Faith is a Living Thing, Part 5

When you have faith, you have a lot of energy in yourself. When you believe in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, when you believe in something really good, true, and beautiful, you have a lot of energy in yourself. You are very alive. A person who does not have anything to believe in is without energy. When you have the energy of faith in you, your steps become firmer, your look becomes brighter. You are ready to love, to understand, to help, adn to work. If you practice mindfulness well and are devoted to the practice of mindfulness, it is because you have energy in yourself. If you have energy within you, it is because you have faith in the practice, in the Dharma.

Today we speak about faith not as a notion but as something very alive, something that must be nourished by true understanding. In the Buddhist circle, it is repeated again and again that your faith should be right fatih. Faith is not made of notions and concepts. Right faith is nourished by your true understanding, not by the intellect but by our experience. It is true faith. I think that in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, faith is a very important topic of inquiry. 

Thich Nhat Hanh
from Going Home; Jesus and Buddha as Brothers