Hello,
It's me,
Joe,
The Autistic Buddhist.
In this session I want to explore the concept of faith.
As defined,
Faith is,
A complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
In the monotheistic religions,
Judaism,
Christianity and Islam,
There is a very clear idea of what faith is.
Christians,
Jews and Muslims place their faith in God,
And as the definition says,
They place a complete trust in him.
In Buddhism,
Within certain schools,
Such as Pure Land Buddhism,
Faith is aimed at a higher authority or deity,
But generally Buddhists do not have that same relationship with the Buddha.
For us,
The Buddha was a teacher,
A teacher who learned a profound truth and decided to share it with others.
So most Buddhists relate to him as one would relate to a highly knowledgeable and respected teacher.
In Hinduism,
This type of teacher is referred to as a guru.
Often religious faith is emphasized by statues,
Relics and icons.
Lin Ji,
One of the great masters of Chinese Chan Buddhism,
Which is very similar to Japanese Zen Buddhism,
If not the same,
Who died over a thousand years ago,
Said this,
�If you encounter the Buddha,
Kill him.
� Or more often stated,
�If you meet the Buddha on the road,
Kill him.
� What this means is that material objects,
Idols and such,
Are not to be regarded with great respect or revered if they distract you from your spiritual journey.
On the surface,
The idea of killing the Buddha sounds like a terrible thing to say or even think,
But what it really means is that if your image or concept of the Buddha becomes more important to you than your practice,
Then you should rid yourself of that image or concept,
As it will only distract you from your journey towards liberation.
It simply means to let go of any objectification of the Buddha as something outside yourself and focus what is inside yourself.
Don't let the Buddha distract you from your Buddhism or your journey of self-discovery and improvement.
The caution is not to get tied up with objects or rituals but to move forwards towards liberation.
I read a story once about a Zen Buddhist priest in America who had a statue of the Buddha in the meditation hall.
Once he found out that the people were paying more attention to the statue and commenting on it,
He replaced it with one of his old worn out shoes.
His message to his students was clear,
Don't worry about the stone Buddha,
Move on to self-improvement.
I have a small stone statue of the Buddha.
It was given to me by someone I work with who was in recovery.
This person had been a heroin addict for many years,
Became clean and followed a life of sobriety.
One day this person approached me with this small statue and handed it to me and said,
Here,
I've heard you talk about being a Buddhist and he just gave it to me.
I still have that statue and I consider it one of the most holy items I own.
This man who had spent many years in the terrible pain and suffering of a heroin addiction was giving me something to help me in my journey.
I was very humbled by that.
This statue is so important to me not because it is a statue of the Buddha,
But because it represents my friend's journey.
So whenever I look at it,
I don't think of the Buddha at all,
I think of my friend.
I've said in the past how difficult this path towards self-improvement can be.
The journey will always lead back to you and you will discover that you're more responsible for your suffering than you had thought,
Which is something that can be hard to deal with.
It is not easy to become aware of some things that are revealed to you as you move forward.
Then there is the stumbling.
Your path won't be linear,
It won't be a line moving forward in a measured manner.
Sometimes it will be slow,
Other times quicker.
You will stumble,
Fall,
Or move backwards.
This is all part of it and what will be required will be a strong belief that no matter what difficulties you face,
You will be able to achieve your goal.
And that determination I see as faith.
But faith not in something external,
But faith in yourself.
I started this session by defining faith as a complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
Christians,
Muslims,
And Jewish people believe that in times of hardship,
Their faith will get them through.
Despite the hardship,
They can rest assured that their faith will see them experiencing better times in future.
There are certain aspects of this concept of faith that need to be explored.
Firstly,
That it is unwavering.
Faith is not a transient process.
For example,
When you ask God for help,
Your faith in his response will not waver.
The faith I am speaking of here is a certainty that the believer understands that help is coming.
One just does not know when or how.
In essence,
Faith is an act of trust.
Faith offers a sense of reassurance,
Which is the idea of placing your suffering in the hands of something greater.
For the monotheistic religions,
This reassurance is that whatever is causing pain will be dealt with by God and there is a comfort in that.
Faith requires a commitment.
It is not simply an exercise of asking for something and then waiting for it to arrive.
A person needs to commit to certain tasks that demonstrate and support their faith.
For example,
Like my friend,
If you have an addiction and want to become clean,
Your faith in your own ability to achieve sobriety will require significant effort on your part to access supports and treatments.
Lastly,
Faith is a shareable experience.
You can share your faith with others.
You can discuss with them and share with them what hardships you are undergoing and how your application of faith is going to resolve it.
In review,
Faith has these four elements.
It's not transient.
It's based on trust.
It offers reassurance.
It requires a commitment that one acts on their faith.
And it is a shareable experience,
Something that you can talk to with others and share with others.
What all this brings me to is the idea of having a complete trust or confidence in yourself.
I am sure that you have heard statements like,
Believe in yourself,
Or you have to believe that you can do it.
But for me,
Belief is different than faith.
Belief implies that something needs to be accomplished very soon,
If not immediately.
For example,
If I'm playing golf and someone says,
Joe,
You got to believe that you're going to hit that ball.
Or if I'm painting a wall,
Someone else says,
Joe,
I believe you're going to do a really good job.
In these examples,
Belief requires that I do something right now that will have a positive outcome as long as I believe in it.
Belief implies that if you do not successfully complete what you or others believe you can do,
Then that immediate belief ends or gets postponed.
Well,
Joe,
Maybe you'll do better next time.
Faith indicates that if I cannot complete the task now,
I have faith that I will be able to complete it someday.
The quest towards my goal is not over.
It endures.
Allow me to put forward an example of applying the concept of faith to yourself.
Let's say an adult woman,
We will call her M,
Is upset because she has concluded that she always ends up connecting with unsupportive,
Manipulative partners.
M has discovered that her adult relationships have been one abusive experience after another.
M has decided she will place faith in herself,
Faith that she will get to a place where she will no longer have these types of relationships.
What that looks like for M is that she needs to start trusting herself that she will eventually get to a place where her relationship with a future partner will not be abusive.
That trust must be sincere as it will reassure her that even when things are not working out the way they should,
She still trusts herself to move beyond it.
Even if there are delays or errors along the way,
Her faith tells her that she will get where she wants to go,
Because she trusts herself and because she can.
M must also act on her faith.
She needs to complete certain tasks to help her feel safer and stronger.
Perhaps she seeks therapy or supports and asks friends to help her and support her.
Lastly,
M needs to share her faith so that it is a living faith,
Not just a mental concept.
She needs to feel comfortable in discussing her challenges with her helpers and her supportive allies.
She must also acknowledge that there will be difficult times ahead,
But her faith in herself tells her that she will attain these goals.
Not that she can,
But she will.
I would like to ask you to have faith in yourself,
That you develop an absolute trust in you.
This trust will tell you that you can move forward,
That you will resolve your challenges either now or in the future.
Even when times are tough,
Your faith lets you know that you are able to resolve the issue,
That you can do it.
After all,
Your strongest supporter is going to be you.
Example,
My situation is bad right now,
But I have faith that I can,
No,
I will make things better either now or in the future.
Another example,
I wasn't expecting this to happen,
This is not what I wanted,
But I have trust that I will live through this and I will resolve it.
Your faith is going to reassure you.
It will give you something that is extremely important,
And that thing is hope.
When trying to resolve a negative aspect of your life,
Hope is essential.
Also,
Your faith requires you to demonstrate commitment,
A strong commitment to achieving your goal despite current failures or challenges.
Because having faith is not good enough,
You must act on it as well.
Here's a story that demonstrates that.
I know a young woman who wanted to learn to drive.
She took the driver's test and failed.
She was very disappointed.
Later she took a second driver's test and failed again.
This increased her negative feelings about herself.
Advise her to have faith in her ability to pass the test.
Even if she takes it a third,
Fourth,
And fifth time and fails,
Her faith in herself will reassure her that eventually she will pass.
And that is the attitude she approached before taking her third test.
Approaching her third test,
Her outlook was,
If I fail,
I fail.
But I believe that one day I'm going to pass because I can pass this test.
Even if I have to take it another ten times,
My faith tells me that I will achieve my goal at some point.
I will be successful.
She got into the car with the assessor,
Knowing that she's going to pass either now or later.
But she will pass.
After taking her third test,
The assessor informed her that she passed.
Lastly,
Your faith in yourself is shareable.
Even if some people doubt your perspective and criticize it,
You believe in yourself enough that negative comments won't bother you.
And if they do,
Your faith tells you that at some point in the future,
They won't.
I am always grateful for all of you who listen to my podcast and that you put me on your teacher's list on Insight Timer.
It is something that I regard with great respect.
There is something else.
Even though I have never met you,
I believe that you have the capacity,
The ability,
Skill and knowledge to resolve or eliminate all the challenges and negatives in your life.
I have faith in you.
Now all you need to do is to have faith in yourself.
Thank you for listening to this session and goodbye.
