Zen and Faith

If you want to clear a room of Zen practitioners just toss out the word "Faith". Many Buddhist and almost all Zen practitioners hate that word faith.

But in truth we only know things in 3 ways.

1. "Personal Experience" - you experience something and you "believe" it is a "true" experience not a delusion.

2. " Authority" - We accept the word and reports of those we trust that something is true. Most of us if we looked closely would find that most of what we "think" we know to be true about the world falls into this category. Most of my college science projects failed because I messed them up, not because the teacher was wrong. I accept that.

3. " Faith "- Belief that dose not rest on logical or observable proof or material evidence.

I argue that in fact both personal experience and authority rely in the end upon faith. they rest upon faith in our own ability to discern the truth and faith that the authorities we rely upon can discern the truth.

Buddha never asked us to accept anything because he said it was so. he instructed us to follow the way and find out for ourselves.

Zen promises us nothing and is said to rest upon doubt. Perhaps it can be said that in Zen doubt is our faith. Zen begins with the realization that you have exhausted reason and proof in the normal sense of the words and that reaching the absolute requires something else, something beyond reason, proof and authority. Zen is nothing but faith, it is the true nature of faith.

So don't sit because you have faith, sit because what you will experience is faith.