Originally Posted by
Kojip
One word we don't hear a lot of in Buddhism is Faith. Not faith in the sense of having faith in something, but faith in the sense of resting with nothing, being suspended without "Mind" or "Self" or anything at all to hold. There can almost be a panic, a scramble, to find some principle to hold, but once the grasping and reaching wind down and subside, there is the ordinary solid ground. My favourite Image of the Buddha is the Earth Touching Mudra, where he reaches down and touches the solid ordinary earth...... calls the Earth to witness. Just like that.
Anyway.. been on a posting roll here of late.... but I just wanted to say that. It is very beautiful and reassuring image.
Thanks for this.
Just like Willow, I have also had a strong antipathy against words like faith. It's only recently that I have found a meaning in this word. We are sometimes told to let go, put down, surrender. But if we feel that we are hanging from a cliff, holding on only to a small branch, and don't have great faith, there will be panic and frantic clinging, because beneath us is the certain death of our ego. In this situation, if someone tells us to just let go, we won't listen. So we have to find ways to build that faith. Personally, I have to
know, confirm for myself, realize completely, that there is nowhere to fall, before I can let go. In this sense, I'm a control freak. Maybe we all take different paths, but I would say that by simple practice we can get an intuitive feeling of emptiness, the true nature of reality, and of our own nature. For some, maybe this is enough to have great faith? In Shikantaza, we may sometimes get a glimpse of the emptiness of reality and our true/original/buddha nature first hand. In that moment, I have great faith. But in the next moment, I am still hanging from a branch, refusing to let go. Maybe one day, there will be faith great enough to completely let go in every moment, in every situation in life, great faith always arriving. Then there will be no letting go, because I will not be holding on to anything. But in this moment I can't force myself to have faith, I can only practice. And I suspect that without any faith I wouldn't be practicing. In practice there is already enlightenment. If great faith is not arriving in this moment, that's fine. Ignorance is just buddha nature and we are already Buddha. In this I have faith.
Sorry for lack of clarity... :roll:
ops:
/Pontus