OK. Confidence, or its Pali word "Saddha", is very important. Just super-important. Just super-super-important. Just extremely super-super-important. OK? You cannot underestimate the importance of having confidence. Confidence is a power, a spiritual power. Confidence is a quality that is simply needed by everybody, even in ordinary fields, in ordinary occupations. Whether a person is an athlete, whether they're a musician, even a lawyer, banker, whatever the occupation; a person with more confidence is able to get more things done. Because they are confident, they can do it. It's just that easy.
"By confidence one crosses the cycle of birth and death". "Crosses the cycle of birth and death" basically means becoming enlightened. The cycle of birth and death, the Pali word for this is Samsara, this is where we are right now. We are all stuck in Samsara, the cycle of birth and death. To cross it means that we become enlightened. So the Buddha is saying that by confidence you can become enlightened.
If you look in the scriptures, if you actually read a lot of the scriptures, you will find that most people became enlightened listening to the Buddha speak. That's how most of them became enlightened in the scriptures. They did not become enlightened sitting on a pillow, or walking back and forth, they weren't doing the formal practice. The majority of people were not doing the formal practice, they were sitting or standing, and listening to the Buddha speak.
Why did they become enlightened in those moments? -- I am going to divert here for a little bit. All of you here have come back for at least your second retreat. For some of you it is your tenth retreat or more. Why have you come back? You came back, because you gained something in your earlier retreats. You benefited in some way and because you benefited in some way, you felt confident that if you came back you would be able to learn more. You have confidence just coming here.
Now, all of you have had at least had three interviews with us, some of you have had a hundred or more interviews. You've asked us tons of questions, Rosemary and I have given you very good advice, otherwise you wouldn't be back. You got good answers to your questions. You also got answers to some questions that you did not have, that you thought "well that's helpful, too". Because you got good answers when you came into the interview before, now when you come into the interview you are expecting Rosemary and me to give good answers. You feel confident that we will give you good answers.
Now, when you are confident in that way, you're listening. You're listening stronger to me and Rosemary in the interviews then you did the first time you ever walked into an interview, because you're expecting something. In the first interview often retreatants are not too sure about what to expect. A lot of you walked in there and the interview was about three seconds long, and then you went away. You weren't too sure about us. But now, when you come into the interview you're expecting, and in that that expecting, you have more interest. With that interest you are listening better, you are going to hear more, you are going to understand more.
That is what was happening to so many people listening to the Buddha. They had confidence in this man. Some have met him before, some have not met him before, but something about him, even for the people brand-new to him, something about the Buddha inspired them. And when he spoke, it was so direct, it was so penetrating, and some of you have had this as well, it is going right in there. When you are on the level ready for enlightenment, and it goes in there, it goes "boom". Ok, maybe you are not quite ready on that level yet, and maybe we are not quite that advanced to do it for you. But when the people listened to the Buddha, so many had the confidence that what they were going to listen to was going to be something important, that they would benefit from it. They were more open, they were listening more clearly without the hindrances, and they were able to become enlightened in that way. So, through confidence one can cross the cycle of birth and death.