Understanding the Buddhist philosophy (session 3)

Yesterday, I went to a discussion at the Buddhist center on the theme of faith. I was first disappointed by the subject that sounded dogmatic to me. The woman was telling us how faith brings meaning to life, and how without faith people fall into depression, and cannot properly enjoy life.

I heard these ideas before, but at the synagogue! The rabbi would tell the prayers how they need to have faith in god, and blindly respect what he tells us to do. However, I talked with the lady after the conference, and her definition of faith is much broader. I understood that her definition of faith is everything that brings meaning to life, a less rigid interpretation than the religious idea of faith.

I opposed her idea of faith with Baudelaire’s idea of spleen, and she liked the idea.


Baudelaire (1821-1867)


Baudelaire’s spleen is a redundant theme in his poems:

Spleen (extract)

“When the low, heavy sky weighs like a lid
On the groaning spirit, victim of long ennui,
And from the all-encircling horizon
Spreads over us a day gloomier than the night;

When the earth is changed into a humid dungeon,
In which Hope like a bat
Goes beating the walls with her timid wings
And knocking her head against the rotten ceiling;”

—Translated by William Aggeler, The Flowers of Evil (Fresno, CA: Academy Library Guild, 1954)

To the feeling of spleen could be opposed the feeling triggered by “faith”:

Elevation (extract)

“My soul, you move with ease,
And like a strong swimmer in rapture in the wave
You wing your way blithely through boundless space
With virile joy unspeakable.

Fly far, far away from this baneful miasma
And purify yourself in the celestial air,
Drink the ethereal fire of those limpid regions
As you would the purest of heavenly nectars.”

—Translated by William Aggeler, The Flowers of Evil (Fresno, CA: Academy Library Guild, 1954)

As I understand it, faith encompasses the energy devoted by the artist to write his music, as well as the energy devoted by the journalist to diffuse the information among his fellow citizen. The artist, likewise the journalist trust what they are doing, and believe they are doing what is good for themselves and for the community. In a sense, they have faith in their power to change society; they believe they have some power over this process, and derive their energy from it.

Although, the Buddhist woman told me that there exist many three different forms of faith which fall into a hierarchy. Nevertheless, some are less valuable than others since they could be contingent to a situation. From her point of view, the artist might lose his ability to write music the following day, and what really matters is the timelessness of the object of faith. Her faith derives from Buddha’s understanding of the world, which is not subject to disappear with time. Moreover, this type of faith allows her to gather “seeds of virtue” (i.e. to become more and more virtuous over time; thus, making the world a better place).

I would object to this consideration, for me the energy derived from creativity could be as virtuous and useful for humanity than a more spiritual understanding of the world. Moreover, the ability of creativity is intangible. Even though a nice car could break the following day, Beethoven would never lose his ability to write symphonies (although Beethoven’s energy, like many other artists, is not as “light” as Baudelaire describes it in Elevation).

What I especially appreciated from this woman, and the Buddhist philosophy, is their open-mindedness. They do not try to make you understand they understood life more than you. They are really sweet in the approach of explaining what they believe is the path to happiness. Moreover, they are perfectly tolerant with people who decide to follow Jesus Christ, for instance (the woman believe we could also increase our spirituality through the other religions). While talking to me, she told me that she would speak to me like she would speak to her mother since I could have been her mother in a precedent life. Although I think it might be a literal explanation which leaves me skeptical, this fraternal philosophy reminds me of the idea of the “kid on the shoulders”. Would you treat your mother like this? is a useful question to assess the virtuosity of our social actions. Finally, she invited me to read “Understanding the mind”, a book which would allow me to better understand what the Buddhist mean when they state that the spirit is located at the center of the heart.