For a discussion of faith, it is necessary to consider what we are being asked to understand by faith. As Thich Nhat Hanh explains in Peaceful Action, Open Heart, the Introductory chapter prepares the audience to receive a very important teaching about ultimate reality.
“[T]his introductory chapter opens two doors. The first door is that of history, the events we experience and what we can see and know in our own lifetimes. The second door is that of ultimate reality, which goes beyond time and space. Everything, all phenomena, participate in these two dimensions. When we look at a wave on the surface of the ocean, we can see the form of the wave and we locate the wave in space and time. Looking at a wave from the perspective of the historical dimension, it seems to have a beginning and an end, a birth and a death. …
“At the same time, all beings and things also belong to the ultimate dimension, the dimension of reality that is not subject to notions of space and time, birth and death … . A wave is a wave, but at the same time it is water. … To talk about a wave, we need these notions: the wave arises and passes away … . None of these distinctions can be applied to the wave in its ultimate dimension as water. In fact, you cannot separate the wave from its ultimate dimension.
“Even though we are used to seeing everything in terms of the historical dimension, we can touch the ultimate dimension. So our practice is to become like a wave – while living the life of a wave in the historical dimension, we realize that we are also water and live the life of water.” [p31-33]
This is another way of understanding the Middle Way.
Consider the light emitted by Śākyamuni that illuminates all the corners of eighteen thousand worlds in the east. The congregation can see from this world the living beings of the six regions of those worlds, down to the Avchi Hell of each world, and up to the Akanistha Heaven of each world. Mañjuśrī recalls seeing the same good omen from a Buddha called Sun-Moon-Light.
In the historical dimension, we don’t see this simultaneous nature of the 10 worlds – the six regions plus the higher realms of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas and buddhas. We see our provisional existence but not how each realm interpenetrates the other.
With the light of the Buddha’s wisdom, the simultaneous existence of the 10 worlds is revealed in the same way that the light of our Sun passing through a prism reveals the rainbow of colors inside.
The provisional reality and ultimate reality are not separate but one truth, the Middle Way. As explained in Lotus Seeds:
“The Truth of the Middle Way is the teaching that Emptiness and Provisionality are different ways of pointing out that the reality of anything, including our own lives, transcends the categories of existence and non-existence.”
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