The Importance of Confidence

What is the word of faith? Well, in Buddhism, the word shrada of faith could also be translated as confidence. The Buddha's example is if there is a big raging river and there are a group of people on one side wanting to go across the river, but they're afraid to do that and then one strong man wades into the river with a rope and he walks across the river and then everybody sees that and they have confidence that the river can be crossed and so then they can all go across. So it's that sense of really believing that something can be accomplished, which in Buddhism mostly that's what it means, that it's that belief in oneself or belief in a teacher, that they are a genuine guide and that they are a genuine help for us. And we have faith in that, that we believe in that, that they would be genuinely beneficial.

So from the outside side, from a teacher or good companionship and also from the side of believing in our own potential.