Unlike with Thomas Aquinas, Buddhism does not require the dyad of faith and reason. For the Christian, faith has to be reasonable otherwise superstition enters into the picture. In the Catholic seminary, one studies philosophy (reason) before they study theology. Faith, in this respect, is the servant of reason one might conclude. In this, faith seems to have been reduced to a Sancho Panza while reason is Don Quixote whose imagination is fed by his books.
In Buddhism, faith is more of a conviction that the mind which seeks the Buddha Mind (the awakened or bodhi mind) is really seeking a realization of itself; its most profound essence. We can become awakened, that is, become Buddhas, but only if we awaken to our true nature which is veiled from us by our ignorance. On a humorous note, it is like riding an ass in search of an ass, the rider being convinced he will sooner, than later, find the ass. This is sometimes called trusting the mind (xinxin). One cannot call this reason or an explanation since it goes beyond reason being much more profound.
On another note, it is said that the door to immortality opens if one rejoices to hear the Dharma and thus have true faith. This hearing the Dharma is connected with Buddhist divine revelation which is not the same as reason. In fact, one has to strive for faith—not everyone hears the true Dharma (saddharma). Such faith is not the same as belief which can simply be taken up by anyone. In the Avatamsaka Sutra, faith is said to reveal the peerless way. This connects with the sense of divine revelation which is beyond calculating reason whose head is turned to the constructs of imagination and the sensory world.
One, of course, can doubt such faith but, paradoxically, only on grounds which are not doubted; which must rest on some kind of assumed belief! Behind reason there always lurks faith or his cousin, belief. If one chooses to doubt rebirth and karma, that is, have little or no faith in them, one can only stand on grounds that are not doubted. So just what is this ground? Is it the strong belief that there is nothing after this life nor anything spiritual like karma? Do we rest on the ground that science has not proven rebirth therefore it does not exist? This is nothing more than a belief—a faith in science. And how solid is science? Let’s let Richard Feynman answer: “But nevertheless, we now have a much more humble point of view of our physical laws—everything can be wrong!”
excellent post
Posted by: Methexis | May 26, 2014 at 03:54 AM