Saddha is confidence; the questions all seem interrelated today. This goes onto what I was talking about just previously. Having Equanimity towards the process, and not allowing the difficulties of the practice to shake our confidence. Equanimity is also helped by Determination, they can feed each other. Confidence, without some confidence we won't have Equanimity, and without Equanimity we won't have much Confidence. So they seem to feed each other. Confidence gives us Determination, which gives us Equanimity, and Equanimity helps to stabilize us so that the difficulties of the practice don't shake our confidence. And this ties in with the Four Brahma Viharas, how Equanimity balances all the other unselfish emotions.
Equanimity is a very important Parami, it's a very important unselfish emotion, and it helps to balance the practice. Having more Equanimity towards the difficulties of the practice, as I said, is very important, and this actually depends on Wisdom. So again the Paramis tie into each other. Wisdom, especially insight into the third characteristic of existence, that nothing is mine, that these mind states arise and pass due to causes and conditions. And if causes have been made, then we have to have to be able to receive the results of our past with Equanimity, and not allow this process to shake our confidence. Wisdom understands cause and effect: that what we have sown has to come back to us. With Equanimity we prevent sowing another cause for the same thing to happen, but instead be more equanimous with the ripples of our past actions, thoughts, and speech.
So when the ripples keep coming back, instead of just putting up our hand and pushing them back and making more ripples, we can see the ripples coming and understand they are arising due to causes and conditions and we don't' have to take them as "myself". They're just causes and conditions.