by Bhikkhu Bodhi Faith (Saddha) “SUFFERING IS THE SUPPORTING CONDITION FOR FAITH”: After asserting as the last step in the mundane sequence that birth is the supporting condition for suffering, the sutta switches over to the transcendental series with the pronouncement that suffering is the supporting condition for faith. With respect to both assertions the present formulation diverges from the usual version of twelve-factored dependent arising. In the usual version the forward sequence ends with the statement that birth is the condition for aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair. With this it concludes, leaving unstated the implied aftermath — that this “mass of suffering” will generate anew the fundamental ignorance at the head of the whole series, thus beginning another run through the cycle. The fact that suffering here replaces aging-and-death as the last member of the samsaric part of the series therefore has a special importance. It cautions us to the impending change, signaling that we are about to witness, in the progression of links to follow, not just one more turn of the wheel but an interruption of its forward spin and a struggle to reverse its natural direction of movement. The Buddha’s declaration that suffering is the supporting condition for faith points to the essential backdrop to the awakening of the religious consciousness. It reveals that spiritual awareness and the quest for enlightenment do not arise spontaneously in harmony with our natural modes of world-engagement, but require a turn “against the current” a break away from our instinctual urges for expansion and enjoyment and the embarkation in a different direction. This break is precipitated by the encounter with suffering. Suffering
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 04:03:50 +0000
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