A friend recently shared his meditation on faith, and it was very powerful. When I described faith in my previous post, I described the components that led to faith and what my faith consists of. In his meditation, my friend perceived faith as just being, untouchable.
This is larger than the faith in my own true Buddha nature that I described. The faith that I described still involves “I am,” for it depends on having faith that that I will go deep within myself and return home to my true Buddha nature. My friend’s faith is in the cosmos … not in the sense of its bringing about any particular result. It’s “just” faith. Things are the way they are because it’s just the way it is. All will be well. Period. He recently had the same experience while meditating on trust.
The mind wants to know where to find faith and leads one to look for it hither and yon. As I did, although in a spiritual place. But faith as revealed in his meditation just is. Nothing can touch it. Nothing that we come up against in our daily life can disturb such faith because it is not based on something happening or being. It just is. As it says in the poem, Affirming Faith in Mind, when “true faith pervades our life … thought cannot reach this state of truth, here feelings are of no avail.”
In his meditation, faith cast off a golden, yellow light, like an eternal flame. It reminded me of a poster my father used to have hanging in his office, “Better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
I had always interpreted that proverb as meaning that rather than bemoan all the problems we face, we should do something that alleviates them, that brings light to the situation. Be proactive.
My friend’s meditation gives that interpretation a somewhat different slant. It is that the light of faith leads one out of darkness, it leads one out of the dark paths that the ego-mind takes us down. So turn to faith to find your way rather than venting your emotions over all the things that you are dissatisfied with in your life. That is the path to peace.
And where does one find this faith? For one has to discover it or reveal its presence. But not in the way that the mind would seek to find faith. One finds this faith by going deep within oneself in meditation. As with all spiritual truths, faith must be revealed from within, not from teachings we have received, to truly change our lives, end our suffering, and bring us peace. So will I meditate further on faith and trust.
But best be reminded that the fact that one has come to faith from within does not mean that one is home free from the intervention of the ego-mind. It is constantly there looking for a weak moment to insert itself and pull you away from your faith and into its vortex. One must be ever-vigilant and strong. One must have the courage of one’s faith and say “no” to the ego-mind when it arises, to not engage it.
This is larger than the faith in my own true Buddha nature that I described. The faith that I described still involves “I am,” for it depends on having faith that that I will go deep within myself and return home to my true Buddha nature. My friend’s faith is in the cosmos … not in the sense of its bringing about any particular result. It’s “just” faith. Things are the way they are because it’s just the way it is. All will be well. Period. He recently had the same experience while meditating on trust.
The mind wants to know where to find faith and leads one to look for it hither and yon. As I did, although in a spiritual place. But faith as revealed in his meditation just is. Nothing can touch it. Nothing that we come up against in our daily life can disturb such faith because it is not based on something happening or being. It just is. As it says in the poem, Affirming Faith in Mind, when “true faith pervades our life … thought cannot reach this state of truth, here feelings are of no avail.”
In his meditation, faith cast off a golden, yellow light, like an eternal flame. It reminded me of a poster my father used to have hanging in his office, “Better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
I had always interpreted that proverb as meaning that rather than bemoan all the problems we face, we should do something that alleviates them, that brings light to the situation. Be proactive.
My friend’s meditation gives that interpretation a somewhat different slant. It is that the light of faith leads one out of darkness, it leads one out of the dark paths that the ego-mind takes us down. So turn to faith to find your way rather than venting your emotions over all the things that you are dissatisfied with in your life. That is the path to peace.
And where does one find this faith? For one has to discover it or reveal its presence. But not in the way that the mind would seek to find faith. One finds this faith by going deep within oneself in meditation. As with all spiritual truths, faith must be revealed from within, not from teachings we have received, to truly change our lives, end our suffering, and bring us peace. So will I meditate further on faith and trust.
But best be reminded that the fact that one has come to faith from within does not mean that one is home free from the intervention of the ego-mind. It is constantly there looking for a weak moment to insert itself and pull you away from your faith and into its vortex. One must be ever-vigilant and strong. One must have the courage of one’s faith and say “no” to the ego-mind when it arises, to not engage it.
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