Faith,confidence and devotion

[RedLantern]

Right understanding points the way to confidence;confidence paves the way to wisdom.Faith is to believe in something which your reason tells you cannot be true;for if your reason approve of it,there could be no question of blind faith.
Confidence is not the same as faith as confidence is an assured expectation,not of an unknown beyond,but of what can be tested as experienced and understood personally.He should not adopt an unquestioning belief of his teacher and his text book.To a Buddhist,confidence is a product of reason,knowledge and experience. When it is developed ,it can never be blind faith.Confidence becomes a power of the mind.
The question of belief arises when there is no  seeing-seeing in every sense of the word.

[Q]

Thank you for the explanation. I have always found it a challenge to explain to my non-Buddhist friends when it comes to the trust I have for my Guru. To explain that it is a form of faith, is technically not the correct term as there is always a fine line between having faith and blind faith. So I have always said 'faith' that is supported with trust.

Didn't occur to me that just mentioning confidence in my Guru would sum up the whole explanation haha! Guru devotion is not based on faith in the Guru's ability of liberating us, but I feel it is built up from our trust in our Guru that he/she have the method and capability of leading us to the path of liberation.

[Amitabha]

Guru devotion is not based on faith in the Guru's ability of liberating us, but I feel it is built up from our trust in our Guru that he/she have the method and capability of leading us to the path of liberation.

[Amitabha]

Guru devotion is not based on faith in the Guru's ability of liberating us, but I feel it is built up from our trust in our Guru that he/she have the method and capability of leading us to the path of liberation.

[Amitabha]

Faith,confidence and devotion

same heart/mind and are not not the same.
Below product is confidently good but it does not mean that others are not confidently good.

[Tenzin K]

The word ‘faith’ elic­its pow­er­ful responses in peo­ple, espe­cially those who have grown up amongst a reli­gious tra­di­tion empha­siz­ing this spir­i­tual qual­ity. Some peo­ple will asso­ciate this word with pos­i­tive attrib­utes like devo­tion, love, ded­i­ca­tion, and self-surrender. Oth­ers, how­ever, will asso­ciate this word with neg­a­tive attrib­utes like coer­cion, intim­i­da­tion, dog­ma­tism, and gulli­bil­ity. Many peo­ple turn to Bud­dhism because of its car­di­nal teach­ing of ‘prov­ing the truth for oneself’—of not tak­ing any­thing entirely on faith (even the words of the Bud­dha), but rather to ques­tion, inves­ti­gate, and con­firm the truth through one’s own efforts. Some peo­ple may even draw the con­clu­sion that faith plays no role in Bud­dhism. This, how­ever, would be a mis­un­der­stand­ing. It’s fair to say that every­one (see the main text for the few excep­tions to this rule) who is drawn to the Bud­dhist teach­ings makes a leap of faith—suspends doubt and adopts cer­tain prin­ci­ples or teach­ings in which he or she has gained some con­fi­dence. Indeed, for many, trans­lat­ing the Pali word sad­dh? as ‘trust’ or ‘con­fi­dence’ is more accept­able. To give room to faith in the heart is to engage with mys­tery, to open up to new pos­si­bil­i­ties. One of my favourite quotes in this con­text is by Rabindranath Tagore:

Faith is the bird that sings when

The dawn is still dark.

[biggyboy]

He should not adopt an unquestioning belief of his teacher and his text book.To a Buddhist,confidence is a product of reason,knowledge and experience. When it is developed ,it can never be blind faith.Confidence becomes a power of the mind.
The question of belief arises when there is no  seeing-seeing in every sense of the word.

Buddhism knows faith only in the sense of confidence in the way recommended by the Buddha. A Buddhist is not expected to have faith or to believe in anything merely because the Buddha said it, or because it is written in the ancient books, or because it has been handed down by tradition, or because others believe it. He may, of course, agree with himself to take the Buddha-doctrine as a working hypothesis and to have confidence in it; but he is not expected to accept anything unless his reason accepts it. This does not mean that everything can be demonstrated rationally, for many points lie beyond the scope of the intellect and can be cognized only by the development of higher faculties. But the fact remains that there is no need for blind acceptance of anything in the Buddha-doctrine.

Buddhism is a way of life based on the training of the mind. Its one ultimate aim is to show the way to complete liberation from suffering by the attainment of the Unconditioned, a state beyond the range of the normal untrained mind. Its immediate aim is to strike at the roots of suffering in everyday life.

Without knowledge, understanding and practising, one may not have cultivated the confidence nor stable mind which are important in every aspects of daily life.  We become what we are through thought, words and deeds...transforming of one's inner nature.

'Let me not pray to be sheltered from danger,
but to be fearless in facing them.

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain,
but for the heart to conquer it.

Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved,
but for the patience to win my freedom.'

[ratanasutra]

I feel that sometime english does not have a word to really give a right explanation of what it really mean.
In my country language : faith is really have a clear meaning that something that you really trust and have confident with someone or in some religions. So when talk about faith is only in a positive meaning, hence there is no word such as blind faith.

However if we want to say people have blind faith we will use the word like delusions or wrong view.




 

[buddhalovely]

In Buddhism, faith is indispensable: without faith, the teachings tell us, nothing positive can develop, just as a green shoot can never grow from a dried-up seed. Shantideva quotes Buddha in his 'Compendium of Trainings':

"They who long to put an end to sorrow and reach sublime happiness must firmly plant the root of faith, and stabilize their minds, in the quest for enlightenment."

What is faith exactly? The Abhidharmakosha tells us:

"Faith is full confidence in the law of karma, cause and effect, in the Four Noble Truths and in the Three Jewels. It is also aspiration for spiritual attainment, and a clear-minded appreciation of the truth."

As we examine the teachings, it inspires in us a trust in the truth of the Dharma, that unfolds through four stages: vivid faith, eager faith, confident faith, and, finally, irreversible faith. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche explains: “When faith has become so much a part of you that, even at the cost of your life, there is no way you would ever renounce it, it is then irreversible faith. When your faith reaches that point, whatever circumstances you may meet, you will always be completely confident.”

As it grows stronger, faith turns into devotion, and a tremendous gratitude to the teacher springs up, which carries us beyond the ordinary dualistic mind. So open is our heart that clinging at self falls away, and there awakens within us the transcendent wisdom of prajñaparamita. And so with that devotion comes the blessing that is the catalyst for realization. It is said:

"Innate, absolute wisdom can only come
As the mark of having accumulated merit and purified obscurations,
And through the blessing of a realized teacher.
Know that to rely on any other means is foolish."

Devotion then is the inspirer, that which moves and stirs us and unveils ‘the natural state’, the innermost nature of mind. To me, devotion is a kind of love, but a love suffused by wisdom, the most profound kind of love that can be known by the human mind and heart.

[pgdharma]

Right understanding points the way to confidence; confidence paves the way to wisdom.

Knowledge destroys faith and faith destroys itself when a mysterious belief is examined under the daylight of reason. Confidence cannot be obtained by faith since it places less emphasis on reason, but only by understanding.

Faith is to believe in something which our reason tells us cannot be true; for if our reason approved of it, there could be no question of blind faith.

Confidence, however, is not the same as faith. Confidence is an assured expectation, not of an unknown beyond, but of what can be tested as experienced and understood personally. Confidence is like the understanding that a student has in his teacher. He should not adopt an unquestioning belief of his teacher and his textbook. He studies the fact, examines the scientific arguments, and makes an assessment of the reliability of the information. If he has doubts, he should reserve his judgment until such time as when he is able to investigate the accuracy of the information for himself. To a Buddhist, confidence is a product of reason, knowledge and experience. When it is developed, confidence can never be blind faith. Confidence becomes a power of the mind.

[Dondrup Shugden]

As Buddhist we are always told to check out the teachings of the Dharma.  Examine the contents and if it make sense of the 4 Noble truths and Karma, then develop the faith in the Dharma.

Once this faith is developed with understanding, you will develop the confidence to pursue the path of Buddhism and never give up until enlightenment.

As Buddhism is a spiritual journey to freedom and liberation from samsara and suffering, the next thing you will develop is devotion to the Dharma and the Guru who taught you.  This kind of a devotion is love with great wisdom and is never emotionally driven but a sense of bliss and well being of gratitude and appreciation.

Buddhism is the methods to freedom from suffering and the work is done within oneself and as such it is not a religion of blind believe but that of faith and empowerment.