Part of right view is to have faith that enlightened beings exist in the world. However, without verification, how do we know enlightened beings exist in the world today? More generally, how do we have faith that enlightenment is possible? Even that the Buddha was fully enlightened?
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For me, it comes down to integrity. So far, everything that the Buddha taught that I personally put to long term testing has proven to be true. Whenever I encounter something that hasnât or doesnât fit, I do my best to not make judgments or form a view, I give it lots of time. Things usually turn out to open great windows of understanding and how things do or donât fit with the Buddhaâs teaching. The more I understand, the more I see the integrity of the Buddhaâs teachings. Removing defilements goes a long way in clearing the hinderances on the path. That gives me a lot of confidence in the Buddha and that he was a perfectly enlightened being.
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Hi. Buddha in the SN 22.87 sutta say he/she who see the Dhamma see the Buddha. Only if have some personal insight agreement the craving & attachment is causing the suffering can have feeling for what is the Enlightened Being. Same with the harmful things. I think must have some agreement the harmful things in the harmful things before can have faith in Buddha. 
Thatâs why they call it faith. If you could verify it, then you wouldnât need faith. See SN48.44.
Have you dug into the suttas about faith?
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We donât know these things until stream-entry, according to the suttas. Until then, we rely on faith. Doubts will also come and go. So we learn how to skillfully develop faith and let go of doubt. A key concept is that faith is both a faculty and a power, so it is something that can be nourished, strengthened, and developed.
The concept of refuge is helpful here and it may be fruitful to explore it. When someone puts their faith in the Triple Gem, both in the suttas and in real life, it starts with going for refuge. Itâs where the Buddhist path begins. What is a refuge? What does going for refuge mean? What are we taking refuge from? What is the purpose of taking refuge? Who is taking refuge? How is refuge taken correctly? What does taking refuge lead to?
One way to look at it is that each person goes for refuge somewhere, relies on something, whether more consciously or less consciously. It could be in a religion, in loved ones, in oneâs country, in oneâs profession, in money, in having as many delightful experiences as possible before death (this is a popular one, isnât it?), in annihilationist or eternalist views, in a view of oneâs self, in some combination of things, or what have you. We can ask those same questions of these refuges. Having evaluated, we can choose wisely.
Iâve attached two short essays on refuge, one from Venerable Thanissaro and the other from Venerable Nanamoli.
Going for Refuge by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.pdf (54.0 KB)
bla05_Nyanamoli_The-Three-Refuges.pdf (329.7 KB)
I hope some of that was helpful!
Thatâs a nice approach that I struggle with. I feel like âless of a Buddhistâ if I have doubts or like im not where im supposed to be. I think, as a result, I tend to force belief and try to push doubt out of my mind.
Not alot yet. I come from a very scientistic atheist background so the concept of âfaithâ bothers me sometimes and is hard for me at times to see how it can lead to truth.
Hi,
I also trained in the sciences where empirical, testable, and reproducible data are used to verify scientific claims.
In the Dhamma, the same principles apply. Except rather than assuming the view of testing the outside world, the âworldâ of the Dhamma is more within the direct experiences of our mind, (SN35.23). This is close to, although not quite the same as, Phenomenology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology\_(philosophy)
By faith, we learn about the Buddhaâs teachings, then investigate within our direct experiences whether the teachings are valid.
For example, anicca, impermanence of all conditional experiences â we observe: is it true? Always? Is any âthingâ permanent and unchanging?
Maybe weâre not sure, so we settle the mind and investigate. When we see for ourselves that this is true, faith is replaced by understanding. But faith got us going in the first place.
Same for cultivating mind states like kindness and compassion. We start from a position of faith that the teachings may in fact be valid. But we want to know, so we learn the practices for this and cultivate these states.
After a while, we see for ourselves that weâre less inclined to ill-will and uncaring and more inclined towards kindness and beneficialness. And weâre happy about it!
Again, by direct experience faith is replaced by knowing.
And on we go.
So faith here is not trusting in an unseen Deity or Power that we hope can rescue us but of which we can never be fully certain.
Faith in the context of the Dhamma is more like reading the teachings and having some faith/confidence in their benefit â and then as we practice and experience the beneficial results we develop to a point where we realize, âI know this is working. The teachings are true.â
For some background, you can check SN35.23, AN4.152, AN3.42, AN2.130-140
Hope this is helpful.
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I do have a bit of a radical view on faith. 
I also am, quite skeptic by nature. Kalama Sutta is why Iâve kept reading the suttas, and Iâm not going to stop reciting it anytime soon.
I donât have faith in the unblemished transmission of Dharma. Even in the suttas, itâs evident that people had trouble understanding Buddhaâs words, and itâs inconceivable that itâs transmitted completely pristine as is. Welp, the whole reason thereâs an EBT movement is precisely the skepticism (within the monastic community, nonetheless!) about the validity of entire canon as is.
Furthermore, respected Bhikkhus are talking about late additions, corruptions of the even main body of Nikaya materials.
The way I understand faith is that, Iâve seen enough of the monastic life and the suttas that deserves my attention to keep investigating matters with an open mind.
Part of my faith is that, I think there are people whoâve overcome doubt and suffering in this very life, and that traces of their wisdom can be found in various traditions and singular persons around the world, Buddhists / Buddhism being a group that harbors such people. Itâs the way I watch, interact with practitioners and observe their peace that gives me courage to investigate further, seeing the results of their practice.
The way I understand the importance of faith for the sake of liberation, is that I can see how the final liberation from ignorance results in a person who has no doubts left regarding how the world works.
So, for me, itâs not at all about accepting anything without consideration. But I also need to be mindful of what to investigate, and even this very distinction requires a modicum of faith (you would test the waters that you think is beneficial - why else would you test those waters?).
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Heâs kindly preparing you for that day when you have nothing left to hang onto but something in Buddhism that drew you to it, and, at that point, extending a hand and asking you to trust him as a most excellent teacher of Dhamma.
Have a look at the dedicatory verses in the MMK:
I prostrate to the Perfect Buddha. The best of teachers who taught that whatever is dependently arisen is unceasing, unborn, unannihilated, not permanent, not coming, not going, without distinction, without identity and free from conceptual construction.
Yeah, me too. Mentions of faith in Buddhist texts never sat well with me. I donât believe things on face value out of faith. Doubt, thinking âhmmmâŚsomthing doesnât sound right or make senseâ can eventually lead to investigation and discovery, one way or another. I donât know if itâs correct in all EBT situations, but I think that confidence or âconfidence because of established trustâ is closer to what faith means in Pali than what faith means in religions.
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This is confusing. Doesnât the Buddha in the suttas teach almost the exact opposite of that?
How can fundamental dhamma contradictions aid faith?
I like that response alot but Im curious of how it might or might not apply to rebirth?
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Hi,
Regarding rebirth and faith, a few reflections â
Part of faith in Dhamma practice is having confidence in the Buddha and what he taught. This does not mean unquestioningly â but when we start out, can we at least entertain the idea that what the Buddha taught, that the core of his teachings as we now have them, are valid and lead to liberation? If weâre totally skeptical, itâs hard to engage the practice.
So if what weâve learned about the Teachings inspires us and appears to be beneficial to ourselves and others, we may reflect that while we havenât yet seen aspects of the Dhamma for ourselves, including rebirth, weâll take up the practice and see where it leads. In other words, faith in this context is having enough confidence that the teachings are valid, practical, and helpful with the motivation and curiosity to explore further.
Thereâs also a kind of faith in meeting or hearing respected Buddhist teachers assert from direct experience that rebirth is true. Again, this is not to blindly follow what others say. But when a teacher of known sincerity and respect offers that they directly know rebirth and/or have heard other respected Buddhist teachers validate it, we may reflect that rebirth is valid.
Ultimately, we have to know for ourselves. The more we look deeply into dependent conditionality, the more we let go of the hindrances that cloud the mind, the clearer the truth of rebirth becomes.
And, like the Buddha and some arahants, one may directly see past lives.
But even before that, we can begin to know its truth. It helps to remember that the Buddha said inference, anumÄna, is also a valid form of knowing in the Dhamma.
So faith in the context of Dhamma practice says, âI donât yet know but Iâll give it a go.â
Then weâll eventually see and know for ourselves, even about rebirth.
Hope this is helpful.
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No, the MMK doesnât contradict the Dhamma Sorry
Are you sure about that?
Why dont you provide some sutta passages from the Pali suttas on this site to back up your position. Whre does the Buddha in the Suttas say
Some things that might interest you.
MN 70, Gautama talks about seven types of persons in the world. What is made clear is that complete destruction of the three cankers (associated with the three cravings: âcraving for the life of senseâ, âcraving for becomingâ, and âcraving for not-becomingâ, DN 22; Pali Text Society vol. ii p 340) accompanies enlightenment, and that itâs possible to master the concentrations and to have insight and still not have completely destroyed the cankers.
Is it possible for a person to have destroyed all three cankers? Gautama did so through his exercise of psychic powers in the fourth concentration (DN 2, âway down under âinsight knowledgeâ), realizing that consciousness is bound to the body, seeing his âprior habitationsâ and âfuture arisingsâ, and comprehending the four truths. If I saw my past and future lives, I think that might scare the cankers out of me as well, but I donât expect to.
I wrote this recently, in a post on my own blog:
If a person can exhibit a mindfulness like Gautamaâs without having become enlightened, and can have âseen by means of wisdomâ without having completely destroyed the cankers, then how can one know who to trust as a teacher?
Gautamaâs advice was to go by the words of the teacher rather than any claim to authority, to compare the instructions of a teacher to the sermons Gautama himself had given and to the rules of the order that Gautama himself had laid down (DN 16 PTS vol. ii pp 133-136).
Nevertheless, activity solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness, the hallmark of the fourth concentration, has been conveyed by demonstration in some branches of Buddhism for millennia. The transmission of a central part of the teaching through such conveyance, and the certification of that transmission by the presiding teacher, is regarded by some schools as the only guarantee of the authenticity of a teacher.
The teachers so authenticated have in many cases disappointed their students, when circumstances revealed that the teacherâs cankers had not been completely destroyed. Furthermore, some schools appear to have certified transmission without the conveyance that has kept the tradition alive, perhaps for the sake of the continuation of the school.
So thereâs the rub. Hard to tell.
MeanwhileâGautama did describe his own way of living (SN 54), the particular mindfulness of Anapanasati, and he said it was âpeaceful and choice, something perfect in itself, and a pleasant way of living tooâ (SN 54.9; Pali Text Society vol V p 285). He said it was his way of living before enlightenment (54.8 âBefore my awakeningâwhen I was still unawakened but intent on awakeningâI too usually practiced this kind of meditationâ), as well as after (SN 54.11).
Not necessary to have faith in enlightenment, to explore the meaning of MN 118 (Anapanasati). My take, mindfulness such as in Anapanasati depends on mindfulness in all four arisings, and mindfulness of the four concentrations as a part of the mindfulness of states of mind (DN 22) as well.
Hi Mark, I hope you donât mind me replying to your post and might indulge me in some speculation? If no please dont clink below. Best wishes. 
Directly viewing past lives is not expected to be a scary experience in the context of dhamma bhavana based on solid samadhi and insight. So the response is likely to be curiosity and wonder.
Its important to know its not necessarily scary, as that view alone can get in the way of deeper experience.
Fearful avoidance is a common impediment for those who have suffered terrifying visual hallucinations on bad trips with psychedelics. They often carry an insidious long term trauma. There is a healing for that fear of altered states of awareness.
Expectations of not having awakening experiences is again enough to block practice and entry into an awakening.
Expectations of awakening on the other hand are also enough to block awakening.
What to do?
Perhaps faith in dhamma is an experiential confidence that puts aside speculations.
You make some good points. Yes, youâre right, seeing things as they are is freeing.
Exercising psychic powers, the mind-made body, the miracles, past and future lives, the notion of turning the mind to these things intentionally is scarey to me. I like the part about being a lamp onto myself through the four arisings of mindfulness.
Somewhere in the Suttas, Gautama said that the pursuit of enlightenment was really best undertaken by those with black hair, meaning the young. That would not be me.
I donât mean to discourage anyone from seeking the total destruction of the cankers. I would ask, can the total destruction of the cankers be had without a mindfulness like that Gautama implied was his own (MN 118), said was his own (SN 54.11), and without the five limbs of concentration? I can see a path to happiness apart from sense desires, apart from unskilled states of mind, in these things.
Thanks for the feedback.
According to my own understanding, true faith is based on wisdom or clear understanding of the teaching. However, initially this understanding doesnât necessarily have to be mature as it is in Sotapannas for example. Itâs the same as only needing a small seed capital to start a new business.
To have faith in the Buddha one needs to see and appreciate the qualities of a Buddha. To understand these qualities one needs to practice his teachings which are threefold - morality, concentration, and wisdom. Only when one develops good qualities within oneself then one can appreciate how the Buddha perfected these very same qualities to the highest possible extent by hardwork and perseverance. For e.g when one consistently practices Sila or Morality it makes one free of remorse and hence very peaceful. One realises by ones own experience why the Buddha placed so much emphasis on morality, for without a remorse free mind one cannot realise the deeper truths about suffering or the release from it.
One also needs to read the words of the Buddha himself and see that they were and are true and consistent throughout his long teaching career of 45 years. Most people have faith in modern science despite not understanding all of it. One of the key reason for this is because the findings of science are consistent with each other and have benefitted us over a long period of time. Similarly the 84,000 teachings of the Buddha are all consistent with one another and many people have benefitted from it for the past 2500 years.
The suttas also give us a historical account of how the Buddha conducted himself and interacted with other people. When the Buddha was about to preach the first sermon about the middle path to the five Bhikkhus, they initially doubted the Buddha. The Buddha essentially then asked them if he had ever lied to them before, to which the Bhikkhus who all knew that the Buddha always spoke the truth, replied that he hadnât. It was after this that the five monks were more receptive and regained their trust in the Buddha and listened carefully to his sermon. Based on the exemplary conduct of the Buddha, it also becomes easy to have faith in the Buddha and his teaching.
One other thing that stands out for me when comparing the Buddha to other religious teachers is that the Buddha worked selflessly with the aim of helping beings to make and end of their suffering. He was never interested in creating a large following. An influential lay disciple, after hearing the Buddhaâs teaching for the first time, requested the Buddha to henceforth consider him his lay disciple. The Buddha replied by saying, an important person such as you should consider such a decision carefully and not be hasty. There are many people who depend on you. The lay disciple was even more impressed for he knew that other religious teachers would have been quick to accept such an influential person as their disciple.