Faith in Buddhism
Faith (saddha/ sraddha) is an important constituent element of the
teachings of the Buddha - both in the Theravada tradition as in the
Mahayana. In the Kalama Sutra the Buddha explicitly argues against
"blind faith" based simply on authority, tradition or similarly
questionable grounds. Nevertheless, there remains a requirement for
a degree of trusting confidence and belief in Buddhism, primarily
in the spiritual attainment and salvational knowledge of the
Buddha. Faith in Buddhism centres on belief in the Buddha as a
supremely Awakened being, on his unexcelled role as teacher of both
humans and gods, in the truth of his Dharma (spiritual Doctrine),
and in his Sangha (community of spiritually developed followers).
Faith in Buddhism functions as a form of motor, which propels the
Buddhist practitioner towards the goal of Awakening (bodhi) and
Nirvana.
Contents
1 Faith in Early Buddhism (Theravada)
2 Faith in Mahayana Buddhism
3 Literature
1 Faith in Early Buddhism (Theravada)
The Pali suttas (scriptures) list faith as one of the seven
Treasures (dhanas), one of the five spiritual faculties
(indriyas), one of the four streams of merit, and one of the
spiritual powers (balas).
When a person decides to give up domestic life and live as a monk
or nun, it is said to be out of faith (through faith in the Lord)
that he/she does so (Majjhima-Nikaya 107 and 140): first comes the
hearing of Dhamma (verbalised spiritual Truth) from the Buddha or
one of his disciples, and then follows faith in the Buddhas
teaching and reflection upon the value of its application
(Majjhima-Nikaya 112).
Faith is primarily faith in the Buddha himself as the Teacher of
supreme spiritual realisation and accomplishment. The Buddha extols
such faith as befitting a noble Buddhist disciple:
The ariyan [noble] disciple is of faith; he has faith in the
Awakening of the Tathagata [Buddha], and thinks: He is indeed Lord,
perfected one, fully Self-Awakened One, endowed with right
knowledge and conduct, well-farer, knower of the world(s),
matchless charioteer of men to be tamed, teacher of devas [gods]
and men, the Awakened One, the Lord. (Majjhima-Nikaya 53).
Such faith, it is said, can lead towards Liberation. Indeed, a
person who is released by faith can well, in consequence, be on
the path to arahantship (spiritual adeptship) (according to the
Buddha of the Anguttara-Nikaya, Book of Threes, 21). It is for such
reasons that faith is stated by the Buddha to be appropriate as a
persons partner (Samyutta-Nikaya, Sagathavagga, 200) and to be a
mans best treasure (ibid, 22
. The
Buddha even quotes with evident approval the god Sakkas
Dharma-charged words:
faith in the Tathagata unshakable and well established
the
person of intelligence, remembering the Buddhas Teaching, should
be devoted to faith and virtue, to confidence and vision of the
Dhamma [Dharma]. (ibid, 912).
2 Faith in Mahayana Buddhism
The role of faith in Mahayana Buddhism is, if anything, even
stronger. Its depth and range become intensified, particularly in
the tathagatagarbha sutras and the Pure Land literature.
In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Buddha accords a foundational
position to faith. He states: "we say that unsurpassed Awakening
[bodhi] has faith as its cause. The causes of Awakening are
innumerable, but if stated as faith, this covers everything."
Faith as understood in this, the Buddhas final Mahayana sutra, is
belief in the teachings of the Buddha and in the Buddha's own
eternality. More specifically, it is belief in such doctrines as
the law of karma, in the reality and eternity of the Three Jewels
(i.e. the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha), as well as in the
efficacy of the Buddhist Path. The Buddha comments: "All that is
said in these Mahayana sutras is the truths of the Way [marga] ...
As I have already stated, if one believes in the Way, such a Way of
faith is the root of faith. This assists the Way of Awakening ...
The Way begins with the root of faith
(Yamamoto/Page, Chapter 20,
"On Holy Actions").
The Buddha further notes that a person possessed of faith is
superior to one lacking in it:
"There are two kinds of men: one who has faith, and the other who
has not. O Bodhisattva! Know that he with faith is one who is good,
and that he who has no faith is one who is not good."
(Yamamoto/Page, Vol. 5, Chapter 21, "On Pure Actions" (a), p.
3).
Faith in the Buddha is seen as a positive virtue as it leads to
more attentive absorption in Dharma, which in turn strengthens
faith still further. The Buddha remarks: "Faith arises out of
listening to Dharma, and this listening is [itself] grounded in
faith." (Yamamoto/Page, Vol. 8, Ch. 34 "On Bodhisattva Lion's Roar"
(b), p. 44).
Through such faith, along with other spiritual practices, the
Buddhist aspirant is enabled to attain Nirvana, so the Buddha of
the Mahaparinirvana Sutra teaches. Faith is the first step for the
Bodhisattva to tread along that path to Nirvana. It is viewed as a
basic requirement, and crucially entails the understanding that the
"real" Buddha is not a being of flesh and blood who can bleed and
who dies, or whose Truth (Dharma) perishes with his physical body.
The true Buddha and his Dharma are utterly deathless and eternal,
so the Mahaparinirvana Sutra insists. This the Bodhisattva is urged
to believe:
"First, he [ i.e. the Bodhisattva] is perfect in faith. How is
faith perfect? This is believing deeply that the Buddha, Dharma and
Sangha are Eternal, that all Buddhas of the ten directions [ =
everywhere] make use of expedients [effectively to convey Dharma to
the different types of being], and that beings and icchantikas [ =
the most spiritually depraved of persons] all possess the
Buddha-dhatu [Buddha-Principle, Buddha-nature ]. It is not
believing that the Tathagata is subject to birth, old age, illness,
and death, that he has undergone austerities, and that Devadatta [
= Buddha's cousin] really caused blood to flow from the Buddha's
body, that the Tathagata ultimately enters Nirvana [ = finally
dies], and that authentic Dharma dies out. This is where we speak
of the Bodhisattva's being perfect in faith." (Yamamoto/Page, Vol.
9, Chapter 38, "On Bodhisattva Lion's Roar" (f), p. 33).
Yet faith in the Buddha should not be blind. The Mahayana not
infrequently links faith with discernment and spiritual insight
(prajna) - spiritual penetration. The following words of the
Buddha's indicate the need for a balance:
"If a person does not possess faith and insight [prajna], such a
person increases his ignorance. If a person possesses insight, but
not faith, such a person will increase [his/her] distorted views.
... A person who has no faith will say, out of an angry mind:
'There cannot be any Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha!" (Yamamoto/Page,
Vol. 10, Chapter 42, "On Bodhisattva Kasyapa" (c), p. 65).
The Nirvana Sutra is not alone in according a foundational position
to faith. The "Tathagatagarbha" sutra entitled,
Anunatva-Apurnatva-Nirdesa ("Exposition of Non-Decrease,
Non-Increase") tells of how the essence of Ultimate Truth, the
"Tathagatagarbha", can be perceived by means of faith. This matter
of the Tathagatagarbha lies beyond the reach of the foolish, of the
ordinary person, unless that person possess faith, which will gain
him or her entry into the realm of the Tathagatagarbha:
"No sravakas [ = elementary students of the Buddha's] or
pratyekabuddhas [ = "private" Buddhas, who usually sequester
themselves away from people and generally do not teach] are able to
know, see or investigate this matter with their insight. How much
less able to do so are foolish ordinary people, except when they
directly realise it by faith!"
Faith is thus presented as a powerful means for the Buddhist
practitioner to penetrate through to, and realise for him/herself,
deep spiritual truths.
It is not only in the tathagatagarbha literature that faith is
lauded. In the prajnaparamita scriptures, too, faith is extolled.
Here it is usually in connection with trust and belief in the sutra
which is at that moment being expounded. Thus in the Prajnaparamita
Sutra on How Benevolent Kings May Protect Their Countries, the
Buddha declares that even if living beings were to give away the
most precious substances known to humanity in a huge act of
generosity, still their merit would not be such as that of the
production of one single thought of serene faith in this Sutra
(Conze II, p. 203). This and other prajnaparamita sutras explain
that such persons who naturally engender faith in these texts are
those who have worshipped and revered countless Buddhas in past
incarnations. Faith comes naturally to them. Moreover, faith in,
and reverence towards, such sutras is tantamount to faith and
reverence directed towards all Buddhas. The Buddha asserts in the
18,000-Line Prajnaparamita Sutra:
If anyone, when this deep perfection of wisdom is being preached,
feels respect, affection, and serene faith for it, then he feels
respect, affection and serene faith also for the Buddhas and Lords
of the past, future, and present. (Conze I, p. 484).
It is perhaps in the Pure Land sutras that faith and devotion
reach a pinnacle of soteriological importance. Here it is ones
faith in the salvific compassion of the Buddha Amitabha, coupled
with ones development of roots of goodness and the earnest wish
to enter the Buddhas happy land, that is said to bring deliverance
into Buddha Amitabhas Western Paradise, the land of bliss,
preparatory to entry into Awakening and Nirvana. In the
Contemplation of Amitayus Sutra, the Buddha tells of the types of
being who gain birth in this happy realm - and they are all
characterised by faith:
Those born in the Western Land are of nine grades. Those who
attain birth on the highest level of the highest grade are sentient
beings who resolve to be born in that land, awaken the three kinds
of faith and so are born there. What are the three? They are,
first, the sincere faith, second, the deep faith; and third, the
faith that seeks birth there by transferring ones merit. Those who
have these three kinds of faith will certainly be born
there.
However, even in these faith-oriented sutras of Pure Land Dharma,
faith is often linked with understanding (it is not totally blind
faith). The Buddha of the Smaller Pure Land Sutra speaks of faith
allied with understanding as a prerequisite for the attainment of
supreme Awakening (bodhi), when hearing this text. Thus:
Furthermore
if there is a good son or good daughter, whether
having already heard this, or shall hear it, or who is now hearing
it once hearing this Sutra, profoundly is there born an
understanding faith. Once there is born an understanding faith, a
certainty about the accumulations of merit residing in the ten
directions with the Buddha World-Honoured Ones, whose number is
like the sands of ten River Ganges, and they practice as
instructed, all will be firmly in the supremely unexcelled
Bodhi.
This teaching of faith, originally advocated in conjunction with
discernment and Dharmic practice, received a new interpretation in
the teachings of the Japanese Buddhist saint, Shinran Shonin
(1173-1262 CE), who taught that just one recitation of the mantra,
Homage to Amida Buddha, with deep faith, would be enough to
secure the faithful person entrance into the Western Paradise.
Subsequent utterances of that formula would be expressions of
gratitude to Buddha Amida (Amitabha). Deep understanding of the
Buddhas teachings and Buddhic practice were not necessary, Shinran
claimed. This interpretation of the Pure Land sutras represents
perhaps the zenith of faith-oriented Buddhism and remains
controversial, although Shinrans school of Jodo Shinshu is today
perhaps the largest Buddhist sect in Japan.
One of the most famous of Mahayana sutras, the Lotus Sutra, also
embraces the ideal of faith, but links it to discernment (which
would appear to be more in harmony with the Buddhas general
doctrines). The Buddha tells his audience in the Lotus Sutra:
If any living beings who seek after the Buddha-way either see or
hear this Law-Flower Sutra [i.e. the Lotus Sutra], and after
hearing it believe and discern, receive and keep it, you may know
that they are near Perfect Enlightenment.
The same sutra asserts that the Dharma as a whole is difficult to
grasp with mere words, and that ultimately only those Bodhisattvas
who believe with firm faith can penetrate its nature. The Buddha
says:
This Law [Dharma] is inexpressible,
It is beyond the realm of terms;
Among all the other living beings
None can apprehend it
Except the bodhisattvas
Who are firm in the power of faith.
Thus faith is a major element within Buddhism. While it is rarely
(if ever) taught by the Buddha in any blind form and is often
linked to discernment and understanding, it is nevertheless viewed
as a powerful force which can start the Buddhist practitioner on
his or her spiritual journey and convey him or her towards
Awakening itself. Perhaps the most enthusiastic paean to faith can
be found in the massive Avatamsaka Sutra, where, to the delight of
all the Buddhas, the Bodhisattva Chief-in-Goodness proclaims the
following verses in a great eulogy of bodhisattvas Faith:
Deep faith, belief, and resolution always pure,
They [ = bodhisattvas] honour and respect all Buddhas ...
Deeply believing in the Buddha and the Buddha's teaching,
They also believe in the Way traversed by buddhas-to-be,
And believe in unexcelled great enlightenment:
Thereby do enlightening beings [ = bodhisattvas] first rouse their
will.
Faith is the basis of the Path, the mother of virtues,
Nourishing and growing all good ways,
Cutting away the net of doubt, freeing from the torrent of
passion,
Revealing the unsurpassed road of ultimate peace.
When faith is undefiled, the mind is pure;
Obliterating pride, it is the root of reverence,
And the foremost wealth in the treasury of religion ...
Faith is generous
Faith can joyfully enter the Buddhas teaching;
Faith can increase knowledge and virtue;
Faith can ensure arrival at enlightenment
Faith can go beyond the pathways of demons,
And reveal the unsurpassed road of liberation.
Faith is the unspoiled seed of virtue,
Faith can grow the seed of enlightenment.
Faith can increase supreme knowledge,
Faith can reveal all Buddhas
Faith is most powerful, very difficult to have;
Its like in all worlds having
the wondrous wish-fulfilling pearl. (pp. 331-332).
3 Literature
The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra (Nirvana Publications, London
1999-2000), tr. by Kosho Yamamoto, edited by Dr. Tony Page
The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom (University of California Press,
Berkeley 1975), tr. by Edward Conze (I)
Perfect Wisdom: The Short Prajnaparamita Texts (Luzac, London
1973), tr. by Edward Conze (2)
The Threefold Lotus Sutra (Kosei, Tokyo 1975), tr. by Bunno Kato,
Yoshiro Tamura, Kojiro Miyasaka, revised by W. E. Soothill, Wilhelm
Schiffer and Pier P. Del Campana
The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of the Avatamsaka
Sutra (Shambhala, Boston and London 1993)
The Smaller Pure Land Sutra, tr. by Charles Patton (Internet)
The Sutra on Contemplation of Amitayus, tr. by Hisao Inagaki
(Internet)
[Source: Faith in Buddhism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_in_Buddhism]
