It’s not uncommon for faith to ebb and flow. Certainly that’s to be expected at the start. This can be likened to the divisions of the Ages of the Dharma.
In sutras other than the Lotus Sutra, there is an expectation that the efficacy of the Buddha’s teaching will decline over time. Commonly these phases are referred to as the Age of True Dharma, the Age of Semblance Dharma and the Latter Age of the Dharma. These can also be referred to as the true Dharma, when the teaching is still fresh and has real potency; the merely formal Dharma, when the teachings have devolved into mere rituals; and the end of the Dharma, when the teachings lose all impact.
In Stories of the Lotus Sutra, Gene Reeves offers an explanation of how these same divisions can be applied to our faith and practice “not as an inevitable sequence of periods of time, but as existential phases of our own lives.”
“There will be times when the Dharma can be said to be truly alive in us, times when our practice is more like putting on a show and has little depth, and times when the life of the Dharma in us is in serious decline. But there is no inevitable sequence here. There is no reason, for example, why a period of true Dharma cannot follow a period of merely formal Dharma. And there is no reason to assume that a period has to be completed once it has been entered. We might lapse into a period of decline, but with the proper influences and circumstances we could emerge from it into a more vital phase of true Dharma. A coming evil age is mentioned several times in the Dharma Flower Sutra, but while living in an evil age, or an evil period of our own lives, makes teaching the Dharma difficult, even extremely difficult, nowhere does the Dharma Flower Sutra suggest that it is impossible to teach or practice true Dharma.” [p214]
We should keep in mind that settling into what feels like merely formal practice isn’t without benefit. As Reeves explains:
“The relation between sincere respect and its expressions in gestures and words is something like the relation between true Dharma and merely formal Dharma. And yet expressions of respect even when respect is not sincerely felt can still be good. What we can think of as ritual politeness – saying ‘Thank you’ when receiving something, even if we do not feel grateful; … saying ‘I’m sorry’ when we do not really feel sorry – can all contribute to smoother social relations. Just as true Dharma is greater than merely formal Dharma, being truly grateful is greater than expressing gratitude in a merely formal way, and heartfelt sincerity is greater than merely conventional politeness, but even social conventions and polite expressions can be an important ingredient in relations between people and can contribute to mutual harmony and respect.” [p217]
Mutual harmony and respect is a worthy goal of Buddhist practice.
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