People of many religious traditions come together across the globe to celebrate the end of a year and to wish for a prosperous new year to come.  There’s something in our psyche that acknowledges this ending and feels the need to mark it, formally or informally, with ritual.  Christmas is that time for Christians, Kwanzaa for certain African American communities, and in Japan, people ring in the new year with 108 sounds of the great bonsho bell at the Buddhist temple. 

For many people in our own Buddhist community there may be mixed feelings about some of these rituals.  We have perhaps dismantled our ideas of God, faith, and organized religion.   Some of us may even be struggling with a sense of purpose and belonging.  Without a strong faith, some may wonder, why even bother investing energy in celebrating the close of the year?

Most of the people I know associate faith with religion and God.  Many who come to Buddhism may have rejected their religion of origin and are trying to find some guidance in their newfound spirituality.  Some may not want to give up on religion but do want to give up on God.  This was the case for me and a lot of other Buddhists I know.  I was drawn to Buddhism, in part, because the Zen teachers I connected with said nothing about God, about having to believe in God, or that God played any significant role in Buddhism. 

Today I feel differently about God.  As a chaplain, I pray with Christians and invoke the name of Jesus.  I find many aspects of the Bible personally comforting and I can totally understand how many people, especially when they are sick, can likewise find wisdom, compassion and a deep sense of belonging by reading passages and connecting with their Christian community and pastors.

However, I benefited greatly, too, from letting go of having a relationship with God and associating God with religion, as well as deconstructing the concept of God.  I distanced myself, intentionally, from people who practiced with conservative views of Christianity.  While this helped me to define myself religiously, my teacher, upon conferring the 16 Bodhisattva precepts, gave me the name of “Daishin,” or “Great Faith.”  I don’t think it was an accident that she did that.  Having taken on the name “Faith” in part of my name has led me to investigate what that concept means within Buddhism.  Does faith, in Buddhism, have anything to do with God?  Do I put faith in Buddha instead?  These were some initial questions I wrestled with.

First, the Chinese character for faith – 信 – literally means “one who stands by their words.”  One who says what they are going to do and then does it, is one who can be trusted and relied upon by others.  It calls to mind the importance of being careful about what we say before we say it, especially if we intend to do something that has implications for others.  Another possible translation, one that may be even better, is “confidence.”  Faith is not blind. 

In one of the earliest Buddhist teachings, the Dhammapada, the Buddha mentions a word that has been translated as faith:

As a strong wind blows down a weak tree, Mara the Tempter overwhelms weak people who, eating too much and working too little, are caught in the frantic pursuit of pleasure.  As the strongest wind cannot shake a mountain, Mara cannot shake those who are self-disciplined and full of faith.   (Chapter 1: 7-8)

Here, faith does not appear to be directed at an object, such as God.  Buddha doesn’t say, “Have faith in me.”  So, what is faith in, if anything?  Perhaps a better way to view faith from this perspective is that faith is a state that each of us is naturally endowed with.  Like a tree, that it can be full and strong, it may be in a younger developmental stage, it may be in a state of decay, or it may be more mature.  It doesn’t matter what stage it’s in.  From a Buddhist perspective, faith is a seed that we all have within us.  The Buddha encourages cultivating it, not for him but for our own well-being and healing.

A second place where faith shows up in Buddhist teachings is in the Buddhist psychological perspective called Abhidharma, or “super Dharma.”  There is a wonderful teaching about “The Five Powers,” the first power being faith.  Faith is the foundation for effort or energy.  Energy is the second power.  When we have a strong faith, it gives us energy.  Why?  Because we are living with a sense of purpose.  To have faith is to know that we belong and that what we do matters.  This gives us energy.

With energy, we have the ability to nourish mindfulness, the third power.  We become aware of what’s happening within and around us and are better able to choose what to do and what to refrain from doing.  Mindfulness leads to the fourth power – concentration.  When we become clear through mindfulness, the mind is better able to concentrate on what’s important and to give it our full attention.  We’re able to discern what we want to let go of, without regrets, and to pour ourselves more fully into the present moment.

Concentration, then, leads to insight, the fifth power.  Insight or wisdom is that which allows us to see into the depths of reality and to know that there is more here than meets the eye.  Insight further increases our faith, and thus the five powers run in a cycle, mutually enhancing (or diminishing) each other.  These five powers are operating so quickly that we may not always be able to tell one from the other.  The Buddhist psychological perspective, though, has teased the five powers out of a single stream of energy so we can understand what’s at play, kind of like a map.  When we see the map, we are clearer on the direction we want to go.

Faith can also be found in later Buddhist writings such as The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, by Ashvagosha, considered one of our Indian Zen ancestors.  The gist of this treatise is that in addition to putting our faith in the three treasures – Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha – we put it, first, in the Absolute dimension of reality.  Buddhism teaches what’s known as the two truths – the Absolute and the Relative dimensions of reality.  These two realities are always here and now in every moment, but we are rarely aware of the Absolute dimension unless we have some kind of disciplined spiritual practice that prepares us for experiencing it (or we spontaneously experience it).

To have faith in the Absolute dimension we need to know how to understand what it’s referring to.  According to Ashvagosha, what he calls “Mind” is the concrete manifestation of the Absolute in the here and now.  “Mind” is not referring to what we usually associate with mind – such as the mind/body duality, or mind versus matter.  Rather, Mind is an all-pervading reality found in everything.  It is that aspect of the universe that enlivens all things, allowing us to see the magnificence in something even as tiny as an atom.  This Mind includes our individual minds, as well as the consciousness of other beings, but also embraces or infuses all material reality.  It is sometimes referred to as Thusness.  It is this Mind that we put our faith in.

Faith shows up in other Buddhist sutras as well, but the main idea of it is that it’s never a blind faith, but faith in our ability to see more deeply than what appears before us and faith in our ability (and others’ ability) to wake up completely to our Buddha nature – our inherent wisdom and compassion in relation to all things.  This leads us and society to the end of suffering.

As my own family prepares for Christmas, I feel apprehension (or maybe it’s internal conflict) around celebrating the year end.  I know that Christmas is tied to a religious narrative that is often dismissed or downplayed by the larger society.  Families get together to exchange gifts not so much because we are motivated by that narrative, but by the commercialization of Christmas.  We often lack understanding on what it means to give.  We may be completely oblivious to what giving has to do with the baby Jesus and thus base our giving on what commercials or family tell us is appropriate. 

This is exactly the time, however, that a Buddhist perspective on faith can potentially transform us, and even augment whatever spiritual or religious tradition we engage with to transition to the new year.  By focusing our attention on the power of faith within us we get clearer about our value in and to the world.  We also potentially inspire others to look for or deepen their own sense of purpose, regardless of religious beliefs.  In addition to whatever we wrap in decorative paper, the gift of faith can be included.  Moving into this year end, may all of us connect with faith in ourselves and others.  May we not only overcome whatever obstacles are pressing in on us, but may we also live out of a sense of deeper liberation and compassion.