[Maṅgala Saying]Practice!
Those who learn the Dhamma need humility which is being courageous enough to recognize that they don’t know, to avoid falling into a blind spot of misunderstanding in the learning process.
Before we see the true appearance of the Buddha, we do not understand the Buddha; when we see the Buddha, it might be hazy and we do not fully understand. The same goes for the Dhamma, the only way is to practice till complete perfection.
The other day, I was invited by a Tibetian devotee to a Tibetian Dhamma Centre. 200 lamas performed consecration and empowerment rituals on the Buddha statue and carefully deliver the message of the Buddha to the people in the remote mountainous areas. Although everyone has different opinions, everyone is still close like brothers. Seeing a group of mountainous villagers beginning to incline towards the Buddha, there is always something to rejoice upon. Besides feeling the power of the people’s simple faith, what I am especially glad of and cherish, is the “verification” which we place importance in, in the original Buddhism.
We do not have to stop at the level of wisdom that arises from pondering to explore the teachings of the Buddha, nor do we need to rely solely on faith. With the existence of a scientific way of verifying the Dhamma, we could easily walk out of the unavoidable blind spots and misunderstandings of thoughts and beliefs. We can prevent ourselves from creating kamma that harms others and hurts ourselves and securely liberate ourselves and others.
Practice while you can. Many debates related to the empirical field will naturally become clear with empirical study. The path of learning Dhamma will then be much simpler.
A disciple just asked me, if it’s non-self, who is in the round of rebirth?
I replied it’s tiring to answer, just practice!