[Cabinanteerip]

Is it necessary at any point to have blind faith and just completely accept the words of Buddhist teachers we read about, go to the talks of, or meet ?

What's your opinion ?

[slowlexrese]

No, and I'd say it's counterproductive.

Confidence, and a willingness to suspend disbelief, based on experience or respect for the teacher etc is important but this is not the same as blind faith.

[r5YOPDyk]

I agree with the value in being able to suspend disbelief.

This can enable the thorough investigation of a tradition and it's practices, importantly, without it devolving into a cherry picking exercise where we take what we like and leave the rest and fail to understand the process behind the approach.

[galaktiusman]

I also don't believe blind faith is necessary.

There are so many ways to do as Lord Buddha said and test the teachings in our own lives. Really we only need to "prove" these things to ourselves.
If one finds a school that feels comfortable to them and does not understand things, then it is time to set them aside, not in a disbelief way, but in a way of needing to understand them through further study or experience. As well as getting help in understanding them from a teacher or elder in that tradition.

Not a direct quote, but Buddha did say not to take His teachings on blind faith, but to put them into practice and see the results for ourselves.


With Metta, Dave

[66paptroump]

Is it necessary at any point to have blind faith and just completely accept the words of Buddhist teachers we read about, go to the talks of, or meet ?

No.

I take with caution any speech or written book of teachers.

Those are their experiences under very unique conditions from where they have practiced.

Some teachers, in my experience, just add some sort of inspiration so to keep in practice while others can make the Suttas easy to understand and others are just about poetry and wishful thoughts about things.

But also those that make sutta easy to understand, this does not compare with the direct practice of a Sutta of Gotama Buddha.

In this way, the direct practice from the Suttas of Gotama Buddha is what has done progress quenching a lot of dukkha in my life.

This quenching never happend when following the experience gotten by a teacher.

[rusculture]

No. Definitely not. I kind of agree with the idea of suspending disbelief. But I would describe it as keeping an open mind. I would still test the teaching in some way or another.

I think blind faith is one of the worst things humanity has thought of. It allows people to accept things that are completely false because they don't need any basis for it in reality. Then we have people declaring that blind faith is virtuous and it leads to a great deal of superstition and lack of real understanding.

[freddyujnf]

Hi,
did Gotamo Buddho have blind faith into his teachers? No he took what he could get and found it was not enough.
A buddhist teacher should be a Buddho by himself, a perfect master, otherwise he should go learning the rest.
anando

[iiilizium]

until the mind is sotapanna (stream entry), to learn without a teacher is generally very difficult, possibly impossible

(and what is stream entry? to taste & have complete confidence in the way to Nibbana)

we can read sutta but, without the capacity for faith in more reasonable explanations than our own, we can just develop our own idiosyncratic views about what we study, particularly the suttas, which are mere translations & often not completely reliable

whilst blind faith is never advisable, we must be prepared to accept with faith more reasonable sounding explanations of the path than our own when necessary

the teachings & path of practise have always been passed down through lineages and to only trust in ourselves is probably mostly a path of limited fruit

Buddha placed his faith in certain teachers until intuitively feeling their teachings did not fulfil his goal. thus he left them

if we are yet to find satisfactory peace in our lives then to not be prepared to consider the views of another, with 'blind faith', can be problematic

regards

[sigrekatonov]

Element,
I have to concur with what seems to me an eminently sensible post!

Thank you

[chuecaloversvvp]

I would say understanding of the teachings is much mire important the blind faith. If you dont, understand the meaning behind the teaching you cant progress on the path.

the thinker