Question: How important is asking of questions on the journey of learning the Buddha’s teachings (i.e. the Dharma)?
Answer: It should first be understood that the asking of questions when learning the Dharma is not necessarily because of the lack of faith or respect, but for having and checking Right Understanding (正见). Asking of questions is thus not only alright, it should be encouraged. That said, asking of questions about the Dharma can be [i] not so important, or [ii] very important, depending on the nature of the person learning.
[i] It is not so important for those who instinctively have Right Faith in the Right Dharma (正法), who thus do not need to enquire much or further on that learnt. [ii] It is very important for those who are uncertain or confused about that learnt. However, it is not such that each person is either [i] or [ii], as this depends on the kind of Dharma encountered. The more one learns, the more profound the Dharma will be too, thus spurring more questions.
As it is generally difficult to determine if oneself has enough good Dharma affinity (善法缘) and wisdom to be [i] all the time or not, it is generally safer to practise active enquiry more diligently, than to operate with ‘blind’ faith directly all the time. The latter can be very dangerous if wrong teachings are encountered, with them embraced as the ‘Right Dharma’. The Right Dharma will be able to withstand scrutiny, while wrong teachings cannot.
