Prepared by
John D. Hughes, Dip.App.Chem., T.T.T.C., GDAIE,
Anita Hughes, RN Div.1,
Evelin Halls, Dip.For.Lang.Corres.
Pennie White, B.A. Dip.Ed.
Abhidhamma Class No. 21, 12 November 2002
The benefits of practising saddha
(confidence, trust, non-fogginess)
There are so many benefits to a practitioner to saddha, a full listings would run to millions of words.
If you have confidence (saddha), you can read a great paper and not doubt that what was written is true view.
If you have confidence (saddha), you will know if there is anything in a paper that is wrong view.
If you do not have saddha (confidence), then not only will the writings be not understood, but, also, you will not know what is true and what is not true.
When you have saddha you come to know things formerly learned but not understood.
In the words of the Buddha, “Things formally unknown become known”.
With saddha, we are not duped.
The French sociologist Jean Baudrillard (1983) has written about the concept of the simulacrum. The simulacrum refers to the fact that in today’s postmodern society, it does no longer matter if something is real or not. We can see this in virtual games, for example, where everything is simulated, nothing is true. Virtual reality has a de-humanising effect on society that is highly commercially oriented.
Ecclesiastes said “The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth – it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true.” This is how the mass of society works today.
At our Chan Academy Australia persons can practice Chan and Sumi-e painting. It means painting the truth and not to produce anything that may trick the mind into anything unreal. For example, the four seasons are only painted within the appropriate seasons, with the flowers growing in the particular season, and so on. This way persons can practise the precept of no lying. We do not paint winter clouds in a summer scene. When we depict animals, we show food for them to eat in the season the painting piece is done.
References
Jean Baudrillard, 1983, Simulations, Semiotext(e) Offices, New York.