What We Believe – Setsubun – Feb. 3, 2008
Available on Podcast
Today we celebrate Setsubun, which demarcates the division of the seasons, winter and spring. It is customary in Japan to toss beans to drive away Oni or demons. In our culture the belief in spirits, demons, and other supernatural phenomena has been all but eliminated by our acceptance of science and technology. Those phenomena not proven or verifiable by science have been pushed aside or abandoned. Though there are some who do still believe in such things, not only in our culture but in others as well.
Regardless of which side you believe in it isn’t the purpose of Buddhism to convince you one way or the other. Instead in Buddhism we deal in how a particular belief determines how we live.
Last week briefly I spoke about how one might view faith. On some levels we can speak of faith and belief in much the same way. I said that faith was a decision. I was referring to a talk given by a Mormon scholar who had come to the conclusion, at least for himself, that faith is not just an acceptance of some thing but it was the decision to accept those things and then act in a way that is in accord with that belief.
In other words we make a decision to believe something or to have faith in something. But it is more than that we also are making a decision on how we will act. Will we act in accord with that decision? Regardless our actions are the surest proof of what we truly believe.
In religion we decide to have faith, it is a conscious choice to accept things, which often are un-provable, though there may be a basis for that decision on some rational and provable fact; often that is not the case.
For Buddhist and for many in other religions once we make that decision then we must begin the process of determining how we will act in accordance with that decision. The deeper we internalize that decision the deeper we can go into how we will act. And of course what we end up believing in will also determine how we act.
So in the case of science over unscientific phenomena we can see two paths each with distinct tendencies of probable life actions. On the one hand science has the tendency to ignore humanity, relying solely on data and not feeling. A belief in unscientific phenomena, such as ghosts, demons, spirits can lead to the potential to give up control over ones life, becoming a victim of things outside ourselves. Some religions teach the reliance on or belief in some power outside ourselves, again leading to the tendency to abandon responsibility for things, or to a reliance on an other. Then there are some who believe solely in the individual and have tendencies to concern themselves only with themselves, thus isolating or separating their own happiness from the happiness of others.
In each instance it becomes obvious that these approaches are somewhat deficient or incomplete. Reliance on data, ignores feelings and intuition and demeans the un-provable. Belief in unexplained phenomena spirits, ghosts and so forth ignores the power we have to influence, and makes us victims. Ignoring others in search of our own gratification ignores our interdependence with others. Relying on a power outside ourselves can tend to make us act in ways that ignore our own responsibility for outcomes and results.
Buddhism encourages us to look for a middle way. With teachings such as impermance, dependant origination, observance of states of mind coupled with the decision or faith in the truth of the middle way we learn to follow a different path. Buddhism though is not merely a philosophical exploration of concepts and ideas it is about examining the way in which we live and making changes to that way.
In a way each of the previously mentioned beliefs can be considered as expedients, as intermediary steps along the path to a more complete understanding of the reality of life. It is not to say that they are necessarily bad but more that they are incomplete, they favor one approach to how to relate to life over another and sometimes even abandoning one to favor another.
Dependant origination teaches us that there is no independently arising phenomenon. This tends to favor a more scientific rational approach because it asks us to examine everything in relation to everything else. It also disputes a reliance solely on self and self-gratification because it teaches that we can not become truly happy without considering the happiness of others. Impermanence also counters the way of life that puts material things over all else. Since nothing lasts, nothing remains unchanged forever.
Examination of our state of mind and understanding the nature of cause and effect can lead us into realizing that we truly are responsible for the outcomes we experience. Also examining our state of mind can provide us a map, with directions on where we want to go in order to become truly happy, or enlightened.
Buddhism’s approach to the middle way embraces rather than totally rejects. The middle way includes rather than out right excludes. However the middle way does ask to move from extreme to moderation, from narrow one-sided views to wide ranging expansive views. The middle way asks us to consider something in relation to other things.
As we live our lives on a day-to-day basis, let us look at the things we do and ask ourselves do they really reflect what I say I believe in? Are we angry at times, if so it might be wise to ask ourselves what our anger is reflecting about ourselves? Are we so much in a hurry that we ignore or treat others disrespectfully, are we in too much of a hurry to be nice? Again what is that saying about what we truly believe? Asking ourselves what our daily life reveals about us, we can begin to see how perhaps our actions are not always in line with what we say we believe.
So whether you believe in Oni or not is up to you, Buddhism does not require you change either way. What Buddhism does teach us is to not be extreme in your belief. There are many things that we can understand or explain in our daily lives, however we should not become dependent on rationalization. There are things we cannot understand or explain and Buddhism teaches that we should not be victim to the unknown or unknowable.
With that I would like to conclude my Dharma talk and lets chase some demons away. Don’t forget that in order to increase your good health and fortune in the New Year you need to eat the number of beans in your age.
