Saddha: The Pillar of Confidence

Pure Land Buddhism is often termed the “Buddhism of faith” referring to faith in the compassionate power radiating from the heart of Amitabha Buddha. As Pure Land practitioners we have faith in the vows and compassion of Amitabha Buddha to transform our Karmic residue so as we may be able to enter the Pure Land and thus escape the cycle of birth and death. Synonymous to the word “faith” is the word confidence. This is Saddha in the Pali language.

In facilitating retreats and in counselling people I come across a very large number of folk who are terribly lacking in confidence in life. This is a very sad condition. It is sad as without confidence we are unable to attain meditative concentration enabling us to be free from suffering. It is sad because there are so many people wandering about in our societies without direction or if they do have direction soon give up on the quest due to a lack of confidence in their ability.

Faith in Buddhism is not a blind faith. It is not the faith of believing because a guru has told us so. It is not a faith gained from reading sutras or scripture. It is an experiential faith evolving from discipline and practice.

Many people do not like the word “discipline”. However, in Buddhism it has nothing to do with punishment or austerities but rather the concentrated effort we put into our practice like that of an athlete practicing for the High Jump event. It is through discipline that confidence is gained and from confidence we are able to meet with success in our endeavours.

Pure Land Buddhism is a Life Skills education that leads to an abiding happiness in this lifetime. It is achievable for every person. When Master Zheng Rong first gazed upon the devastation and destruction of Guang Jue Monastery he could have felt great despair. However his confidence brought about by his monastic training gave him the courage to rebuild.

In our own lives we can often feel despair. The antidote to despair is Saddha – Confidence. As we continue our practice our confidence will increase and nothing can hold us back from achieving our goal.

Article from the T’ai Shen Pure Land Centre Newsletter November 2010