Conviction

When the Buddha lists the qualities that make the mind strong, he starts with conviction. When he lists the qualities that make the mind wealthy, with a sense of inner wealth, he starts with conviction, as well. So it’s good to think about what that means.

Basically, it’s conviction in the fact that the Buddha was truly awakened. The knowledge he gained was not just an interesting idea to think about. It was actually something that penetrated into the nature of how the mind creates suffering and how it doesn’t have to. It’s also knowledge of the power of your actions. Those two points are connected, of course. You have the power, through your actions, to put an end to suffering. That’s what conviction amounts to. You take that on as your working hypothesis and really stick with it. You find that it changes the way you act, changes the way you speak, changes the way you think—all in the right direction.

Sometimes we’re told that Buddhism doesn’t require faith, that you’re not asked to believe anything you can’t test. Well, the question is, to test it, where are you going to get the energy to test it? And to run a good test of things, what qualities of mind do you need? The testing of the Buddha’s teachings takes a lot. So even just to do a test of the teachings requires that you have at least some sense that it’s worth it—that of the various courses of action out there, the various ways of understanding your own powers of action, this is one that really is worth giving yourself over to.

So when you meditate, really give yourself to the meditation. The Buddha says the Dhamma thrives on putting it into practice with commitment. In other words, you really do it seriously. You’re not just playing around; you’re not just going through the motions.

And then reflection: You watch what you’re doing. You look at the results. If the results are good, you keep it up. If they’re not good you can change. This way you learn.

I was reading an article a while back about one of the founders of AI. And for him, one of the main “ah-ha” moments was that intelligence was not a matter of how much you know, it’s how good you are at learning: in other words, taking in new information, testing it, seeing how it fits in with what you already know, seeing where it doesn’t fit in, and then see which is more reliable—the new information or the old information.

That’s basically the Buddha’s method for teaching you how to practice. You commit to it; you really do it seriously; you try to do your best. That’s where the conviction comes in, because it requires a lot of you. When you’re generous, you have to give things away. When you’re virtuous, you have to give up some of the activities you used to like to do. When you concentrate the mind, there are a lot of things you have to ignore, not pay attention to, so that you can give full attention to the object of your concentration. So there’s a lot you have to give up. The Buddha chose that word, “commitment,” wisely.

Then you reflect: Look at what you’ve done; gauge the results; see what needs to be done so that it can become better. This is where you show intelligence on the path.

Ajaan Fuang used to say that respect is a sign of intelligence, particularly when it’s directed to things and people worthy of respect. Respect doesn’t just mean bowing down. As the Buddha said, if you want to show respect to him, you put the teachings into practice for the sake of dispassion, for the sake of disenchantment, for the sake of total freedom. That’s how you respect the Buddha; that’s how you respect yourself. In this way, you gain strength in the mind. The mind becomes a wealthy mind, one with plenty of good things to share.