6. A view to understand the religion

In reality the Buddha has no shape. However, if you were advised to believe in a shapeless identity like an empty space, would you do that?

Once an idol is established, and you are told "This is the Buddha. If you convert to him, respect and adore him, then all of your wishes will be answered." Then you will follow exactly as you are told.

It is like a type of ladder which is set up so that you can climb up. This is a so-called convenient instrument.

As an analogy, if you were carrying a steel nugget and then found a gold nugget you would take up the gold one instead of the steel one.

From now on, if you are Buddha's followers you need to learn and practice the high level of Buddhism.

Since the objective of faith in the religion is clearly defined, you don't have any doubt and your mind is not shaky. If not, your mind will incessantly sway.

Why is it that a person with a faith of more than ten years floats farther away from Buddha's teaching? When a somewhat high level talk is given, it may not sound like Buddhism. Once learned, however it is not difficult at all. But people without true faith may think it is difficult since they have become suspicious of it by themselves.

I feel sorry and cannot avoid being impatient when recently-joined believers seem to be more faithful than the already-joined members even though the old comers are eagerly trying to be pious and believe diligently. However, when the old comers are advised, "Do not believe in it in that way, but this way", they cannot throw away the old ways due to their affection for it up to then. They are so stubborn that they cannot stop their foolish belief. They need to stop the foolish faith and pursue the correct belief if they think what they are told is reasonable.

They need to correctly systematize their religious ethical conception regardless of whether or not they believe in that religion. When they establish the religious ethical sense of values, their apprehensive sense of religion will change.

It is difficult for them to understand religion since they attempt to understand it as they would try to understand society with a social and ethical conception, without recognizing it and being deeply fascinated with something else. Thus, they cannot overcome the difficulty because they attempt to understand a high level sense of values with their own.

If they change their present conception, everything will be easy. The problem is that they can't change their fixed concept.

If generally speaking of the social ethics, goodness is true and evil is untrue. "The clean thing is the Truth and the dirty thing is not; righteousness is the Truth and injustice is not", all are not wrong statements, if judged by common sense. It is correct in the sense of common law, and the sense of ethical values has been established in that manner through our education.

However, to the religious ethical point of view goodness is the Truth, and evil also is. At the same time, the Truth itself is not tainted with good or evil. In other words, goodness as well as evil exists in the Truth. A statement that the Truth exists in goodness but not in evil is logically contradictory. Speaking conclusively, the Truth cannot be divided into two.

In the totality of the Truth, goodness is a part and evil also a part. Heaven, hell and everything exist in the Truth. Nothing can exist separate from the Truth. Now, we don't know what the Truth looks like, do we?