Is Conviction Truly the Absence of Doubt?

It is said that scientists, using instruments, have detected that the Earth is elliptical, and almost everyone believes it, seemingly with unwavering conviction, as if this belief has become deeply ingrained and unalterable. Some who disbelieve it even engage in debates with others, even ridiculing and mocking them, yet this is not true, doubt-free faith. Faith has many levels; some hold beliefs with absolute certainty, utterly without doubt. However, without personal verification, such faith belongs to blind faith and superstition, not verified faith. Therefore, doubt still exists, albeit deeply concealed and not easily observable.

Knowing that the Earth is elliptical is merely hearsay, not personally witnessed; it is knowledge acquired through the consciousness via rumor. Since the manas (the mental faculty) has not personally seen it, doubt is not eradicated. Moreover, what many people see with their own eyes may not necessarily be true or real; cases of misperception are very common. Seeing is not necessarily believing, so the doubt of the manas cannot be eliminated. Once another circumstance arises, claiming that the Earth is not elliptical but diamond-shaped or triangular, many people’s previous belief wavers, turning into disbelief.

Why can faith change? Precisely because there is no verified realization. The certainty of the consciousness, no matter how profound, is unreliable. When circumstances change, doubt within the consciousness arises. Why? Because the manas never truly believed in the first place; the manas had not eradicated doubt. When circumstances change, lacking the support of the manas’ verified realization, the consciousness becomes fickle, lacking a core anchor. Alternatively, the core anchor of the consciousness is always the manas; at critical moments, it inevitably follows the manas. Only by truly seeing the Earth, genuinely witnessing its shape holistically and macroscopically, can the manas eradicate doubt and generate faith. In the future, even if circumstances change, the manas will still believe unwaveringly, and thus the consciousness will follow the manas in unwavering faith. Even if the consciousness harbors doubt, it will be ineffective and will still trust the manas.

Some say that as long as you yourself are certain you have eradicated the view of self and harbor no doubt, you have attained the first fruition (Sotāpanna). How utterly naive and laughable such a statement is. Is the unwavering certainty of an ordinary person reliable? If it were reliable, why are sentient beings so fickle, changing their belief at the slightest disturbance? If the certainty and absence of doubt in ordinary people were reliable, why did the Buddha say, “Be careful not to trust your mind, your mind is not to be trusted; only upon attaining Arhatship can you trust your mind”?

Historically recorded individuals who attested to others’ eradication of the view of self and attainment of fruition were, first, the Buddha himself during his lifetime, and second, the Fourth Patriarch Prajñātāra after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa. The Buddha, needless to say, possessed immeasurable wisdom, limitless spiritual powers, and omniscience. With the psychic power of knowing others’ minds and the power of knowing past lives, he could perceive all sentient beings’ thoughts exactly as they were. He could immediately know whether his disciples had attained fruition without even meeting them. The Fourth Patriarch Prajñātāra not only attained Arhatship but also possessed great spiritual powers. He even personally subdued the various disturbances and afflictions caused by Māra (the Evil One), restoring purity to the Buddhist community.

Given the Fourth Patriarch’s level of liberation, realization, and his powers of knowing past lives and others’ minds, he could, of course, immediately know whether his disciples had attained fruition, without error. Others, lacking such realization, insufficient wisdom and attainment, and devoid of spiritual powers and abilities, likely cannot accurately observe the mental states of others. Therefore, they cannot attest to whether others have attained fruition. Those with extremely profound wisdom, who have attained fruition countless times over many lifetimes, possessing rich experience, may be able to accurately attest to others’ attainment of fruition even without spiritual powers. Apart from these, others lack the ability and qualification to attest for others. How much less so for an ordinary person to self-attest! Lacking experience, misjudgment is fundamentally unavoidable, and the consequences are unimaginable.

Cultivating the Buddha-Dharma demands even more pragmatism and strictness than worldly affairs. One cannot treat the Dharma as child’s play, thinking it simple. In reality, nothing is more difficult than the Buddha-Dharma, because sentient beings have been engaged in worldly affairs since beginningless kalpas; the Dharma is far too unfamiliar and strange to them. Compounded by heavy karmic obstacles, the hindrances are often beyond our imagination. Therefore, studying and practicing the Buddha-Dharma diligently and steadfastly is our fundamental duty. Only in this way can we avoid increasing karmic obstacles and afflictions, sinking deeper into the abyss of birth and death.