In Buddhism, we are to assert ourselves in faith, practice, and study. By faith, I mean faith in your inherent Buddha nature or your inner Gohonzon. For two years (2013-2015), faith had been a nasty word to me.
Coming from a conservative Christian background,and once being an avid TBN viewer, faith was taught as belief in a god who planned your life out and was to be obeyed. Faith was a means of encouraging blind obedience. You were told to trust Yahweh enough to do what you are told, or obey the Bible, since that was his word, regardless of what you may think; what you may feel; or how it may affect other people. Politicians, mainly the Christian Right, have used this to legislate Christian beliefs in our government, and to support certain politicians. They are still doing it with the transgendered bathroom accommodations debate. It is just like how the Christian Right advocated against same sex marriage and abortion. In the realm of science, faith was used to fight teaching evolution in school despite the overwhelming evidence that support evolution; and to keep people complacently ignorant on the matter of global warming. Knowing all this coming to Buddhism, faith sounded like another word for control. However in Nichiren Buddhism, faith means believing in your inherent Buddha nature. It's almost another way of saying believing in yourself or your potential. Why is it important? It is important because without faith in yourself, you will not overcome your problems. Well not all of them. The miniature ones, maybe. However the big ones, not a chance. You will succumb and be consumed by them. Without faith in yourself, you will not have the courage to pursue your dreams and desires. Without faith in yourself, you give up on yourself. Without faith in yourself, you live a stagnant state because of your fear of failure. That's why by 22, after three years in college, all I could say was that I had a 3.5 GPA, and I sang with the choir. I had no job experience. I had no connections and a very poor network. In essence, I had been in college for three years and did not have shit to show for it. It's because of this faith that I got the financial aid that I need for school. It is because of faith that I began to mend the relationship with my mother. It is because of faith that I am just now beginning to move on from high school. It is because of this faith that I did not give up when I was struggling with Statistics. Faith is the essence to true happiness. The other alternative is defeat by giving up on yourself.
