The Power of Faith - Ajahn Nyanadhammo
In our practice of the spiritual path, we have to be going in the direction of the goal, the fruit of the path, but to do that, we have to create the conditions before any results can arise. One important group of conditions necessary for spiritual development are the five spiritual faculties (indriya). When these spiritual faculties are developed, they become strengths (bala), they become powers for the mind, to move the mind towards the goal, in the direction of Dhamma.
So the five spiritual faculties – saddha (Faith/Confidence), viriya (energy/effort), sati (recollection/mindfulness), samadhi (concentration), pañña (wisdom) – when they are cultivated and developed, they become a power for the mind.
Faith is the fuel, the energy which propels us on the spiritual path. For many Western people this quality is actually not very strong when we come to Buddhism, because we often come to Buddhism with the approach of having rejected religions of faith, religions which demand belief. We’ve come from a rational, intellectual and logical appreciation of Dhamma; and so we find it difficult to develop those faith practices like recollection of the Buddha, recollection of his teachings, or recollection of the Ariya-Sangha. And that can be one of our weaknesses – that our strong intellectual side is out of balance – so our practice can be very dry and formal. It lacks the zest, the zeal, the earnestness, the uplifting joy associated with sheer faith. So if this is the case, it may be one of the factors that one may need to focus on if one’s meditation is getting stuck or not developing.
So we do have great paramı, especially to have been born in non-Buddhist countries, but then to have come across these teachings and have the opportunity to practise under these conditions, in a tradition which is still vibrant and alive, which is still transforming people into ariyas. All that is needed is there, it’s just a matter of applying the mind to creating the causes, putting forth the effort. And that effort must be constant and steady.
This is not a 100-yard short sprint, this is a marathon. It takes extended and persistent effort, the attitude of "It does not matter how long it takes, I will continue striving." Apart from the foundation of faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, we must have the trust in the training (sikkha), for it is this training we are undertaking that leads to liberation. We have to trust in our ability to realise the Dhamma.
Saddha can be increased by having contact with the teachings; by reading the Suttas; reading the life of the Buddha; having contact with good monks, having contact with the ariya-sangha; listening to Dhamma and reciting those teachings, bringing them to mind frequently.
In our practice of the spiritual path, we have to be going in the direction of the goal, the fruit of the path, but to do that, we have to create the conditions before any results can arise. One important group of conditions necessary for spiritual development are the five spiritual faculties (indriya). When these spiritual faculties are developed, they become strengths (bala), they become powers for the mind, to move the mind towards the goal, in the direction of Dhamma.
So the five spiritual faculties – saddha (Faith/Confidence), viriya (energy/effort), sati (recollection/mindfulness), samadhi (concentration), pañña (wisdom) – when they are cultivated and developed, they become a power for the mind.
Faith is the fuel, the energy which propels us on the spiritual path. For many Western people this quality is actually not very strong when we come to Buddhism, because we often come to Buddhism with the approach of having rejected religions of faith, religions which demand belief. We’ve come from a rational, intellectual and logical appreciation of Dhamma; and so we find it difficult to develop those faith practices like recollection of the Buddha, recollection of his teachings, or recollection of the Ariya-Sangha. And that can be one of our weaknesses – that our strong intellectual side is out of balance – so our practice can be very dry and formal. It lacks the zest, the zeal, the earnestness, the uplifting joy associated with sheer faith. So if this is the case, it may be one of the factors that one may need to focus on if one’s meditation is getting stuck or not developing.
So we do have great paramı, especially to have been born in non-Buddhist countries, but then to have come across these teachings and have the opportunity to practise under these conditions, in a tradition which is still vibrant and alive, which is still transforming people into ariyas. All that is needed is there, it’s just a matter of applying the mind to creating the causes, putting forth the effort. And that effort must be constant and steady.
This is not a 100-yard short sprint, this is a marathon. It takes extended and persistent effort, the attitude of "It does not matter how long it takes, I will continue striving." Apart from the foundation of faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, we must have the trust in the training (sikkha), for it is this training we are undertaking that leads to liberation. We have to trust in our ability to realise the Dhamma.
Saddha can be increased by having contact with the teachings; by reading the Suttas; reading the life of the Buddha; having contact with good monks, having contact with the ariya-sangha; listening to Dhamma and reciting those teachings, bringing them to mind frequently.