TED: Doubt versus Belief (audio)

Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; NPR/TED Staff (NPR.org, 11-24-13); SCPR.org

Believers and Doubters

Why do some of us believe in something greater than ourselves, while others of us do not? Can our doubts bring our beliefs into sharper focus? Or what is the difference between belief and faith? TED speakers, courtesy of Guy Raz and National Public Radio, offer personal perspectives on belief from all ends of the spectrum, from ardent atheists to the devout faithful.

Devil vs. Super Devil ("Family Guy")

First, the daughter of the Christian televangelist Billy Graham, Anne Graham Lotz, speaking for her elderly father on the difference between (rational) belief and (emotional) faith. Lesley Hazleton asks, Is doubt essential to faith? Former Catholic and SNL comedienne Julia Sweeny explores the journey, How does a person go from believer to atheist? Then Alain de Botton asks, What can atheism learn from religion? Finally, Indian Hindu intellectual Devdutt Pattanaik wants to know, Are there any universal beliefs and truths? LISTEN

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(512: House Rules, 11-22-13) Where we live is important. It can dictate the quality of the schools and hospitals we have access to, as well as things we will experience -- like cancer rates, unemployment statistics, or whether the city repairs roads in our neighborhood. On this week's show, stories about "destiny by geography." Much of this story is told to Nancy Updike by ProPublica reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, whose series on the Fair Housing laws in modern America -- with more stories, research, and interviews — is here.

 

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The Other F-Word (faith)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Joseph Goldstein (IMS); Wikipedia edit saddha; Ben Griggs (Happy Science Temple, Japan)

(SoundsTrue) Insight Meditation, Tape 10, a talk on faith and wisdom with Joseph Goldstein

Buddha, Gandhara style

FAITH IN BUDDHISM (Pāli saddhā, "to place one's heart on") is an important constituent element of the teachings of the historical Buddha within all Buddhist traditions, although the kind and nature of "faith," confidence, conviction, or devotion varies in different schools.

According to the tradition using the exclusively Buddhist-language of Pali, some of the first words uttered by the Buddha after resolving to teach to the world the Dharma he had rediscovered were: "Wide open is the door of the Deathless to all who have ears to hear! Let them send forth faith [confidence in the enlightenment of the teacher, the teaching, and those successfully taught] to meet it!" (Mahavagga, I, 5,11; Vinaya Texts, T.W. Rhys Davids, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1996, p.88).

 

Treasure, faculty, power of faith

Richard Gere and Lisa Simpson meditate

The Pāli discourses (suttas, sutras) list confidence/faith as one of Seven Treasures (dhanas) (e.g., Collection of Long Discourses III.163, Estlin Carpenter J. (ed.), The Dīgha Nikāya, Pali Text Society, London 1976, p. 163), one of Five Spiritual Faculties (indriyas), one of four "streams of merit," and one of the Five Spiritual Powers (balas).

Gyatrul (b. 1924), in a commentary on the 17th century work of Chagmé, rendered into English by B. Alan Wallace states [Karma Chagmé (author, compiler), Gyatrul Rinpoche (commentary) and B. Alan Wallace (translator), 1998. A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on the Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga. Ithaca, New York, USA: Snow Lion Publications):

Tibetan lamas, India (Laura Murphy)

By the power of faith, we are able to eliminate the two types of obscurations [i.e., the "obscuration of conflicting emotions" (Sanskrit kleśa-varaṇa) and the "obscuration concerning the knowable" (Sanskrit jñeyāvaraṇa), Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje (Dudjom Rinpoche, author), translated and edited by Gyurme Dorje and Matthew Kapstein (1991). The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History. Boston, USA: Wisdom Publications, p.107]. Through the power of faith both ontological and phenomenological knowledge arises. It is also by the power of faith that both the common and uncommon siddhis [psychic/supernormal powers] arise. More

(Ben Griggs) Happy Science, Japan, international retreat, spring

2011:  Koan seminar exploring "faith," interviews participants.