Belief

1. TO BELIEVE IS TO ACCEPT SOMETHING AS TRUE

People living in this world cannot be without a belief. Belief is accepting that there is something lofty and beautiful for us to reach towards. Such a belief may have been firmly verified, or it may not; it may be mere belief. Either we believe that there are spirits watching people's good and evil conduct in order to reward and punish fairly, or we believe that in life we must be ready to sacrifice for our country. In our attitude towards others, and in choosing the path for our lives, belief is very important. But more important still is what we believe, whom we believe, and how we believe.

Life is inherently very complicated. Around us every day happen so many joys and sorrows, so many things right and wrong, some worthy of belief and some not. Sometimes, because we are too credulous, we make regrettable mistakes. At other times, because we are too doubtful, because we have lost faith, we let good opportunities in our lives pass, and may even let down many kind hearts in the world. So each person's attitude towards belief is very important. Especially in today's age of explosive information, we must have the wisdom and the strength of character to choose for ourselves the most correct and most effective way of handling information.

To believe is to accept that something is true. We may believe a story we are told, believe in a person's character, believe a theory or a doctrine... But when do we believe? Faced with a story, we must weigh it. If we hear someone retell a story and believe it at once without thinking it over, that is a mistaken way of believing. For even events recorded in the history books are sometimes wrong. The story of Princess Ngọc Hân, queen of King Quang Trung, is an example. The story goes that when the Tây Sơn were defeated by Nguyễn Ánh's army, Lady Ngọc Hân stayed in the capital Phú Xuân (Huế). Afterwards Nguyễn Ánh, finding her so beautiful, kept her, and she went on to be Nguyễn Ánh's wife. People added "spice" to the story and it became more and more appealing. But now, through research and investigation, historians have found that it was invented and mistaken. So for a long time everyone believed that story to be true. In fact, when the upheaval occurred, she and her two children fled from the citadel. Afterwards the three of them were captured by Nguyễn Ánh's army and killed. In reality, there was no Ngọc Hân who stayed behind to become King Nguyễn Ánh's wife.

Or take another story from Buddhism, a story about the Buddha's past life. Prince Sudāna (Tu Đại Noa) practised giving, the perfection of giving, and would give whatever anyone asked of him. Because of this his royal father became angry and exiled him elsewhere, together with his wife and children. On the way, people asked for his wife and children, and he gave them away too. Because this story is told in the Buddhist scriptures, very many people believed it. According to the thinking of people at that time, the story was regarded as true. For to a man, his wife and children were his possessions. Once they were possessions, he could give them to anyone he liked. For a person with a vast heart of giving, even the greatest and most precious possession, his own flesh-and-blood wife and children, he would be ready to give away. Such a person was therefore truly one with the perfect practice of giving. That was the reasoning of the ancients. But if we turn the question around, we see that this view is entirely contrary to Buddhism. Because in being ready to give away even his wife and children, the Prince showed himself good to others but not good to his own wife and children. Did he know whether, when his wife and children went to live with that other person, they would be treated decently? If he just closed his eyes and gave recklessly, without worry or remorse, even though it was what he loved most, in order to be said to be practising the perfection of giving, that would be very unreasonable and unacceptable. Judged from a humane point of view, this person had no wisdom and did not know how to weigh matters; treating his wife and children in this way was disrespectful and not in keeping with morality.

A story that exposes so many absurd and mistaken points, and yet for a long time we believed it to be true. We must admit that not every story told in the Path is true or accurate. The authenticity of ancient stories in Buddhism is very low. So when teaching our disciples, we should tell only stories that we are sure are real. Living in an age of science and civilisation, people usually weigh matters carefully before believing something. We must be careful, or we will destroy their faith, and sometimes become a laughing stock.

In Buddhism there is the story of the filial devotion of the Oanh Vũ bird. The story tells of a past life of the Buddha when he was an Oanh Vũ bird. Because his parents were blind, the bird gathered grain to feed them. At that time the Venerable Sariputta was a landowner who grew rice. When caught in a trap, the little bird spoke in a human voice. Stories like this are fables only and are not real. So when we use such stories to support our teaching, we must not assert that this is a true story in Buddhism, but must say clearly that it is regarded as a fable to instruct people.

In life we sometimes hear strange stories too. These stories are very appealing, but because they cannot be verified they are hard to believe. For instance, we have all heard a strange story about a hunter. In the French colonial period, when the Sác mangrove forest was still dense, with many tall, shady trees and an abundance of wild animals, there was a hunter who took his gun into the forest every day to hunt. One day he went into the forest as usual. But strangely, even though he had gone deep into the forest, he heard not a single bird and saw not a single animal. It was silent on every side, without a bird or an animal. Then he walked and walked until he reached an unfamiliar part of the forest where he had never set foot before. After crossing the empty forest, coming to a meadow, he saw in the distance an old woman in a drooping conical hat walking towards him. In the empty forest, meeting a human being, he was greatly surprised. But from experience, or from something he had vaguely heard, he sat down to look more carefully. Then he discovered that the old woman's feet did not touch the ground as she walked. He thought that today he had met a demon, and raised his gun, aiming the muzzle at the old woman. With her drooping hat, she was also walking towards him. The two gradually drew closer. When the old woman came within range, he fired at once. At the sound of the gunshot, the old woman leapt towards where he stood. With a hunter's experience, after firing he had rolled to one side at once. When the old woman jumped down exactly where he had been standing, he fired another shot, and she fell dead and revealed her true form: a white tiger. Afterwards he went back to the village and called people to go into the forest and drag the tiger's body back. Knowing it was a white tiger, and a tiger that had become a spirit, they were very afraid and built a shrine to worship it. From then on the hunter gave up his trade altogether and did not dare hunt again. He reasoned that the demon had lured him into the forest to hunt, which meant his time was up. If he persisted stubbornly and went on hunting, he would offend the "lord of the forest".

The story is appealing, and the teller has his reasoning; it is pleasing to hear, but we do not know whether it is true or false. Stories that sound so appealing we should not hurry to believe. To believe would mean we have accepted it as true. But to confirm that something is real we must be very careful and vigilant. We believe only what we have verified, and must not believe something at once just because we have heard it. That is truly the right attitude to life.

It is the same with a person's character: in life, through meeting and dealing with people, we come to judge everyone more correctly. According to the degree of trust, we will keep appropriate relations with them.

For example, when we know someone is bad, we deal with them only to a certain extent, not letting them deep into our lives, just as we have no need to go deep into theirs. We should know that this is not a good person; if we meet on the street, a courteous greeting or an invitation to a drink is enough, and afterwards there is no need to invite them to our home, and we do not go to theirs either.

In our dealings, once we trust another person's character, we can cooperate more easily. In life the need to cooperate with one another is very important, because no one wants to live lonely and isolated in this world. We always need people to cooperate and be in contact with. When we have joys and sorrows, we also need people to share them with and confide in. The need for friends is a great human need. But we must know how to "choose carefully whom to trust"; we should not pour out our life stories to whoever we meet. Sometimes the mistakes of the past that we have already overcome, when told to another person, get spread about with a little "spice" added, and so the mistakes become as fresh as if we had just committed them. That is not good at all, and much trouble arises from it.

It is the same when cooperating with others. In the course of doing the Buddhist work, we may invite some fellow monk to come and live with us at the temple, to cooperate with us in the work of the Path. But then we must know clearly what kind of person he is, and must be able to trust his character, before we can cooperate. If we are an abbot and want to accept disciples, we also have to trust our student's character to some extent. As for how we trust and to what degree, that depends on each person's judgement and on each person's strength of character. If we have strength of character, we will see more deeply, or through long contact we will assess the person accurately and come to trust them. Sometimes we trust because of what people say, and sometimes we trust through intuition.

For example, someone comes to us and often tells good stories about themselves: how they have made offerings to this temple and that temple, how they have helped this person and that person... Hearing this, we believe they really are a good person. This is something we often fall into. If we trust a person's character only through their own words, without ever having witnessed or verified it, we have made a mistake.

Trusting someone because we have lived near them for a long time is the belief with the firmest basis. For when we have lived together for a long time, no one can hide anything from the other. Our ancestors were profound in offering this experience for judging a person:

"Stay up at night to know how long the night is.

Stay long to know how shallow or deep a person's heart is."

Truly, observing and judging people in order to have a belief, through a period of close contact, is the surest way.

Sometimes we use intuition to believe. That is, when we meet someone, by intuition we feel at the very first moment whether this person is good or bad. This is often seen in women. Compared with men, women have stronger premonition and intuition. But the reason they still make mistakes in relationships and judgement is that they are very easily swayed. At first, with just a glance, they know at once that this is not a good person, but hearing themselves praised so much and the person being so sweet, they believe at once. Men do not have intuition as strong as women, but to make up for it, they are very firm.

Besides believing in a person's character, we also have other beliefs, belief in a theory. It may be a theory of economics, politics or physics... This is belief concerning higher, more abstract matters.

For a long time in Europe people believed that if people were left free to do business, society would grow rich, strong and developed. But at some point, because there was too much freedom, a situation appeared in society where people exploited others. A person with a lot of money, who owned a factory, when workers came to work, they had to submit to the owner's management and treatment. Because he held power in his hands, the owner paid workers whatever he liked, or made them work however many hours a day he liked. Anyone who did not agree or comply would be dismissed by the owner. So, in order to survive, employees had to depend entirely on the owner. And the owners, seeing that they had the power, went all out to exploit the workers, making them work a great deal, with poor working conditions and low pay, in order to make high profits. Society became unjust.

For a time, people changed their view. They thought people should not be left so free, and the State must manage and direct all economic activity. After a period of working, a situation of working at half-pace appeared. Because people held that everything belonged to the State, no one was willing to work. The State had a subsidy system, and whether they worked much or little, they all received a stable salary for the month. No one was willing to make an effort to work, and civil servants would "carry their umbrellas out in the morning and carry them back in the evening", so the economy declined seriously.

Today in some Western countries people still believe that if people are left free, society will develop. But recently (about the last two years) an economic crisis has appeared in Southeast Asia, starting in Thailand, passing through Indonesia, and going round to Japan and Korea... At that time the Southeast Asian countries began to reconsider the so-called free market and saw its limitations. Because they believed absolutely in those economic theories and applied them thoroughly, many countries failed. So we should not believe absolutely, and need to be careful to avoid regrettable mistakes.

Sometimes it is belief in a theory of physics, of biology, scientific theories... For example, Darwin's theory of evolution holds that all living things on earth evolved from simple species to complex ones, the most complex being human beings. And before human beings came the monkeys. In other words, according to that theory, the ancestors of humankind were monkeys. After all, we see that Darwin's theory of evolution, though believed by very many people, is only a theory and has not been scientifically proved. Meanwhile, we do not yet believe in anything else that could create a new way of behaving.

Imagine that if we believed human beings originated from monkeys, then some of us would look at the many people before us, with their lovable, endearing faces, and see them as we see monkeys. How would they behave towards others? It might be contempt, because they would think that after all human beings are just animals. This is something we should be careful about.

In our Buddhism there is a doctrine: all sentient beings have Buddha-nature. Buddha-nature is something absolute and lofty lying deep in one's spirit. If we believe in that, believe that Buddha-nature is in ourselves and in others too, then before our eyes the faces all become beautiful and lovable. Because in seeing these faces, we no longer see merely people but see within them the image of the Buddha. If we see everyone as gentle and compassionate like the Buddha, we will respect and love them. So we can draw one conclusion: belief in a certain theory shapes people's way of behaving. If that belief is right, it will create good conduct for our own lives and for the relationships between people in society. Conversely, if we believe blindly, believing in things with no basis, we will behave mistakenly.

Or there is the Big Bang theory, the first great explosion of the universe. When they pointed telescopes at the universe, scientists saw that the galaxies are moving further and further away from one another. Let us picture a galaxy: it is made up of billions upon billions of stars like the sun. Around those stars there may be many planets, like our solar system. The sun is only a very small star, and a galaxy consists of billions of suns like our sun. From seeing in the sky that galaxies move ever further apart, scientists inferred that in the past they must have been close together. They hold that this inference is reasonable. And because the galaxies were once concentrated in one place, their gravitational pull was very high. Scientists believe that the universe in the past was just a single point, which then burst into a great explosion. In the course of the universe's explosion, life took shape, planets took shape, human beings and living things took form...

Today very many great scientists and great scholars believe in the Big Bang theory, believe that the universe began with an explosion. However, we may not believe it because we notice many very unreasonable points. It is hard to believe that the universe began with an explosion. Scholars are making every effort to prove this theory, proving it with all the modern means of satellites and computers. One of the world's great scholars, who is very enthusiastic and tries hard to prove this theory, is Stephen Hawking. He has a disability: he cannot speak and cannot move, and only his hand is still active, able to press keys. Yet he still goes to lecture at universities and makes every effort to prove the Big Bang theory. But many people hold that scholars will never succeed in proving it, and they never believe in that theory. So in this life there are many very attractive theories, but not everything can give us belief. We believe only what has been proved and verified. As for whether the Big Bang theory is right or wrong, we must wait for the answer of science and of time.

Besides the matters above, we have other beliefs too: belief in a doctrine (religious belief). For example, we are Buddhists, we believe the Buddha's teaching, we believe that in this world there is cause and effect and the cycle of rebirth. That is our good fortune because that belief is entirely right. When we believe in cause and effect, we will know how to weigh our lives, weigh all our actions in order to become people of morality. But many people do not have that good fortune because they have no belief or believe in other teachings. Today in America hundreds of thousands of religions exist, some with only one person, some with two or three, some with hundreds of thousands. So religious belief is a very important matter in human life. If we believe in a right teaching, our lives will be uplifted and good. Conversely, if we believe in wrong teachings, we will fall into wrong views. That is very dangerous and also very pitiable. In short, in life there are many things for us to believe in, but they can be summarised in four: belief in a story told, belief in a person's character, belief in a theory (of economics, politics...), and belief in some doctrine.

These are things commonly met in life and have a very great influence on each person's life. If we have belief in things that are right, our lives will be good. If we believe in things unworthy of belief, our lives may go down to hell.

2. WAYS OF BELIEVING

Faced with an event or a matter, there can be many ways of believing. This depends on the nature of the matter, and on the person who passes on the information and the person who receives it.

First is believing easily without reflection. This is called credulity. A credulous person, faced with some matter or story, believes it easily without reflecting, even believing in a very naive way. Such people are usually without strength of character and without wisdom. This can also be regarded as a sickness. So who usually suffers from this sickness? Those who are too honest and think everyone is as good as they are. Often, because they are so honest, such people have paid a very high price in their lives because others took advantage of their trust without their knowing. That is why our forefathers often said: "Honesty is the father of fools." Another type also counted among the credulous is women who like to gossip. They very easily believe what others say. When they go to a neighbour's house to chat, they find whatever they are told appealing and believe it at once. Once they believe it, they cannot rest until they tell someone else. So the story spreads very quickly and sometimes is blown up beyond the original truth. La Fontaine, the poet regarded as the world's master of fables, has a very fine poem, "A Secret with Women". In the story, the husband wakes after a night's sleep and suddenly announces that he has laid a golden egg; the wife believed it was true and told this extraordinary story to a neighbour as a secret. Though carefully warned to keep it secret because "I am telling only you", as soon as the woman left the house, the dear friend hurried to the neighbours to repeat the story she had just heard. So by the time the story reached the tenth person, the man had laid not one but ten golden eggs. When in truth he had not laid a single egg.

This utterly absurd story was easily believed by the women and spread very quickly. The habit of liking to have a story to offer as a gift, whatever it is, from matters in heaven to matters on earth, so long as it amuses, has become a bad habit in some women. Because of credulity, and because when they meet they have nothing to talk about, their stories sometimes bring others unforeseeable consequences.

In the Path, this calls for even more care. When some people hear groundless stories and wrong things, they do not judge or reflect but believe at once. Those are people without strength of character. Such people believe very easily and so are easily deceived by others. In life we meet countless unexpected situations and hear countless "earth-shattering" stories. But what matters is that we know how to judge; we should not believe whatever we hear at once.

For example, one day someone runs into the temple from somewhere, out of breath and in a flurry, and cries: "Oh my! There's a fight out on the street, people stabbing and slashing each other, it's terrible." Faced with this news, do we believe it or not? Why? We must judge whether it is true. But what do we rely on to know whether it is true? If we are not credulous people, first we simply listen calmly to what is said, then check and probe by relying on the attitude and expressions of other people. If a few more people also come running in out of breath and in a flurry like that, we believe what that person said is true. If many people also come into the temple from the street, but they show no alarm and no different attitude, we know at once that nothing has happened out there. For if there had truly been an earth-shattering stabbing, how could they be so calm? So perhaps someone made up the story to fool us for fun. In life many such stories come to us, and we must judge and not hurry to believe at once.

Or often there are stories that are very funny, but which would greatly affect others if we believed them hastily without reflection. For example, someone comes to the temple to visit and, while chattering about all kinds of things, suddenly sees a monk walking behind the monks' quarters and says: that monk used to live near my house; because his parents did not allow him to marry the person he loved, he grew bitter with life and left to become a monk. Hearing that story, what attitude should we take? We must judge whether it is true. So what do we rely on to know the truth and to take an attitude of belief or disbelief?

Some people hold that because they have not seen it with their own eyes, they do not believe the story. But in reality, there are also quite a few things that are true that we have not seen with our own eyes. So judging only by whether we have "seen it with our own eyes" is sometimes inaccurate. We must reason from other factors. In this case, the best thing is to look at that monk's attitude in practice. If he is a serious practitioner, joyful and cheerful, then we cannot believe that what people say is true. If we believe hastily and pass on that untrue information, we will bear guilt towards others.

Besides believing easily without reflection, there is another way of believing: believing because we find something reasonable. That reasonableness depends on whether the listener's power of judgement is deep or shallow. When we hear any story, we must judge whether it is right or not before we believe. If our judgement is not thorough, what we believe is not very secure. If we judge deeply, what we believe can provisionally be regarded as sound.

For example, there is a rumour that the year 2000 is the year of "the end of the world". Whether this is credible depends mainly on each person's ability to judge and check. First, we must ask the person passing on the information what they base it on in saying the world ends in 2000. If they say it is based on a sutra, we must find out which sutra. If it is the sutra of the "Coconut Religion" man, then the story is clearly made up. If they assert that science says in 2000 there will be a meteorite, a planet, striking the Earth, and that the newspapers have reported it, we also must not believe at once; we must ask which newspaper reported it and ask to see the article directly. If a newspaper really did publish the results of a scientist's research, with very reasonable reasoning, we may believe. Based on the paths of meteorites and the movement of Earth's orbit, they hold that a meteorite will pass very close across the Earth's orbit. They calculate the moment of this crossing as exactly the year 2000. At that time, this great collision would cause an end of the world: the Earth might be dented, the seas boil over, life be destroyed...

However, that is not certain either. For from the time they announce their research results to the time of the event there is quite a long span, and the calculation may be off by half a second. In that half second, the meteorite's path may deviate by about three hundred kilometres. Relative to the size of the universe, that distance may be only a grain of sand, but for the Earth, that distance is far too large. So, according to the calculation, we may provisionally believe it, but it is not certain to happen. At present we have nothing to worry about; we simply carry on our normal life and calmly listen to the sutra teachings and recite the Buddha's name. In short, when we hear something we must examine it thoroughly and reasonably, and not believe whatever anyone says.

Another way of believing is based on the speaker's credibility. When we hear someone say something, we must see how credible that person is. If we have lived and worked with them for many years, and see that whatever they say is right and they have never lost credibility with anyone, we can believe that what they say is right. Believing in this way is called believing on the basis of credibility. If they have never lied to anyone, but also have nothing special on which to base belief, then faced with important information they give, we should also not believe hastily.

There is a story that people tell one another as a lesson from experience, and we should take note of it. It is about the relationship between a Chinese man and a Vietnamese man. The man of Chinese origin knew a very wealthy Vietnamese man. One day he came to borrow a thousand đồng from his friend because of an urgent need, promising to repay it in three days. On time, three days later he brought the money to repay it, along with a hand of bananas and some fruit. About a month later he came again to borrow five thousand đồng and promised to repay in two days. Exactly two days later he brought the borrowed money to repay it, together with some fruit as thanks. In this way he built up trust in others. For three years he borrowed and repaid exactly on time like this, and his friend showed no suspicion. Finally, when the amount borrowed reached millions, a very large sum, he vanished without a trace. This is "credibility business", that is, building credibility so that people trust you, and then cheating them. The nature of such people is not genuine. However, this case is very hard to recognise. In general, we trust someone through the process of dealing with them. They usually tell the truth, so now, whatever they say, we can believe.

Fourth is believing because of tradition. That is, in the past our ancestors said something, and over time we see that it is reasonable, so we can believe it. For example, the ancients said:

"If you want to cross over, build a bridge;

If you want your child to be learned, you must love the teacher."

That is, only if parents respect teachers will children be able to study diligently, because they also obey their teachers.

However, some things our ancestors left no longer suit today's age. If we believed them, we would treat people unjustly. For example, in feudal times people held that "one son counts as something; ten daughters count as nothing." That society valued sons more than daughters. They held that a son carries on the family line and worships the ancestors, while a daughter belongs to another family, and when grown follows her husband and shoulders the burdens of her husband's household. That notion has been deeply rooted in the lives of the Vietnamese people for generations and has left many tragedies for women. In fact, today not a few sons, once they have set up their own households, know only their wives and children and neglect their old and frail parents. Conversely, not a few filial daughters, in whatever circumstances, take care of their parents.

We believe in the tradition of our forefathers, but we apply it reasonably according to circumstances and to the people concerned. Speaking of tradition, we remember the Kalama Sutta:

Once, the Buddha came to the region of Kalama, and the elders there came to meet him and said:

• Venerable Gotama, people say that you have a charm that makes followers of other religions who meet you abandon their religion and follow you. We do not wish to misrepresent you; we do not wish to misrepresent the truth. Please confirm whether this is true: do you have a charm or not?

The Buddha answered:

• Do not believe what is based on rumour; do not believe what is handed down by tradition; do not believe what is said by someone who seems respectable; do not believe what your own subjective thinking holds to be right. Believe what we have practised, examined and weighed, and have clearly seen the results of.

The Buddha did not answer the elders' question but gave advice. His answer has become a unique declaration of Buddhism, which the whole world now praises. For people say that no founder of a religion encourages doubt; every founder calls on people to believe in him; only the Buddha advised people to examine and to doubt. The famous philosopher Descartes also said: "I doubt, therefore I think. I think, therefore I am." Here the Buddha has given us a proper attitude of doubt.

There are also cases of believing because we hear many people spreading rumours. Indeed, faced with a matter, hearing many people rumour it, we will very easily believe it.

In the past, there was a king who, during his reign, heard very many people report that a certain official was not good, a minister who was not good. The king asked Yan Zi (Án Tử). Yan Zi said:

• Your Majesty, if one person told you there is a tiger in the market, would you believe it?

• I would not believe it; how could there be a tiger in the market? - the king replied.

Then Yan Zi asked further:

• If a second person also came and told you there is a tiger in the market, would you believe it?

• Now I begin to believe, because two people have said it.

• If a third person came and told you there is a tiger in the market, would you believe it?

• Now I believe, because three people have said the same thing - said the king decisively.

Then Yan Zi answered:

• Your Majesty, you see, a tiger in the market is something that cannot be, and at first you could not believe it. But by the time the third person said it, you believed it. So in this life too, there are things that are not true and cannot be believed, but because many people repeat them again and again, they make us believe. Your Majesty, be careful.

Hearing this, the king understood. From then on he no longer listened to slander. For there were very good ministers who, being envied and slandered many times, were believed against by the king and dismissed.

In life there are quite a few similar cases, so we must be careful. There is an amusing story about a doctor's way of treating illness which, on reflection, is also very profound. One day a patient who had had an accident was brought to the hospital for emergency treatment. After examining and treating the wound, the attending doctor told the patient's family: "The wound is not serious; the patient need only stay one day and can leave the hospital." The family was very glad and prepared to complete the discharge procedures. But the next morning when they met again, the doctor put on a very grave air and required the patient to stay in the hospital for treatment for at least a month. The family asked why and the doctor answered: "It's true that yesterday I saw nothing serious, but when I went home, everyone said that it was serious, and I felt the same, so I had to decide to keep the patient for further treatment." It is truly a story to laugh at through tears.

Or when someone says that they saw with their own eyes the monks in the temple going to market to buy meat dishes, at first no one believes it. But the next day another person says something similar, and then a third, a fourth... Hearing many people rumour it, people begin to believe it, even though they did not believe it at all before.

Rumours by nature have very great power and can kill people. So we must keep a clear head and break free of rumours. Faced with rumours, we should not hurry to believe but must consider carefully. If in truth a thing never happened, but because we have heard it rumoured too much we believe it to be true, then that belief brings us guilt. Remember that to think wrongly of a good person is to bear guilt.

Another way of believing is believing on the basis of intuitive perception. That is, when someone tells us a story about somewhere, just from hearing it we guess that the story is true and form a belief. Or there are stories told that are not true, and just from hearing them we guess at once. This depends on each person's intuition. People who have practised for a long time usually have such intuition. The way of believing through intuition cannot be argued out or explained. As long as we still have merit, intuition remains, and if we practise it remains; if not, it will be gone.

3. TWO MISTAKEN WAYS OF BELIEVING

a. Superstition:

"Mê" means deluded, not knowing how to judge. Superstition is believing irrationally in mysterious things, without using reason to judge. It is precisely believing blindly in mistaken things and wrong views that leads us into errors and diminishes our merit. So how do we believe, and in what do we believe, such that it is called superstition?

First, it is believing in doctrines that are too mistaken; most of these doctrines belong to religion.

For example, in the past, because they could not explain natural phenomena, people usually held that each phenomenon was created by a deity. For instance, they believed that it was the God of Fire who created fire for all beings. The ancients found fire with great difficulty and hardship. They had to strike stones against each other with tinder placed in between. When it grew hot, the tinder would ignite and there would be fire. Afterwards, people had to burn firewood to keep the fire. If the fire went out, it was very hard to light again. Because getting fire was so hard, they always had to pray to the gods for fire. They thought that when rubbing to make fire they must call the name of some god for the fire to appear quickly. And they believed there was a God of Fire. Because they believed this, they regarded the God of Fire as a very sacred deity. They lit fires, danced around them to pray, then made offerings, worshipped... The belief of worshipping the God of Fire lasted for a very long time in the lives of the people.

So, only because the ancients' technique of making fire was very primitive, they had to believe in something that was completely unreal. Most of their precious time they spent lighting fires and then prostrating before the flames, believing that a god was in them. Now, living in a civilised age, to have fire, people need only gently flick a gas lighter.

Or people believe that in this world there is a Creator God, the supreme, all-powerful being. All wrongdoing and merit in this life is decided not by people but by God. If a person has harmed living beings, killed or robbed, he need only kneel before God, plead and repent, and all sins will be gone. That is a very blind and mistaken belief. People can commit any number of sins, then buy offerings to present to the spirits and to God to ask forgiveness, and when they die they too will go to Heaven. If we had such a belief, we would become extremely wicked people. And yet in the world this belief still exists. Some religions still encourage people to believe in that way. And people may even kill and massacre one another so long as it pleases their God. These are extremely mistaken doctrines, and if people believe them, they will go down a mistaken path of wrong views. That is called superstition, without judgement or reflection.

Second is believing in fate without relying on the law of karmic results.

We often meet this in the daily life and activities of ordinary people. For example, people believe that anyone born into a rich family will surely be happy when grown. Or born into a family of mandarin descent, a person will be capable. Conversely, anyone born into a poor family will afterwards be only lowly and ordinary, and so on... That belief has no basis, and no cause and effect. The Buddha denied it: "There is no caste when human blood is equally red." A person's value lies not in being born of a rich and noble or a poor and humble line, but in their character, wisdom and virtue. Without needing to know their origins and the circumstances of their birth, looking only at the present, if a person has morality and wisdom, they already deserve our respect. So what the Buddha said is based on true cause and effect; believing in caste and lineage is a mistaken way of believing, and may also be called superstition. It is precisely this way of believing that leads people into mistakes in how they treat others and in how they cultivate and train themselves. A person from a family of lineage and wealth will rely on that and not strive or train. A person from a poor and humble origin will feel inferior, self-conscious and pessimistic and will not want to make an effort to change their life.

In reality, there is one more thing that many people still believe today without knowing how right or wrong it is. That is belief in "auspicious" days and hours. People hold that if you go out on a good day and hour, work will go well; conversely, meeting a bad hour, work will not succeed, or you will meet with bad luck. In fact, choosing days and hours is something very hard to understand and explain. In some cases people test it and it proves right, but judged by the law of cause and effect, it is wrong.

The clearest example is people's horoscope. When the day and hour of someone's birth are charted, according to the horoscope chart people know how their life will turn out. Often, having been through life's ups and downs, comparing with their horoscope, they find that what was interpreted there is very accurate. So people believe that the time and moment of a person's birth foretells their life. But in the end, which day and hour one is born on is due to Karma, to cause and effect. If we were born only slightly into that hour, we would have a happy life, but cause and effect does not allow it; karma has made it so, and what can we do?

Or take the case of relying on time to do divination by finger-counting, calculating a person's success or failure. Many people believe very strongly in this. They have set rules for finger-counting divination. But this is sometimes right and sometimes wrong, not absolute. Some people have tried finger-counting divination and say the rate of accuracy is about 50% to 60%. So we should not believe this is absolutely right, to avoid being deceived; we must understand that the root of absolute rightness lies in cause and effect. Simply believe that in life, if we do wholesome things, we will reap good things. Believing in cause and effect in this way is called right faith. Never believe that without helping anyone, without making offerings to the temple, without giving, without releasing living beings, without doing any wholesome deed, we need only choose a good day to set out or to begin work and we will succeed. That is superstition, belief without basis.

Third is believing in truths that are limited (science). Science is very advanced, and science is inherently right but not completely absolute. In fact, science still has many limits and there are still many things it can do nothing about. And yet very many people, especially the educated, tend to believe absolutely in science. They hold that whatever science says is right is right, whatever science says is wrong is wrong, and they often cite science to prove their opinions in debates. This too is a kind of superstition.

For example, in medicine today there are many illnesses that Western medicine cannot cure but that can go away after taking traditional herbal medicine and acupuncture many times (rheumatism). Or chronic nephritis: the two inflamed kidneys gradually shrink and no longer filter blood and water. A person with this disease retains water, their blood pressure rises, they swell up and can easily die. Western medicine cannot cure it. Usually people treat it by removing the inflamed kidney and asking for another person's kidney to be transplanted, or by dialysis, a few times a week, very painful and miserable. People with this disease almost never go far from the hospital and never leave their dialysis machine, and live very miserably. And yet there are people who, on meeting traditional southern or northern herbal medicine, are cured. Many patients were sent home by the hospital because it could do nothing, but through Eastern medicine they recovered...

There are things that science judges and tests in practice that turn out to be entirely wrong. Or there are things science cannot yet see. For a long time, because science did not see the metaphysical world, it denied the existence of the metaphysical world and did not believe in the soul. But reality shows that it is real, that the spiritual world is real. Today, through certain phenomena occurring in life, many people have come to believe and have gathered information from all over the world about the metaphysical world. However, no one has yet found a way to prove it.

For example, the flying-saucer phenomenon that appeared about eight or nine years ago in America gave countless scientists a headache. On the highways of America, where bright electric lights are lit, flying saucers came to take a look. Once, the army's radar station sounded an alarm that a strange object was flying in American skies. Hearing the alarm, two aircraft hurried to chase it. Watching the radar screen, the specialists saw a flying saucer appear very clearly. The lead pilot pressed a button to record that image on cassette and on video tape. As they rushed close to the saucer, suddenly they saw it drop in altitude very abruptly: from high up, whoosh, the saucer descended to the ground and vanished. When they studied and calculated from the video tape, they realised that the saucer's acceleration was extremely fast. The Earth's gravitational acceleration is about 9.8 m/s². The saucer's acceleration, by their calculation, was several thousand. In just a few seconds it could accelerate tremendously and vanish. People did not understand what engine could let the saucer accelerate so fast; the Earth could not do such a thing. It could even become invisible, leaving no trace, like a ghost. Their science has advanced that far, and it will be a long time before we can catch up.

Fourth is subjectively believing in one's own thoughts. Whatever we think up, we absolutely believe it is right. This is also a kind of superstition arising from conceit. If we are subjective out of conceit, always believing our own thinking is right, we will fall into a mistaken way of believing, which is also superstition. It is superstition that leads to loss of merit. So each time we think about something, we should consider it for a while. If we find it reasonable, then we may think that what we thought is right. This is also a precious experience for us in life to avoid mistakes.

b. Fanaticism.

Fanaticism is believing in something too fervently, leading to excessive behaviour.

For example, in front of a certain temple there was a very large jackfruit tree many years old. One day, someone from nowhere looked at it and said: This jackfruit tree is very sacred and protects this whole area; no one may cut it down. Anyone who wants to study well must burn incense and kneel and bow to the jackfruit tree every day. At first people half believed and half doubted. Afterwards everyone believed it fervently and began to protect it, build a fence and burn incense to it. Some even stood guard there, and everyone who passed was made to bow, and if they did not they were fined... Believing like this is called fanaticism. Because of believing fervently and without basis, it leads to excessive behaviour.

Some religions have fervent doctrines, defending the religion by violence and spreading their faith also by violence. For example, followers of Islam talk to each other with guns and bullets. Anyone who offends them or offends their religion will be killed at once. They believe that action is praised by Allah. This is completely contrary to the position of Buddhism. The Buddha advised us that we must practise forbearance and win over those who offend us by words and by reasoning, not by weapons and violence.

Or there are religions that believe that when they die people will go to Heaven, so they burned themselves (the Order of the Solar Temple in Switzerland). That too is fanaticism. Or there is the case of followers of the Heaven's Gate religion who drank poison and killed themselves because they believed they would go to another planet to live more happily. All these actions are extreme and excessive and come from human fanaticism. So we must be careful. When we believe in something and feel that it makes us hot-tempered and fervent, we must recognise at once that we have begun to go wrong, to move away from truth, because truth leads only to peace and calm. In other words, believing in what is right makes us calm, whereas if we believe in something and show excessive haste and heat, then be careful: what we believe is wrong.

Today in the world there are cases where fanaticism has led to bloody ethnic conflicts. For example, in Africa many tribes hate one another, because each tribe believes that only they are right and other tribes are enemies. So they try to slaughter each other very savagely.

In Rwanda, the Hutu and Tutsi peoples hate each other bitterly and sometimes massacre one another horribly. If one tribe meets a newborn child of the other tribe, they take hold of its two legs and tear it apart. They treat each other very cruelly. Looking from outside, we see only Africans, all with curly hair, black skin and dazzling white teeth, all looking the same. But among them there are very large gaps and differences. They believe that they are the ones who deserve to live and that those on the other side deserve to die. Clearly, believing like this, they will kill one another without mercy. That too is called fanaticism. Of course, this also results from some past karma, but that does not deny that their fanatical attitude led to excessive behaviour.

Discrimination by skin colour leading to violence is also an expression of fanaticism. Even in this century, in America there is still discrimination by skin colour, with whites favoured and blacks shunned. Black people were deprived even of a citizen's right to vote. There, some restaurants are only for white people; some schools do not admit black pupils; on buses, black people always sit at the back. Precisely because there is such discrimination, struggles for the equal rights of black people have occurred continually in America. A pastor famous for fighting for that equality was Martin Luther King. He was an orator and spoke very well. In 1968 he was assassinated by the hands of extremist white people. They wanted to kill him to halt that wave of struggle. At that time the KKK, the Ku Klux Klan, appeared in America. Whenever they acted, this group wore all white and hooded masks, rushed in to burn houses, seize and kill black people and destroy their churches. That group still exists today, but operates covertly. For a time the FBI hunted them very intensively.

The reason there was such discrimination, leading to violence, was that white people believed that only they were human beings and the most intelligent; black people were not human, and deserved to live only as slaves. Pastor Luther King mobilised people throughout America to struggle against this discrimination, struggling peacefully. His words moved everyone. He became famous everywhere for his oratory, above all the speech "I have a dream". In his speeches he often said "I have a dream" without stating clearly what the dream was. Once, when speaking on the subject of the ethnic struggle, he also said "I have a dream". Just as the speech ended, someone suddenly shouted: "Please tell me your dream." Then he spoke impromptu and passionately about his dream, and that speech became a masterpiece of humankind.

He said: I have a dream; in that dream, the people of the world live together, loving one another without distinction of skin colour or race. I have a dream; in that dream there is a school where white and coloured children hold hands, play happily and love one another. I have a dream in which people give up all thought of distinction by skin colour and race and know only how to love and to build this life as good as a Heaven. I have a dream...

He went on speaking passionately like that, so that everyone listening was moved and burst into tears. This is his famous sermon. When he died, indignation rose to a peak and the Federal government had to issue strict decrees on equality between black and white people. To erase this was to erase a fanaticism that had existed for so many years and caused so much suffering to the black people living within America.

Another expression of fanaticism is terrible political struggle. In speaking of the Path, we do not want to bring in politics. But we must understand that politics has led people to fanaticism. For example, when he came to power, Hitler declared that the superior Anglo race of the Germans was the race worthy of ruling all of humankind, and all other races deserved only to be slaves. That theory instilled belief in the German people intensely and fanatically. So the Germans did not hesitate to line up, take up guns and set out to conquer one place after another. So believing in some theory in order to be able to slaughter others is also a kind of fanaticism. A political doctrine can lead to brutal and fierce wars. So we must be careful and stay far from it.

As disciples of the Buddha, we believe in the compassionate teaching of Buddhism in order to live and to build a peaceful life for people, staying far from theories that increase boiling rage and resentment so as to slaughter our fellow human beings. Remember that fanaticism leads to creating very grave wrongdoing and superstition leads to loss of merit. Of course, superstition also carries wrongdoing, but not as grave as fanaticism. Fanaticism creates terrible karma, so we need to be alert and never fall into fanaticism.

4. RIGHT BELIEF BRINGS MUCH BLESSING AND BENEFIT

The opposite of superstition and fanaticism is right belief. It brings us much blessing and benefit. So what do we believe in to be said to have right belief?

It is to believe in the Buddha. Truly, believing in the Buddha brings us great merit. Because we have placed right belief in a lofty, transcendent teacher perfect in virtue. When we believe in the Buddha, reverence will arise in us. Everyone knows that by revering a Sage, we ourselves gradually come to show the character of a Sage. This is precisely the key for us to develop wisdom and character. Understanding this, we will love, trust and hope in people and not despise anyone. Seeing someone make a mistake, we do not despise them because we know that person has not yet reverence for the Buddha. If one day they have reverence for the Buddha, they will rise above their faults. Because of this point of cause and effect we have faith in people and do not cast anyone aside.

Even a person who has left home, if they forget to pay homage to the Buddha and think they are equal to the Buddha, their merit will be dissipated. That person will return to lay life and become a bad person of ordinary character. Perhaps we have heard not a few stories of monks who returned to lay life and, out in the world, made more trouble than ordinary people. That is a true story. Why does leaving the robes happen? Because of some wrong view, they believe they are equal to the Buddha, do not pay homage to the Buddha regularly, do not revere the Buddha, and do not see themselves as only a grain of sand compared with the Buddha. From then on they no longer have merit and must return to lay life. The same person, if they come to revere the Buddha again, will gradually raise their character and have much merit. They can leave home again without any obstacle.

So we say that reverence for the Buddha is the key that opens countless wholesome practices. This was affirmed in the lesson "Understanding and revering the Buddha". When we believe in the Buddha and revere the Buddha, we will have faith in absolute Nirvana. That is the place to which all of us must return, which all of us must reach, along with many other absolutes: absolute peace and joy, virtue, absolute wisdom, absolute compassion...

Another good belief is believing in cause and effect and the cycle of rebirth. We do not believe that good karmic results are brought by anyone; we believe only that there is the law of cause and effect: if we do good, we will enjoy good results; if we do bad, we will suffer bad results. Believing in this way, we will weigh carefully our own actions, thoughts and words. In other words, belief in the cycle of rebirth and cause and effect lets people mend their morality. So we must spread the teaching of cause and effect very strongly and very widely. Doing so, we contribute to building this society better.

Even though science has not proved it, to believe in spiritual values is also to have right belief. We believe that in human beings, besides material strength there is spiritual strength. If it is developed, that capacity becomes immense. Or we believe that a metaphysical world exists, in which many beings also live. We may not see them, but once we believe that they are real, we still respect them. Believing in this way, we will live without being too dependent on this material world, not dependent on this false and temporary worldly money. Even living in wealth, we do not cling to it. Because we believe that the spiritual world is higher and more lofty, while the visible is usually easily ruined.

Or to believe that morality is the foundation of all social progress is also to have right belief. When we believe that society needs many talented people, engineers, doctors, lawyers... but that, besides talent, these people must have morality for society to be good, we will strive ceaselessly all our lives to train our own morality and spread morality to everyone. Only in this way can we build a society that is truly progressive.

The present economic crisis of the countries of Southeast Asia also largely originates in people's immoral conduct. For example, a neighbouring country of ours was regarded as a rich country, but in truth it is a place of debauchery where many social evils exist. Not a few tourists who go to Thailand come only to satisfy their ordinary desires. Thus crisis was bound to occur. In every crisis, if we look for the cause, we will find that most of them are due to people's lack of morality. So, for society to be truly progressive and truly stable, people must take morality as the foundation. We believe firmly in that.

Another right belief is to be able to trust a true teacher. Truly, finding a true teacher to trust is a stroke of good fortune, a great happiness in each of our lives. If we find the right true teacher in whom to place our trust, our lives will go in a good direction. But this actually depends on fortunate conditions, because it is hard for us to judge correctly and hard to recognise who is truly a true teacher. Once we can tell which is right, which is wrong, and which is capable and worthy of reliance, we are already skilled and have already reached a certain level. So at this point we can only pray constantly that the Triple Jewel will protect us so that we meet a good teacher and good friends.

5. DISTRUST AND CREDULITY ARE BOTH SICKNESSES

In life, besides people who believe very easily, we also meet many people who are suspicious, who are unwilling to believe, or who believe nothing. Both are sicknesses. So why are we suspicious and slow to believe others?

First, we are slow to believe because we ourselves often lie. Truly, people who often lie usually believe few others, because they "judge others' hearts by their own". So when we meet people who are very suspicious, we must be careful: perhaps that person is an expert liar. In Chinese history there was a famous suspicious figure: Cao Cao (Tào Tháo). He was so suspicious that when he died, 72 false tombs were built scattered about so that people could not dig up his grave in revenge, because in life he was a man said to have many supremely treacherous methods (alongside Liu Bei, supreme in benevolence, Guan Gong, supreme in righteousness, Zhang Fei, supreme in courage, and Kong Ming, supreme in wisdom).

In another case, some people are slow to believe because of a conceited nature. That is the type who will not listen to whatever anyone says, always thinking that their own ideas are better and more right and that others cannot match them. Such a person finds it very hard to succeed in life.

In the third case, people are slow to believe because they lack the wisdom to judge. We meet many people who, because they cannot recognise whether what others say is right or wrong, dare not believe firmly. If we had enough wisdom to judge, then faced with what others say, we would know whether it is right or wrong so as to have a proper belief and attitude.

For example, someone comes and tells us they need money to build a temple and so are collecting donations. From their outward appearance we may not be able to tell whether they are telling the truth, so we must have a way to check. For instance, ask: What is your name, Venerable? Where is your temple? What is the temple called? Afterwards we can telephone the locality to see whether there is such a temple, whether it is being built like that, and so on... We must check before placing belief in order to avoid mistakes. In this case, to believe in haste or to doubt in haste is wrong, so we need to check carefully.

Conversely, in life there are also many people who believe very easily. Why?

First, people believe easily because of an honest, gentle nature. A person who is honest and never knows how to lie usually believes others very easily, thinking that everyone is as honest as they are. This is also a dangerous sickness. For life is not as simple as we think; there are very many who deceive their superiors and cheat their subordinates, deceive their teachers and betray their friends. If we trust people too much, we will pay dearly in our lives.

There are also cases of believing easily because of karma from a previous life of often deceiving others. For example, someone used to coax children in order to take their belongings and money. Because they sowed that cause, in a later life they are deceived by others and still believe in a deluded way, unable to recognise it. That is due to karmic results from the past. Understanding this, in life we should never deceive anyone, even in a very small matter.

There are also cases of believing easily because of a weak heart. Some people have the "sickness" of a weak heart, so they listen to and believe whatever anyone says. Such a person has no firm stance on what is right and no wisdom to judge.

In short, credulity and suspicion are both sicknesses, and we need to avoid them so as not to fall into them. Speaking of belief, a famous Russian poet affirmed:

Among us, who suffers most?

The one whom nobody believes suffers most.

Among us, who suffers most?

The one who believes nobody suffers most.

6. PROBLEMS OF THE TIMES

In belief, we must be careful about new religious beliefs. These are a mixture of science fiction and traditional beliefs. Lay Buddhists must be careful not to be led astray.

For example, traditional belief says that there is a God who created all beings. Science fiction holds that there are aliens who have come. People mix the two into a new belief. That belief says that God Jehovah on another planet sends angels down in flying saucers to make contact with people. Anyone who believes will be taken up in a flying saucer and flown back to meet God. That is a way of mixing traditional belief with new science fiction to answer the sentiments of the age. But all of that is mistaken.

Recently we have heard of this religion and that religion appearing, including the Earth Mother religion. Followers of this religion believe that there is a Mother of the Path who is the mother of the Buddha Sakyamuni and gave birth to all beings (Buddhas, Bodhisattvas...). That is an irrational belief, superstition. And yet not a few followers listen. Or there are cases of believing that God enters a woman to preach to everyone, to judge people, and so on... Those are entirely false arguments, the deceit of those who like to be famous and like to be worshipped by others.

Another problem of the times is propaganda, distortion and attack between one person and another, between one religion and another, due to the bad nature of some people. This phenomenon happens very often in life. So, faced with propaganda and attacks, we should not believe. In our hearts we have only one dream, that everyone becomes a good person, so when we hear such things we feel pained, and do not want to hear them or believe them any more. If we believe them, we will be infected by the karma.

Through the lesson on Belief, we must have a proper attitude towards the information we hear, never hurrying to accept it at once but always reflecting. In particular, we need to avoid the two sicknesses of suspicion and credulity...