In America, we have very few English-speaking Buddhist teachers/monks/nuns, so we have a heavy reliance on books.  Referring to ourselves as “Barnes and Noble Buddhists” or “Nightstand Buddhists.”  This creates a huge emphasis on thinking and analyzing and debating materials, which can be positive traits and should be retained to a degree in our spiritual quest.  Without questioning or thinking about what you believe on your path, you will just be jumping from one spiritual trend to another, without any concrete “faith,” or having blind faith, which is even worse.  We need a balance of both an emotional/experiential side and an intellectual/philosophical side.

Through meditation experiences, we gradually build what some have termed “Buddhist Faith.”  As we realize more and more that through our experiences that the teachings help us in our lives and ring true for us, it further develops this faith.  When we start to reach this point, we realize that Buddhism is practical more than it is just a philosophy (though it can be studied as one, as many college courses can attest).  There is a story of a monk who was going to threaten the Buddha with leaving the monkhood if he wouldn’t answer a bunch of philosophical questions.  Well, these questions, if answered, would not really relieve suffering.  The Buddha realized this and informed the monk that these questions and their answers have no relevance in regards to removing suffering.

We have many questions we debate over and over with people, sometimes getting quite heated.  One very big one is “Does God exist?”  Whether God exists or not, does not really free humanity from suffering, much less the knowledge of existence or non-existence.  Similar to what created the universe.  Buddhism does not claim to know answers to these questions, so people can believe what they want to believe.  In Buddhism, we focus on freeing people from suffering, everything else is just additional ideas or beliefs that you have, whether good or bad, it is not a big part of the Buddha’s teaching.  That is why we have Christians, Jews, and people of other faiths who see no conflict with practicing Buddhism and keeping their faith.

A practical Buddhism that follows a middle way between the two extremes of over intellectualism and blind faith is what one should strive for.  Meditation is a key way of moving towards this aim.  Through meditation, we are able to develop a greater insight into who we are as people and how best we can take these teachings and use them in our lives.  I like to use the phrase, “Practice Makes Perfect,” when people ask me how many times do they need to meditate.  Without practice, we are focusing on the words describing the actions and not on the actual actions.  By meditating regularly, we are building a more solid foundation from which we can gather a greater understanding of the texts in which we read or the teachings that we listen to.  Everytime our mind goes off of the breath or other meditation object, it is like when we learn to ride our bike and skin our knees (if we weren’t wearing kneepads).  Did we quit everytime we fell off our bike?  I hope not.  When we face difficulty in our practice, we should endure and also use the Buddha’s teachings to be a rock to stand up on and hold firm to as we navigate the busy streets of our minds.  Let us take back the word “faith” and use it not negatively, but as something that allows us to keep going when the going gets tough.

With Metta,

Venerable Sucāra