Belief

The old professor said:

• I have a few stories about belief that I'd like to tell you, so that you can reflect on them for your own lives.
  The first story: a man heard somewhere a few pieces of information about the Japanese treasure of the Second World War. People believed that the Japanese had attacked the countries of Southeast Asia to seize land and also seized a great deal of those countries' gold, silver and treasures to take back to Japan. But unfortunately, the war ended sooner than they had expected, and Japan was occupied by the Allies. The Japanese soldiers could not take the treasure home, so they temporarily buried it in Vietnam and the Philippines, in remote mountain areas. Because he was convinced of this information, the man spent his entire life searching for the treasure, believing that he had the map. He lost a great deal of time and wealth, and in the end he died in despair. This belief was not correct. What he believed in was not real.
  The second story: a young man infected with HIV wanted to start his life over. He went back to his home village and married. He had a belief that HIV would not turn into full-blown AIDS if he was determined to do many good deeds. He had no money to do charity on a wide scale. He had only the modest strength of his youth. He knew that every year in his village, floodwater poured in and destroyed houses and fields. He decided to divert the course of that malicious river so that in the flood season the water would no longer pour into the villagers' houses and fields. He had only a shovel and a hoe. Quietly, he dug the earth to bend the river's flow. When he dug deep, he came upon a seam of gravel and stone that could be used for construction. He sold that gravel and stone to help his wife buy food for each day. After more than half a year of earnest, tireless labour, the course of the river had been turned. In the rainy season of that year, his villagers escaped the ravages of flood. His wife also gave birth to a son, whose blood test came back negative for HIV. His belief was right. What he believed in was real.
  I tell these two stories to give you something to think about regarding belief. Belief belongs to the realm of feeling. It is respected by everyone because it is so personal, and no one bothers to explain whether a feeling is right or wrong. Once you believe, that is that. So you should be extremely careful with your beliefs. If your belief is right, if what you believe in is real, you will achieve success and happiness. Conversely, if your belief is wrong, if what you believe in is not real at all, your life will end in suffering and despair.

A student stood up and asked:

• Professor, how can we know whether our belief is wrong or right?
  The old professor replied:
• Belief is a feeling, so it doesn't like being analysed as right or wrong. If anyone touches a belief, it reacts with discomfort. Even the laws of nations have to give way a step before religious beliefs. All I can do is wish you the luck of having the right beliefs. Good luck when choosing your belief. 🐲

To believe means to hold that something is real even though we don't yet have enough evidence.
For example, A lends B money because A believes B will repay it. A has relied on some data from the past, that B tends to keep his promises and has never been found lying, so A BELIEVES that in the future B will be the same and will repay the money he borrowed. There is no evidence about the future, but relying on data from the past, A is convinced of this.
For example, C pays respects to the banyan tree at the village entrance every day because he is convinced that a deity dwells in the tree and will bestow blessings on anyone who knows how to worship sincerely. The evidence for the deity is not enough, but C once fell ill, prayed to the tree deity to see what would happen, and unexpectedly recovered. From then on C BELIEVED firmly in the existence of the deity in the tree.
Belief will never become science, because it does not have enough evidence. Even without enough evidence, what people believe becomes an important force in their lives and also influences the community and society.
As for rebirth, there is a great deal of evidence, but it is not accepted because many people demand proof. In forensic science, enough evidence is enough to reach a conclusion. I don't know why, in the case of rebirth, even when there is enough evidence, people demand proof; it is rather strange. If, relying on evidence from all over the world, we conclude that rebirth is real, then from now on we need not BELIEVE in rebirth; we need only UNDERSTAND rebirth.
The law of cause and effect is the same: there is no way to prove it; we can only collect cases, reason logically, reflect according to conscience, and then ACCEPT it. We accept the law of cause and effect just as we accepted Euclid's postulates.
Thanks to accepting Euclid's postulates, we have a mathematics as powerful as it is today. If we accept the law of cause and effect, humankind will advance to a tremendous civilisation, an extremely fine one.
Some followers are firmly convinced of God, and of course there isn't enough evidence. Because there isn't enough evidence, other people refuse to believe in God. Those who believe in God hold that those who don't are blasphemous. Those who don't believe hold that those who do are superstitious. This is where the human world is divided. We are still waiting for the day when the world will settle this disagreement.

Many things in this life lack sufficient evidence, and we have no choice but to BELIEVE in order to go into the future. We believe our friend will pay back the money; we believe the company will grow; we believe this marriage will last (which is why we marry); we believe that representative will fulfil their responsibility; we believe the city will find a way to solve traffic jams; we believe the price of this plot of land will rise; we believe this method of training will help improve our health... We believe a great many things. And whenever we believe, the evidence is never enough. But if we believed nothing, we would not know how to live, nor how to enter the future. Sigh...