructions on how best to approach aging, illness, and death apply to everyone: not only in the sense that we all face these facts of life, but also in the sense that we will be called upon—even before we face these facts ourselves—to give care to those who are facing them in the present. The Canon doesn’t depict a deva messenger who conveys this message. Caregivers do play—literall…

The World

Ajahn Thiradhammo

I say, friend, that where one is not born, does not age or die, or pass from one state to another, or arise again — that ‘world’s end’ is not to be known, seen or reached by travelling. Yet I say that there is no end of dukkha without reaching world’s end. Rather, it is in this fathom-long body, endowed with perception and mind, that I make known the world, the arising of the world, the cessation…

Compassion Demands Response

Ajahn Pasanno

I would like to consider the application of these brahmaviharas. Buddhist practice is sometimes criticized as being ineffectual and quiescent—that basically the Buddha’s teaching is to sit in a quiet meditation room and placidly think thoughts of loving-kindness. But that’s not at all the Buddha’s teaching nor indeed his example. The cultivation of the brahmaviharas conditions action, as the inten…

Reflective Glory

Ajahn Kalyāno

(sent to Luang Por [Sumedho] from Thailand in June 2007) When the one who knows still listens Like a still jewel that glistens Turning the light of awareness back within It fills the present full to the brim With richest, silent meaning Past and future are no more Virtue steps to the fore And suckling turns to weaning For craving’s children They will try to drive us on Or pull us back Until we tak…

Control Your Feelings?

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

So learn how to gain some control over your feelings. Now this may sound strange. How can you control your feelings? Sometimes we have the sense that our feelings are who we really are and that they’re a given. But that’s not how the Buddha explains them. He says that in every feeling there’s an element of fabrication, i.e., an element of intention. This applies to physical feelings as well as to…

Two People Hard to Find

Pāli Canon

Monks, these two people are hard to find in the world. Which two? The one who is first to do a kindness, and the one who is grateful for a kindness done and feels obligated to repay it. These two people are hard to find in the world. This reflection in the Pāli Canon is from “Hard to Find,” Dullabhā Sutta (AN 2:118), translated from Pali by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.

Good Friends to Ourselves

Ajahn Pasanno

Another aspect that is really important is how we are a good friend to ourselves. Sometimes we are able to be good friends with others, but sometimes we may not be a good friend to ourselves. It may be that a friend makes a mistake or may have done something a bit foolish. We might say something, but it would rarely be harsh or overly critical. One would say something, but it would be out of care…