Belief vs. Practice

My husband made a comment here on the blog a few days ago that really struck a chord with me about the difference between belief and practice in religion. It’s on this post: What Is The Purpose of Life?

• Brad Choate  • 3 days ago

  There are so many responses to this post yours got lost. So I’m sorry for the late reply.

  There are many, many sects of Buddhism; some are very devotional like Christianity, some are mystical like lamas in Tibet, and some are stripped of their cultural references down to pure logical philosophy.

  I am not here to judge any of these approaches, though clearly you are. Buddhism’s logical foundation and tradition of philosophical debate has been tested for a thousand years. Buddhism changes when it enters a new culture which is what is responsible for many of these sects.

  Zen Buddhism in particular comes from Chan Buddhism in china, which itself is a fusion of Buddhism and Taoism. There are even sub-sects of different kinds of Zen Buddhism for example the Rinzai and Soto sects. I am not a Zen Buddhist, but from what I know of them they could be either agnostic or atheist.

  What you need to understand though is that a Buddhist is not a Buddhist because of what they believe. A Buddhist is a Buddhist because of what they do. It is a religion of practice. So, a believer of the supernatural who practices Buddhism is a Buddhist, as is a Hindu, or Jew, or even an Atheist.

  ::Puts on Theravada hat:: The underling philosophy is simple: if you observe life is painful, and that pain has a cause which is attachment, there is a possible end to that pain through the application of the 8 fold path. The only faith you are asked to have is to try the practices and see if they work. ::Takes Theravada hat off::

  Buddhism is not about god or not-god.

I feel exactly the same way about Hinduism. It’s not about belief. Belief is rather irrelevant.

Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) has a lot of practices and wisdom from being one of the oldest religions in the world (if not *the* oldest!) and your job is to try them out. Try the practice and observe how it effects you. Read the wisdom and see how it resonates with you. You are always testing everything against your own instincts because God resides within you so in your heart of hearts you know the answer. You just need to clear away anything getting in the way of hearing that “still, small voice” (as Christianity calls it).

Not everything has to have proof, but I think it is important to be paying attention to the evidence in the world. You want your beliefs to be fluid enough to handle new information if it comes to light. So when something is scientifically observable about the world, your response can’t be to pretend it didn’t happen or close your eyes and hum. Your religion is useless if it can’t match up with what is observably true.

So not everything I believe is proved or provable but everything I believe fits into the framework of the world as we observe it to be. I am operating with a theory and weighing evidence as I find it. Because Hinduism is not rigid and is about personal experience first and foremost, I am able to continue to grow and learn and come to a better and better understanding of Truth as time goes on.

***

On the Youtube channel today I have a video that I’m particularly proud of! Here is a little clip:

See the full video: How Do Hindus View Other Religions here

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