While I was looking around I found this lovely quote by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi on Faith/Trust, from one of his talks on the Lotus Sutra.
It is in response to a student's question (and the grammar is left in the broken English he spoke, yet clear as a bell) ... Big Mind, Reality, sweeping in and sweeping out "faith" and "trust" and "subject" and "object" ...
So,That's the Truth & Keep the Faith!
----
Student F: In this chapter [of the Lotus Sutra] it says that—Buddha's speaking to his
disciples and he says that they should evince the strength of great
faith towards the dharma of the Buddha. How—how do you evince—
... —how do you acquire or evince strength of faith? How do
you evince—how do you acquire or evince strength of faith? How do
you acquire faith?
Suzuki-rōshi: Acquire—how we acquire what—faith? Faith.
Student F: Trust in the teachings.
Suzuki-rōshi: Yeah. This is, you know, actually only one way, you
know. We—if Buddhist put emphasis on faith, you may feel strange.
So I am trying not to say "faith" or [laughs], you know, "belief." I am
trying. But actually there is no other way, you know, to. In this point,
I think all religion will be the same. And it is that—you know, the
other day I explained in this way, you know: Eyes cannot see eyes,
you know, although eyes can see many things, but eyes cannot see
themselves. How eyes will know themselves is to put faith in it. And
that is, you know, not to be involved in dualistic idea. You know,
when we say, "Don't be involved in dualistic idea," it means that
"Don't be involved in idea of object or subject." Actually, Buddhist put
emphasis on this point. The ... difference between
Hīnayāna teaching and Mahāyāna teaching is this point. The view of
substantiality, you know, is to put object in front of ourselves and to
say, "Here is a book."
That is usual understanding, but is not real—is not complete and is not
real. When we say, "Here is," you know, "this book," it means that,
"Here is my mind." [Laughs.] "My mind is here," you know. "My
mind is looking at it." When you reflect on yourself, you know, your
mind is projected in objective world and you say "This is my mind,"
but actually my mind—your mind is here [patting self], you know, not
there. So my mind [patting self] is not something which you can see,
which you can understand. When you understand in that way, my
mind—you mind is all over. Wherever you see something, that is your
mind also. Do you understand? My mind is there. Nothing can be
just objective. It—things which we see is subjective and objective,
and my mind is always working on it. In this sense, this is so-called-it
"essence of mind." Mind which follows—which is everywhere, and
mind which create everything. And that mind is not particular mind to
our- [partial word]—myself or to you. It is more big mind; it is not
small mind because it is everywhere.
On what [laughs]—what was you question? [Laughter.] I lost your
question [laughs, laughter].
Student F: It was about faith.
Suzuki-rōshi: Hmm?
Student F: It was how to—how to acquire faith.
Suzuki-rōshi: Faith, yeah—acquire faith. You know, that kind of
mind, you know, is not the mind which you can put, you know, as a—
which you can take as a face of object, you know, because everything
is—that mind, you know, is on everything or in everything I don't
know [laughs], but that mind is everywhere. Do you understand that
mind? That kind of mind—to understand that kind of mind is just to,
you know [laughs]—that is it, you know. No need to explain. But if—
because you have always think or believe in something in term of here
or there, or great or small, right or wrong, we must say something
about it. But this is the ultimate truth which we should accept.
You may say, "If we shut our eyes, even though we shut our eyes,
things exist," you know. But that is some created idea by your mind.
So where—whatever you do, wherever you go, that mind is—follows
you, even though you don't figure out exactly what it is. So the only
way is to put faith on it. Then you will have, you know, freedom from
everything. That kind of mind is essence of mind. That kind of
understanding is real understanding of emptiness.
Maybe, you know, you don't accept [laughs] what I say right now.
Maybe it takes time. Do you understand what I am saying?
This kind of teaching is not Hīnayāna or Mahāyāna. It is ultimate
truth. When Lotus Sūtra—knowing this point says—"you put faith in it"
means you should know this—know this mind. This is essence of
mind, or big mind. Okay? Did you understand [laughs]?
So Buddhist doesn't, you know, accept any kind of mind, you know,
except this mind. We don't accept just objective being or subjective
being. We don't say mind create things, or things produce function of
mind—mind-like function, or material first, or mind first. We don't say
so. Whatever it is, it is mind and b- [partial word]—materialistic—
material and spiritual. That is, you know—and we only discuss
something which is both material and spiritual. This is the golden rule
of Buddhism [laughs, laughter].
...
Student G: The word "faith" is maybe not a good word.
Suzuki-rōshi: No. No, not at all good. So I don't like to use that
words—"faith," you know. It seems to have something [to do with]
"to put faith in it," you know. It is not so, you know. All the—all the
things we see is just good expedience of, you know—good means of
suggesting the true ultimate reality. So not only Small Vehicle, but all
the—all the teaching and all the being, whatever it is, it is good means
of Buddha. Who is Buddha? [Laughs.] We don't know. It is not
something we can describe. It is beyond description, but something
we should—we have to, you know, believe in it. Without that, we
cannot think, we cannot say anything, we cannot do anything.
Nothing exist.
To find out that essence of mind is—or how to talk about the essence
of mind is good skillful means of Buddha. So he is always talking
about [that] which is not possible to talk about. That is skillful mean—
what it means by skillful mean. So for Buddhists there is no other
teaching than skillful means. Whatever the teaching may be, that is
just skillful means.
It is in response to a student's question (and the grammar is left in the broken English he spoke, yet clear as a bell) ... Big Mind, Reality, sweeping in and sweeping out "faith" and "trust" and "subject" and "object" ...
So,That's the Truth & Keep the Faith!
----
Student F: In this chapter [of the Lotus Sutra] it says that—Buddha's speaking to his
disciples and he says that they should evince the strength of great
faith towards the dharma of the Buddha. How—how do you evince—
... —how do you acquire or evince strength of faith? How do
you evince—how do you acquire or evince strength of faith? How do
you acquire faith?
Suzuki-rōshi: Acquire—how we acquire what—faith? Faith.
Student F: Trust in the teachings.
Suzuki-rōshi: Yeah. This is, you know, actually only one way, you
know. We—if Buddhist put emphasis on faith, you may feel strange.
So I am trying not to say "faith" or [laughs], you know, "belief." I am
trying. But actually there is no other way, you know, to. In this point,
I think all religion will be the same. And it is that—you know, the
other day I explained in this way, you know: Eyes cannot see eyes,
you know, although eyes can see many things, but eyes cannot see
themselves. How eyes will know themselves is to put faith in it. And
that is, you know, not to be involved in dualistic idea. You know,
when we say, "Don't be involved in dualistic idea," it means that
"Don't be involved in idea of object or subject." Actually, Buddhist put
emphasis on this point. The ... difference between
Hīnayāna teaching and Mahāyāna teaching is this point. The view of
substantiality, you know, is to put object in front of ourselves and to
say, "Here is a book."
That is usual understanding, but is not real—is not complete and is not
real. When we say, "Here is," you know, "this book," it means that,
"Here is my mind." [Laughs.] "My mind is here," you know. "My
mind is looking at it." When you reflect on yourself, you know, your
mind is projected in objective world and you say "This is my mind,"
but actually my mind—your mind is here [patting self], you know, not
there. So my mind [patting self] is not something which you can see,
which you can understand. When you understand in that way, my
mind—you mind is all over. Wherever you see something, that is your
mind also. Do you understand? My mind is there. Nothing can be
just objective. It—things which we see is subjective and objective,
and my mind is always working on it. In this sense, this is so-called-it
"essence of mind." Mind which follows—which is everywhere, and
mind which create everything. And that mind is not particular mind to
our- [partial word]—myself or to you. It is more big mind; it is not
small mind because it is everywhere.
On what [laughs]—what was you question? [Laughter.] I lost your
question [laughs, laughter].
Student F: It was about faith.
Suzuki-rōshi: Hmm?
Student F: It was how to—how to acquire faith.
Suzuki-rōshi: Faith, yeah—acquire faith. You know, that kind of
mind, you know, is not the mind which you can put, you know, as a—
which you can take as a face of object, you know, because everything
is—that mind, you know, is on everything or in everything I don't
know [laughs], but that mind is everywhere. Do you understand that
mind? That kind of mind—to understand that kind of mind is just to,
you know [laughs]—that is it, you know. No need to explain. But if—
because you have always think or believe in something in term of here
or there, or great or small, right or wrong, we must say something
about it. But this is the ultimate truth which we should accept.
You may say, "If we shut our eyes, even though we shut our eyes,
things exist," you know. But that is some created idea by your mind.
So where—whatever you do, wherever you go, that mind is—follows
you, even though you don't figure out exactly what it is. So the only
way is to put faith on it. Then you will have, you know, freedom from
everything. That kind of mind is essence of mind. That kind of
understanding is real understanding of emptiness.
Maybe, you know, you don't accept [laughs] what I say right now.
Maybe it takes time. Do you understand what I am saying?
This kind of teaching is not Hīnayāna or Mahāyāna. It is ultimate
truth. When Lotus Sūtra—knowing this point says—"you put faith in it"
means you should know this—know this mind. This is essence of
mind, or big mind. Okay? Did you understand [laughs]?
So Buddhist doesn't, you know, accept any kind of mind, you know,
except this mind. We don't accept just objective being or subjective
being. We don't say mind create things, or things produce function of
mind—mind-like function, or material first, or mind first. We don't say
so. Whatever it is, it is mind and b- [partial word]—materialistic—
material and spiritual. That is, you know—and we only discuss
something which is both material and spiritual. This is the golden rule
of Buddhism [laughs, laughter].
...
Student G: The word "faith" is maybe not a good word.
Suzuki-rōshi: No. No, not at all good. So I don't like to use that
words—"faith," you know. It seems to have something [to do with]
"to put faith in it," you know. It is not so, you know. All the—all the
things we see is just good expedience of, you know—good means of
suggesting the true ultimate reality. So not only Small Vehicle, but all
the—all the teaching and all the being, whatever it is, it is good means
of Buddha. Who is Buddha? [Laughs.] We don't know. It is not
something we can describe. It is beyond description, but something
we should—we have to, you know, believe in it. Without that, we
cannot think, we cannot say anything, we cannot do anything.
Nothing exist.
To find out that essence of mind is—or how to talk about the essence
of mind is good skillful means of Buddha. So he is always talking
about [that] which is not possible to talk about. That is skillful mean—
what it means by skillful mean. So for Buddhists there is no other
teaching than skillful means. Whatever the teaching may be, that is
just skillful means.
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