Uncertainty
The philosopher Miguel de Unamuno is purported to have commented that people who believe in God but who do so without anguish, uncertainty, or doubt, actually only believe in the idea of God and not God himself.
When I read this recently I thought how appropriate this is to our practice of and faith in the Lotus Sutra. Mistakenly people sometimes think that faith is a condition of belief devoid of doubts or questions. I think doubting and questioning have a valuable place in our Buddhist practice.
It is easy enough to learn the details of Buddhism and further the Lotus Sutra, probably most people could do this with a minimal effort. But knowledge isn’t nearly as valuable in Buddhism as is application, living, experiencing, doing, struggling, in short knowledge without the effort of practical application.
“The wisdom of the present Buddhas is profound and immeasurable. The gate to it is difficult to understand and difficult to enter.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter II)
Right at the beginning of the Buddha preaching the Lotus Sutra he states clearly that this Sutra is difficult to understand and it’s not going to be easy to do either.
“Their wisdom cannot be understood by any Sravaka or Pratyekabuddha because the present Buddhas attended on many hundreds of thousands of billions of past Buddhas, and practiced the innumerable teachings of those Buddhas bravely and strenuously to their far-flung fame until they attained the profound Dharma which you have never heard before, and became Buddhas, and also because since they became Buddhas they have been expounding the Dharma according to the capacities of all living beings in such various ways that the true purpose of their various teachings is difficult to understand.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter II)
You know I never really paid any attention to just how long that sentence is. That is the third sentence of the actual sermon of the Lotus Sutra. Those who are the learners, those who know the theories and doctrines by their mind, won’t understand the wisdom of the Buddhas. Those who are the contemplatives, the self-Buddhas, won’t understand the wisdom of the Buddha. It is only because of the efforts and practices in the past that Buddhas attain their enlightenment. The Buddha never said this before because he was speaking according to the capacities of his listeners, but now he is speaking of his heart of his mind.
We as the Bodhisattvas from beneath the ground have also been exerting ourselves since the remotest past under the Eternal Buddha. Because of making those previous causes and our relationship with the Eternal Buddha it is possible for us to manifest our true selves, our enlightened nature in this life as we undergo great efforts in our daily practice.
Faith isn’t about having no problems, it isn’t about an easy life, it isn’t about not having any questions. We struggle with all of those things. In a sense our daily practice and our lives are the testing ground the proving ground of the truth of Buddhism.
