Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
Do not believe in anything because it is spoken and rumoured by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on authority of your teachers and elders.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is
conductive to the good and benefit of one and all then accept it and live up to it.
GOTAMA BUDDHA
(Anguttara Nikaaya)
While talking on a Christian chat channel, I was struck by a young man who insisted that questioning was a bad thing - a sin in his eyes. I asked him that if what he believed really is truth, what could possibly be the harm in asking questions or seeking confirmation within ourselves of that truth. He felt that to question was not to have faith, and to put himself at risk for going to hell.
One of the reasons that I have followed Buddhism for so long, is that the freedom - in fact, encouragement - to question has led me to not only more fully understand my faith, but to appreciate and bring more fully into myself the concepts that form the foundation of what Buddhism is about. I've said to people before that Buddhism is only my religion - my goal is to be able to freely give it up if needed. The concepts - the fundamental reality - that Buddhism is built upon, is beyond any religion.
To me, the questioning has helped me find that foundational truth - to make it part of myself and take the "ideas" past belief or even experience and into a "being-ness". A truth that is known somehow between my cells. There can be rough days when questioning is an encouraged part of a faith tradition - days when the "why?" seems to drown out everything else. But when the faith tradition also teaches the practice of looking within for insight, the questions can lead us to peace ultimately.
Questioning without a means to find answers seems cruel and futile, blind faith seems unfulfilling and empty, and claiming to know without the inner experience seems arrogant and foolhardy. Back to the Middle Way - finding balance between faith, practice, and doubt - not explaining or escaping the rough days, but staying the course to peace.
