Dear Bhante Sujato and Ajahn Brahmali and everyone,
I hope this finds you all very well and happy. 
Iāve been listening with interest to the differing ways for translating āsaddhaā.
I would like to respectfully add my two cents.
Ajahn Brahmali, I think youāve mentioned that some who come from theistic religions, do not like the word āfaithā because of its association with a lack of questioning and so on.
Well Iāld like to suggest, that the problem with such life experiences, is not the use of the word āfaithā. Rather, it is with a lack of inquiry, a lack of questioning and little or no emphasis on investigation within some religious groups. I suggest that poor old āfaithā, became the scape goat.
I would like to suggest that there is a place, and indeed a time, perhaps a better word would be, situationā¦there is a situation where a lack of questioning becomes something that must be cultivated and also perfected. I suggest that this is part of the process of letting go that is meditation.
I remember Ajahn Brahm talking about how Christian mystics of the middle ages who talked about mystical states where they experienced union with god, probably experienced first jhana. I remember him talking about how they would have to āsurrender to godāā¦thatās how they were able to let go. Their deep trust in god allowed them to let goā¦they didnāt question anything at that point and I imagine their questioning lessened and lessened the closer they got to āgodāā¦their sense of sureness and certainty wouldāve been immense afterwards. They trusted so completely that the word ātrustā doesnāt really do it justice.
My conditioning around the word faith was listening to Ajahn Brahm give a talk on it many years ago at Bodhinyana. He talked about the āfatih mindā and how itās soft and devotional, basically how itās conducive to letting go. The last time someone asked me about faith, I said it was a mental construct which was also a useful strategy to cultivate in this spiritual path. Now I feel that I could also have said that itās an emotional state that is a very useful strategy in growing and developing the path. Faith is a feeling, emotionā¦itās an adjective to describe a mind state, itās also a noun when itās something āout thereā and outside of usā¦but for meā¦itās a verbā¦itās very much a nice feely touchy love soaked strategy!!
So my initial conditioning around the word was hearing Ajahn Brahm speak. My initial conditioning around the experience of it was being 11 or 12 years old, having absolutely no understanding of Buddhism (beyond some basic chanting and rituals) and going to the temple with my grandmother, or doing a simple puja at the little shrine in our garden. I didnāt know what the heck was going on, or what the heck I was chantingā¦but I rememberā¦very clearlyā¦my heart was full of feeling. Now I look back, I label it faith. Just pure blind faith. A powerful emotion, easily misplaced. Luckily for me, mine was channeled in a fruitful direction and I became, for a while, a pain in the neck questioner, (for which opportunity, Iām hugely grateful). Which, naturally, reinforced my confidenceā¦however, my faith was only reinforced, not by questioning, but by deep intuitive moments of personal experienceā¦moments of utter feelingā¦whether it was because I was listening to another speak, or reflecting on a personal meditation.
With much respect and gratitude to all who prefer the word confidenceā¦it just doesnāt point to the same emotion for me. As a child, Iām much happier having absolute faith that my mum is going to feed me soon. To say that I have confidence that sheās going to feed me soon, implies, to my mind anyway, a certain slight doubt that perhaps, due to some exceptional circumstances perhaps, she wonāt. Thereās also a slight sense of fear, a feeling of a small lack of safetyā¦confidence doesnāt suggest that comfortable (often misplaced) perception of sureness or 100% certainty.
āConfidenceā doesnāt, for me, suggest that deep emotional trust. The sort of thing where youād allow yourself to fall, utterly sure, 100%, that all is well. There is something in faith, which suggests safety and love and comfort and even pleasure. (I think thatās why we can become so deeply wounded and mistrustful if we lose faith in something that we once had deep faith in. I think thereās a link between faith and loving attachmentā¦so falling in and out of faithā¦falling in and out of loveā¦the extremes of pleasure and pain.)
I agree that along this path, āreasoned faithā is essential. However, I think there are special situations where, a sort of āinformed blind faithā is essential for letting go and also for motivation to practice. Itās got the qualities of surrender and trust and devotion that blind faith hasā¦but itās also based on oneās own practice, oneās own understanding and also oneās experience of the Dhammaā¦it comes from within.
To split a few more hairs: I suggest that āreasoned faithā is the sort that comes from say, listening to Ajahn Brahm talk about meditationā¦itās an event that may be hugely inspiring of āconfidenceā, but itās based on something external. āInformed blind faithā is the sort that comes from using this kind of talk to practice, not just in one sitting, but over many years according to such teachings, to ask relevant questions, to test different things out, to see if itās true for oneselfā¦thus one comes to trust oneself, to develop a love of the Dhamma and even a fondness and strong respect for those whoāve helped one practice it and grow a little bit within itā¦the faith quality deepens in love and trustā¦things change internallyā¦practice changes, life changesā¦the informed nature of āinformed blind faithā grows stronger and strongerā¦thus one lets go moreā¦letting go moreā¦the blind quality of āinformed blind faithā grows and grows. Iāve often heard it said, that meditation is not the place for thinking, for questioningā¦you do that before and afterā¦you culitvate stillness during the meditationā¦to disable the importance we place on thoughts during the meditation itself we have to suspend our love affair with wanting to know everything right now, to question, to possess knowledge, to be in control in these ways. āConfidenceā is not going to give up such āI affirmingā occupations as āwanting to knowā. Whereas, āfaithā, the type that, yes, does have a certain lovestruck blindness to it, may just allow these ways of controlling to be suspended temporarily within the parameters of a meditation that has already been heavily informed by other aspects of Dhamma practice.
In closing, Iād like to ask forgiveness if this post causes offense to anyone; especially if the word āfaithā has come to be associated with disappointment or hurt in other circles/traditions. Iām humbly suggesting that faith was the baby in the dirty bath waterā¦to paraphrase that old saying thenā¦perhaps we donāt need to throw the baby out with the bath water.
With much metta to all.