NOTES: FAITH IN AMITABHA

 

1.      Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment, by Sung Bae Park, first Indian edition published by Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi, 1991, p. 11.

Originally published in 1983, this book is the first in English on the central role of faith in Mahayana Buddhism.

Nagarjuna (c. 150-250 A. D.) was the 14^th Patriarch in Mahayana Buddhism, and remains very highly regarded as a major Bodhisattva.

2.      Ibid., p. 13.

“Faith has a great influence on one’s consciousness. That is why it is a controlling faculty. With faith there can be effort. Faith arouses motivation in practice and becomes the basis for all other dhammas, like concentration and wisdom,” Sayadaw U Pandita has taught in IN THIS VERY LIFE, published by Buddhist Publications Society, Sri Lanka, 1992, p. 259. This book is a collection of talks delivered at the first three-month retreat conducted in 1984 at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts.

With well over 60 years of monastic training, Sayadaw U Pandita (born 1921) is recognized as one of the greatest living meditation masters. He has succeeded Mahasi Sayadaw as head of the lineage of Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha Meditation Center in Rangoon (now known as Yangon).

In the ancient technique of vipassana (insight) meditation as taught by the Buddha and revived by the late Mahasi Sayadaw in Burma (Myanmar), there are five controlling faculties in mental development leading to the full liberation of the heart and mind. They are faith, effort/energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. Faith, the first of these controlling factors, triggers the others as well.

Faith is the foundation of practice; mindfulness is the fundamental practice. And it’s mindfulness of the Buddha Amitabha in Pure Land faith and practice.  29.08.2014 06:37

3.      Quoted in ZEN AROUND THE WORLD, by Amnellen M Simpkins, Ph. D. & C.

Alexander Simpkins, Ph. D., published by Charles Tuttle Inc., Boston, Massachusetts, 1997, p. 151.

In the great Hindu epic poem Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna: “The faith of a man follows his nature, Arjuna. Man is made of faith: as his faith is so he is.”

(THE BHAGAVAD GITA, translated by Juan Mascaro, published by Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1962, p. 112)

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        Karma Sonam Senge, a Tibetan monk at the Rainforest Hermitage in Costa Rica, has written on the

        process of faith in his book entitled ALTRUISM: Contemplations for the Scientific Age: 

      

        “. Faith is not belief, it is trust. And in order to trust we must become simple and open. Simplicity and                  

        openness allow us to let go of mental constructs, and faith and trust allow us

        to abide in a unity of mind and body. In faith we are completely committed to each moment of

        experience without the reservation of our rational skepticism.

       “In the short span of human life not many beings come to know this truth directly and utilize it as a

       way of life. Because of our social conditioning, we must become very mature in life experience before

       we can begin to live by faith without feeling that we have to give up our rational explorations. As our

       society matures this integration will come about more quickly because then we will be free of the

       presumption that faith and the rational mind are mutually exclusive…”  (p. 51)

       Concluding his brief but insightful essay on faith, Karma Sonam Senge has linked it to consciousness

      (p. 52): “When we cultivate a deep integration of our being (through the furthering process of faith and

      self-realization), we will discover that the mind has far greater ability to extend itself than we

      previously ever imagined. We will understand that we are not merely connected to the phenomenal

      world via the body and evolution, but also that we are profoundly connected by way of

      consciousness. With this understanding comes the awareness that materiality itself can be

      transformed by consciousness…”

     The Buddha has taught that the mind is the source of all things, and that all things are created by the

      mind. The mind is also the key to changing the nature of experience.

     Karma Sonam Senge visited the Nalanda Reading Room & Archives in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia, where he

     presented an autographed copy of his book on 3 December, 1999. His book ALTRUISM was published

     by THE OPEN PATH, Boise, Idaho, 1986.

     The Snowmass Contemplative Group of contemplatives from many different religions have held

     annual meetings since the early 1980s. Originally sponsored by Father Thomas Keating, a Catholic

     priest, their inaugural meeting was held at the Trappist monastery in Snowmass, Colorado. They have

     met regularly to establish common understandings in their diverse practices.

     Recently, these contemplatives managed to put together their seven points of agreement which they

     have been refining over the years. Their seven points of common understanding are as follows:

1.       The potential for enlightenment is in every person.

     2.    The human mind cannot comprehend ultimate reality, but ultimate reality can

             be experienced.

3.    The ultimate reality is the source of all existence.

      

4.    Faith is opening, accepting & responding to ultimate reality.

      5    Confidence in oneself as rooted in the ultimate reality is the necessary corollary to

            faith in the ultimate reality.

    

6.       As long as the human experience is experienced as separate from the ultimate reality, it is subject to ignorance, illusion, weakness and suffering.

7.       Disciplined practice is essential to the spiritual journey, yet spiritual attainment is not

the result of one’s effort but the experience of oneness with ultimate reality.

The above extract is taken from Saints and Psychopaths authored by William L. Hamilton, published by Dharma Audio Network Associates (DANA), San Jacinto, California, 1995, p. 56.

The Buddha has taught that everything in the universe is one and the same. The Pure Landers have

faith in Amitabha Buddha as well as in their own Buddha-nature (which is also the enlightened consciousness of Amitabha). And in the Pure Land school, Amitabha is equated with the universe and ultimate reality.

Through continuous and concentrated chanting or reciting of the Buddha’s Name, a Pure Land devotee seeks spiritual oneness and unity with Amitabha.

4.       Culapunna Sutta, quoted in  The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation

of the Majjhima Nikaya, edited and revised by Bhikkhu Bodhi, published by Buddhist Publication

Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1995, p. 894. Bhikkhu Bodhi (born 1944) is an American monk and scholar, ordained in Sri Lanka in 1972.

5.       Ibid., p. 464. Ananda’s quote is from the Sekha Sutta: The Disciple in Higher Training.

6(a) Ways of Enlightenment, prepared and published by Dharma Publishing, Nyingma Institute,

Berkeley, California, 1993, p. 118.

 “With faith, you can easily traverse from one stage of the spiritual path to another,” says His Holiness the Dalai Lama (THE LITTLE BOOK OF BUDDHISM, published by Rider, London, 1999, p. 101.).

       

6(b) Ibid., p.119.

For Bhiksu Heng Sure, an American monk and disciple of Master Hsuan Hua at the Gold

Mountain Monastery in San Francisco, spiritual conversion came about gradually and grew like

a seed striking its roots on fertile ground.

In a personal and insightful article on faith, Ven. Dr. Heng Sure recalls his early days as a student bicycling down the Berkeley Hills and passing by the Gold Mountain Monastery on his way to graduate school in the early mornings. “Faith carried me back to my inner Buddha-seed in strange ways, at odd times,” he writes.

But, faith did not strike him and convert him in a flash. This little seed in his heart-mind, however, kept on speaking to him, deep within.

“What was it but faith speaking to me? Following the voice, I was led to happily enter Gold Mountain’s door to study the Buddhadharma.

“My doubts decreased as my faith grew. Soon I was able to put down my old bad ways gradually as I picked up new, true habits and views.

“It’s a natural, wholesome process like tending a fertile garden of healthy plants. Faith is the unfailing seed...”

And he concludes his personal statement by quoting from the Avatamsaka Sutra:

   Faith causes all roots to grow pure and clean and sharp.

   Faith’s power is solid. Nothing can destroy it.

   Faith extinguishes the roots of afflictions forever…

Ven. Dr. Heng Sure’s inspiring piece was originally published in MAHASISWA BUDHIS, and

reprinted in the Penang-based BUDDHIST DIGEST (February 1983).

6© Ways of Enlightenment, p. 120.

7.    Ibid., p. 120.

8.  Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, by Pabongka Rinpoche, published by Wisdom Publications,

     Boston, 1993 (revised), p. 274.

    This book contains the month-long teaching delivered in 1921 to 700 Tibetan monks, nuns

    and lay people at the Chuzang Hermitage near Lhasa. The Australian translator Michael Richard (born

1950) has described it as “one of the most famous teachings ever given in Tibet”.

    Pabongka Rinpoche (1878-1941) is regarded as one of the great lamas of the 20^th century.

9. WATER MIRROR REFLECTING HEAVEN, by Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua (1918-1995),

     published by Dharma Realm Buddhist University, Talmage, California, November 1982, p. 53.

“Returning to the source” is returning to one’s Buddha-nature (everyone’s seed of enlightenment, potential of Buddhahood), signifying recovery of one’s originally enlightened nature. 29.08.2014 05:36

10. WAYS OF ENLIGHTENMENT, p. 117.

11. SONG OF KARMAPA: a commentary (based on teachings given in Nepal in 1986) by Chokyi

      Nyima Rinpoche, the abbot of Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery, a major center for Buddhism in

      Nepal, published by Ranjung Yeshe Publications, Kathmandu, 1992, p. 31.

     Composed by Lord Ranjung Dorje (1284-1339), the third Karmapa, Song of Karmapa is the classic

     meditation manual on the Vajrayana path of liberation.

    

     Tilopa founded the Kagyu lineage over one thousand years ago in India. Naropa, a great Buddhist

     scholar monk, was a professor and a chancellor at the University of Nalanda.

     One day, Naropa gave up everything and went looking for a teacher who could teach him the

     essence of spiritual practice. When he found Tilopa in Bengal, the great master was living like a

     beggar by the side of a river. Naropa must have tremendous humility as well as considerable faith

     to study under a man living in such wretched conditions..

    Subsequently, Naropa initiated and taught Marpa, the direct master of Milarepa (1040-1123), the great

    Tibetan mystic and yogi. And thus was the Kagyu lineage brought from India to Tibet, where

    it has produced a long succession of spiritual leaders known as the Karmapas as well as great exponents

    of the Mahamudra school of meditation in the Vajrayana path of liberation..

12. Notes to the Alagaddupama Sutta, The Simile of the Snake, in The Middle Length Discourses

      of the Buddha, p. 1211.

13. Ibid., p. 236.

14. THE TEACHINGS OF BUDDHA, published by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, Tokyo, 1981,

      pp. 350, 352.

     In the first English translation of The Lion’s Roar of Queen Srimala, or Sri-mala-sutra (originally published by Columbia University Press, New York in 1974 and subsequently by Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi in 1993), Alex and Hideko Wayman have noted (p. 70) that in the Lalivistara “the future Buddha (Maitreya), of course a Bodhisattva on the Tenth Stage and ready to descend (to this Saha world of ours) for his last life (in order to complete his enlightenment and attain Buddhahood like his predecessor the historical Buddha Shakyamuni), preaches to the Tusita gods the 108 entrances into the light of the Doctrine (of the path to omniscience). The first of these is faith (sraddha) which serves the unassailable purpose.”

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     In Chapter Four of the Sri-Mala (p. 107), the Buddha Shakyamuni said to Queen Srimala: “Queen, whatever disciples of mine are possessed of faith (in the Tathagata/Buddha and (then) are controlled by faith, they by depending on the light of faith have a knowledge in the precincts of the Dharma, by which they reach certainty in this” (teaching on the intrinsic purity and the accompanying defilement of consciousness in the Tathagatagarba, the embryo of the Dharmakaya, the ultimate Buddha-nature ever present in every sentient being).

     The Waymans have noted (pp. 107-108) that the disciples, the true sons and true daughters of the Tathagata “are 1) possessed of faith, and then 2) controlled by faith; they then 3) by depending on the light of faith gain a knowledge in the precincts of the Law (Dharma) and finally 4) reach certainty “in this” (teaching) as well as certainty in cultivating and attaining enlightenment and omniscience of Buddhahood.

     “According to Chi-tsang (549-623), there are two levels of faith: the disciples begin with faith in the teaching, and then advance to faith with understanding. (In the Abhidharma-kosa, “faith with understanding” is of four kinds, toward the Buddha, his Doctrine (Dharma), and the Congregation (Sangha), and toward the moral rules dear to the noble ones.)

     “Then there are two kinds of Dharma-knowledge: the disciples by depending on the light of faith gain a knowledge in the precincts of the Dharma, which is their breadth of knowledge; then they reach certainty, which is their depth of knowledge.

     “Saeki (a contemporary Japanese scholar) tries to correlate the four levels with the Bodhisattva Stages: the one with simple faith precedes the Bodhisattva stages; the next one who adds understanding is on the First, Second, and Third Stages; the one who gains the knowledge in the precincts of the Dharma is on the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Stages; the one who reaches certainty is on the Seventh or higher Stage.

     “In terms of the Sri-Mala’s subsequent (description of) three kinds of good son or daughter of the family (of the lineage of Buddha), the one “who shrinks from gaining the knowledge of the profound Dharma by himself” (or herself) is on the first two levels of discipleship. The one with the knowledge in the precincts of the Dharma is of course on the third level; and the one who has the profound Dharma through introspection is on the fourth or final level.”

     Of the three kinds of good son or good daughter of the family, Queen Srimala (p. 110) has described them as 1) one having the profound Dharma through introspection, 2) having the knowledge in the precincts of the Dharma, and 3) one “who shrinks from gaining the knowledge of the profound Dharma by himself (herself), thinking, ‘I cannot possibly know it; this meaning can only be understood by the Tathagata himself,’ and so keeping the Lord in mind, obtains the mental presence of the Lord.”

     In Pure Land practice, it becomes the constant mindfulness of the Lord Amitabha Buddha, sustained by faithful chanting or reciting of his sacred and spiritually powerful Name. With mindfulness of the Buddha, comes the purifying and enlightening power of the Buddha.

     In the Introduction the Waymans have written (p. 15) that “the Sri-Mala has a doctrine of faith easily assimilated to the all-important terminology of the Pure Land School, jiriki (self-power in spiritual cultivation) and tariki (other-power, Buddha’s infinite saving, liberating, and enlightening power), but did not actually employ these terms.”

     However, the Waymans have also noted (p. 16): “The two terms were employed by Tan-luan (476-524), founder of the Ching-t’u (Pure Land) in China, and accordingly came into Japan with the Pure Land sect called Jodo  (started by Honen in 1175)…”

     Towards the end of her eloquent exposition in Chapter Three (p. 106), Queen Srimala addressed the Lord Buddha Shakyamuni: “…The Lord is the omnipotent being. The Lord is the resort.”

      Wesak Sunday 22.5.2005 23.5.2005 0005

15. ZEN BUDDHISM: A HISTORY, Volume 1, India and China, by Heinrich Dumoulin,

      translated by James Heisig and Paul Knitter, published by Macmillan, 1988, 1994, p. 5.

16. From the Sekha Sutta, in The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, p. 462.

17. Ibid., p. 707. From verse 58 in the Bodhirajakumara Sutta.

18. From Thinley Norbu Rinpoche’s essay on “Love and Faith” in WHITE SAIL, published by

      Shambhala, Boston, 1992, pp. 106-107.

19. Pure Land, Pure Mind, excerpted in TAMING THE MONKEY MIND, reprinted for free

     distribution by Amida Fellowship, Kuala Lumpur, May 2000, pp.  91-92.

      In the Bhavagad Gita, the Lord Krishna says: “In whatever work he does he can take refuge in me,

    and he attains then by my grace the home of Eternity.”  (THE BHAVAGAD GITA, p.120.)

      In The Words of My Perfect Teacher (published by Harper Collins, New Delhi, 1996), the great 19^th

    century Tibetan teacher Patrul Rinpoche has written (pp. 17-18): “As a human being, your positive

    actions are more powerful than those of other kinds of being. This gives you, on the one hand, an

    opportunity here and now in this very life to cast rebirth aside once and for all…”

     His advice (p. 192) is to take refuge in the Buddha – “the basis of all Dharma practice, for its benefits   

     are immeasurable” – including going beyond rebirth and gaining spiritual liberation.

20. The Way of Nembutsu-Faith, by Hisao Inagaki, published by Nagata Bunshodo, Kyoto, for

Horai Association, 1996, p. 31.

“Faith is a gift of God,” said Mother Teresa (1910-97), a world-renowned and beloved Roman Catholic missionary and a 20th century saint in Calcutta, India, who was awarded the Nobel prize for peace in 1979.

More than seven centuries ago, the great Christian saint, scholar and philosopher Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) had said the same thing – faith by the grace of God.   23.5.2005 0018

21. The Flower Ornament Sutra, translated by Thomas Cleary, published by Shambhala, Boston,

       1993,, p.  123.

22. THE TEACHINGS OF BUDDHA, p. 360.

23. Ibid., p. 418

24. Ibid., p. 418

25. Ibid., p. 358

.

26. Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment, p.143

27. The Way of Nembutsu-Faith, p. 21.

       As spelt out in the main Pure Land scripture The Sutra On The Buddha of Infinite Life, the 18^th Vow reads: “If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten directions who sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and call my Name even ten times, should not be born there, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment…” (THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, a study and translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, published by Nagata Bunshodo, Kyoto, 1995, p. 243)

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     Birth in Amitabha’s Pure Land brings spiritual liberation, putting an end to the cycle of rebirths, and the  

     Pure Land provides an ideal environment for further cultivation leading unfailingly to the attainment of

     perfect enlightenment and Buddhahood.

     According to Patriarch Vasubandhu (c. 320-400), an Abhidharma master and co-founder of the

Yogacara School who had taken refuge in Amitabha Buddha and contributed enormously to the

    development of Pure Land thought, the Power of Amitabha’s Vow “enables those who encounter it to  

gain the supreme merits.” (Ibid., p. 72) The supreme merits are those of Buddhahood.

     Inagaki elaborates on Vasubandhu’s exposition on the Power of the Vow (ibid., p. 76): “Speaking in

     terms of the Vow, all that Amitabha attained on His realization of Buddhahood derived from the Vows

(48 of them) which he had made (and fulfilled all of them) when he was a bodhisattva (then known as  

Dharmakara).

     “The 12^th Vow was the cause of Amitabha’s Infinite Light (Amitabha), the 13^th was the cause of his

     Infinite Life (Amitayus), and by extension these two vows were also the cause of the Pure Land of

    Immeasurable Light and Life.

     “The 18^th Vow of Nien-fo-Faith (Faith in the efficacy and power of the mindful practice of

chanting/reciting/hearing the Name of Amitabha) is the most concrete expression of Amitabha’s wish to

save all beings in delusion and suffering.

     “The Vow of universal salvation, as the 18^th Vow may be called, having been fulfilled, the most

     effective way pf salvation has become available to us. This is the easy and quick way of emancipation

     through the Name.

     “Those who contemplate Amitabha and His Pure Land or hear His Name encounter the Power of His

     Vow (to save all those having sincere faith in him), and so are endowed with the supreme merits.”

     “The mind of faith is the mind of sincerity; it is a deep mind, an unquestioning mind, a mind that is

     sincerely glad to be led to Buddha’s Pure Land by Buddha’s power and in His own way. Therefore,

Buddha gives a power to faith that leads people to the Pure Land, a power that purifies them, a power

that protects them from self-delusion,” Master Hsing Yun, a leading contemporary Ch’an/Zen scholar-

monk and internationally-known Fo Guang founder, has taught.

     “Even if they have faith only for a moment, when they hear the Buddha’s Name, that is praised all over

     the world (and throughout the universe, according to Shakyamuni), it will bring them to His Pure

     Land…”

--- THE WAY OF PRACTICAL ATTAINMENT, published by Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia, Penang, p, 22.                                                                                       23.5.2005 0223

28. BUDDHISM, by John Snelling, published by Element Books, Great Britain, 1996, p. 87.

      Buddha Nature is defined in The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen: “According to the

      Mahayana view, (Buddha-nature) is the true, immutable, and eternal nature of all beings. Since all

      beings possess Buddha-nature, it is possible for them to attain enlightenment and become a Buddha,

      regardless of what level of existence they occupy… the Mahayana sees the attainment of Buddhahood

     as the highest goal; it can be attained through the inherent Buddha-nature of every being through

appropriate spiritual practice.” (Quoted in the Glossary of PURE LAND PURE MIND: The Buddhism

of Masters Chu-hung and Tsung-pen, translated by J.C. Cleary, published originally by Sutra

Translation Committee of the United States and Canada, New York, 1994, and subsequently printed for

free distribution globally by The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation in Taiwan,

November 2003, p, 217)                                                                  CONTINUED NEXT PAGE

      The New York-based Van Hien Study Group has noted (ibid., p. 213): “Amitabha Buddha at the highest or noumenon level represents the True Mind, the Self-Nature common to the Buddhas and sentient beings – all-encompassing and all-inclusive…”

      Van Hien has further noted (ibid., p, 217) that Buddha Nature is also referred to as True Mind, Self-Nature, Original Nature, Dharma Nature, True Nature, True Emptiness, True Thusness, Dharma Body (Dharmakaya), Prajna, Nirvana, etc.                23.5.2005 0255

       In PURE LAND PURE MIND (p. 184), the 16^th century Chinese Zen Master Tsung-pen narrates the meeting of the great 8^th century teacher Fa-chao with the two major bodhisattvas Manjushri and Samantabhadra in the lecture hall of Manjushri’s Bamboo Forest Temple at the Wu-t’ai county in Hang-chou. There in the early morning of the sixth day of the fourth lunar month in 770, Fa-chao received the Pure Land Dharma personally from the great bodhisattva of transcendental wisdom.

        “…All the phenomena of enlightenment, from the perfection of wisdom (prajna paramita), to meditative concentration (samadhi), to Buddhahood (Bodhi), are all born from reciting the buddha-name. Thus we know that reciting the buddha-name is the king of all the dharmas,” Manjushri said to Fa-chao.

        “You must constantly be mindful of (Buddha), the Supreme Dharma King, and never stop.”

         Fa-chao asked: “How should we be mindful of Buddha?”

         Manjushri said: “To the west of this world is Amitabha Buddha. The power of His vows is inconceivable. You should constantly recite His Name without a break. Then at the end of your life, you are sure to be born in His land (Sukhavati, the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss) and never fall back (in your spiritual pursuit of the Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment of Buddhahood).”

         The two great bodhisattvas also said: “…If good men and good women wish to become Buddhas quickly, nothing is better than reciting the Buddha-name (Amitabha). Then they will be able to experience supreme enlightenment quickly...”     12.12.2005 0358

      “May your faith in the practice be sincere and profound. May this be the basis

      for your attainment of ultimate liberation,” Sayadaw U Pandita said (his parting

      advice at the end of the three-month retreat which he taught in 1984 at the Insight

      Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, IN THIS VERY LIFE, p.259).

      MAY YOUR FAITH BE TRUE, STRONG AND PROFOUND.

      NAMO AMITABHA

FAITH IN AMITABHA

Primacy of Faith

   Sung Bae Park, a Korean son/Zen monk of the Chogye order, has written: “Traditional Buddhist literature is filled with references to a “primacy of faith” in religious life. Nagarjuna’s encyclopedic Ta-chih-tu lun, or Treatise on the Perfection of Great Wisdom, for which he is often called the Patriarch of Eight Schools, expresses this primacy of faith as follows:

  

   “In the great sea of Buddha’s teaching, Faith is that by which one can enter;

   Wisdom is that by which one can be saved…”  (1)

   In the Record of Mind’s Journey in the Dharma Realm of Hua-yen, Fa-tsang (643-712), the third patriarch of the Hua-yen (Avatamsaka or Garland) school, elaborates:

  “For those who wish to now enter the unobstructed dharma realm, it is essential first

   to arouse a resolute faith. Why is it so? Because faith is the primary foundation for

   all kinds of practices. All practices arise from faith. Therefore, faith is listed first

   and is made the departure point.”  (2)

   Nishida Kitaro (1870-1945), a visionary Japanese Zen monk and philosopher as well as founder of The Kyoto School of philosophy, has advised the people of the world to return to faith as the ultimate solution to humanity’s sufferings. “Faith is the depth of the self, at the foundation of ourselves,” he said.  (3)

   In a sermon delivered at Savatthi about 2,500 years ago, the Buddha Shakyamuni said that a true man has seven good qualities: “Here a true man has faith, shame, and fear of wrongdoing; he is learned, energetic, mindful, and wise…”  (4)

   Speaking on behalf of the Buddha at the Nigrodha’s Park in Kapilavatthu, Ananda repeated his Master’s words when he said that a noble disciple who possesses the seven good qualities, including faith in the Tathagata’s enlightenment, is “capable of enlightenment, capable of attaining the supreme security from bondage.”  (5)

What Faith can do

   What is faith? And what can it do for us? In Ways of Enlightenment, a Tibetan Buddhist manual prepared for Western readers and based on the Khenjug, the encyclopedic Gateway to Knowledge of Lama Mipham (1846-1912), the Berkeley-based Nyingma Institute clarifies the nature of faith and its role in spiritual development, the move toward higher consciousness, and pursuit of truth:

   “The faith that supports progress in the Dharma is steady, free from the shifting realm

   of likes and dislikes. It opens and surrenders to truth with no expectation and no

   conditions, based on knowledge that truth is deeply precious and worth the time and

   effort necessary to develop and protect it. Absolute truth, the Lord Buddha explained

   to Ananda, can only be understood through faith that becomes heartfelt certainty. (6a)

   “While doubt is always dualistic and tends to fragment knowledge, faith is inherently

   non-dualistic and  expands knowledge. When we awaken faith in the Dharma, this faith is not opposed to faith in ourselves. If we understand that faith is a unifying force, the

   basis for doubt and fear disappears, and the gates to knowledge open of their own

   accord.

   “We cannot create faith from logic alone, but neither are faith and logic contradictory.

   Logic is a tool of the mind that can be used to prove or disprove almost anything,

   depending on what assumptions one begins with. Faith is a faculty, almost like one of

   the senses. It allows us to see through the elaborate network of self, to perceive the

   potential for greater knowledge, and to awaken our ability to attain it. Faith opens a

   new channel of receptivity, so that teachings, teacher, and one being taught are

   recognized as a continuum.

   “Like an advance guard, faith goes before us, encourages us to enter an even broader

   realm of experience and knowledge. Once we have reached this broader realm, we see

   from our new perspective that we were guided along this unknown path by a

   beautiful and multifaceted logic. Through such experience and insights, we learn to

   trust the teachings of the Dharma and become more willing to pass beyond the

   boundaries enforced by doubt, fears, and emotionality.  (6b)

   “When life is lived in faith, the quality of life grows rich and creative. Abandoning

   doubt and opinionatedness allows the mind to settle into deepening certainty. Based

   in certainty, we become strong and confident, standing for what we know, and

   experience becomes meaningful and joyful. We are able to give ourselves openly and

   completely to what we love, which guarantees that we will accomplish something of

   value.

   “Such confident love supports inner realization that moves toward higher

   consciousness and the highest goals of completion. The deep certainty of the

   spiritual path is unknown to us until we are completely in love, surrendering

   our heart to truth…”  (6c)                                                             29.11.2001 0812

   Longchenpa (1308-1363), regarded as the most brilliant Nyingma teacher, has expressed the importance of faith as the ground or basis of all virtue and accomplishment:

   “When the soil of faith, which is the pure mind, is well watered

                    by the rain of merit and wisdom,

   virtue springs forth and grows, and the harvest of the

                    excellent Buddha qualities ripens.”  (7)

   The Lam-rim tradition in Tibet was established by the great Indian master Atisha (982-1054), One of its most outstanding teachers, Pabongka Rinpoche (1878-1941) has taught that “Faith is generally the basis or root for the development of all positive things. The Lamp on the Three Jewels Sutra says:

   ‘Faith is the preparation, it gives birth like a mother:

   It nurtures all good qualities and increases them…’

   “Once a man asked Atisha twice, ‘Atisha, please give me instruction. Atisha said absolutely nothing and the man made his request yet again – this time by shouting it.

   “’He! He!’ said Atisha. ‘I’m afraid my hearing is sound, quite sound. Here is my instruction: Have faith! Faith! Faith!’

   “The great Gyaelwa Eusapa said:

      In brief:  

     Your experiences and realizations will be great or small

      Just as your familiarity with faith is great or small…

   “In other words, your developing realizations depends on whether you have faith and on whether your faith is great or small…”  (8)

   Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua (1918-1995) has taught that faith is the key to spiritual liberation and enlightenment. He said “Faith is the foundation of cultivation of the Way, and the mother of merit and virtue, because it is capable of nourishing wholesome roots.

   “The Buddhadharma is like a vast sea; only by faith can it be entered.

   “Therefore the single word, faith, is the essence of escape from birth and death, and is the wonderful means of returning to the source (Buddha-nature, essence of Buddhahood) …

   “Faith cannot be ignored. An author of ancient times said, ‘If a man has no faith, I do not know what can be made of him’.”  (9)

Kinds of Faith

   According to the Abhidharma (the Buddha’s profound teachings on metaphysics, psychology and mental culture), there are three main kinds of faith. As outlined by the Nyingma Institute, they are: “admiring faith, longing faith, and trusting faith. Admiring faith comes from seeing the value of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Longing faith arises from the desire for freedom from suffering and the desire to obtain the benefits of Dharma practice. Trusting faith is based on conviction and leads to complete reliance on the Dharma.”

   Nyingma adds: “A fourth type is irreversible faith, which arises at the beginning of the Bodhisattva path, upon the first glimpse of enlightenment.”  (10)

   Comments Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche (born 1951), a superior incarnate lama, meditation master and scholar of the Kagyu lineage: “The fourth, an irreversible faith, is unshakeable confidence, complete trust that arises only after the practitioner has attained some degree of realization of the awakened state of mind.

   “Unless we are like Naropa, this type of faith is not easy to possess. If his master, Tilopa, said “Jump” he would jump; if Tilopa said “Die,” Naropa would have done so. Without the confidence of realization such total trust does not genuinely happen…”  (11)

   In the Theravada tradition, the “faith-followers” (saddhinusarin) are disciples in whom the faculty of faith (saddhindriya) is predominant; they tread the Noble Eightfold Path with faith in the lead. And when they attain the fruit of spiritual liberation, they are known to be “liberated-by-faith” (saddhavimutta).  (12)

Faith in Buddha

   In the closing verse (47) of the Alagaddupama Sutta, the Buddha said: “In the Dhamma well proclaimed by me thus, which is clear, open, evident, and free of patchwork, those bhikkhus who have sufficient faith in me, sufficient love for me, are all headed for heaven.”  (13)

   Earlier (verse 46), the Buddha said that the faith-followers are all headed for enlightenment.

   In the Surangama Sutra, Shakyamuni has taught that “people are emancipated and enlightened simply by having faith in the Buddha… Buddha is the perfectly Enlightened One and He loves everyone as though each were His only child. So if anyone regards Buddha as his own parent, he identifies himself with Buddha and attains Enlightenment.

  “Those who thus regard Buddha will be supported by His Wisdom and perfumed by His grace.”   (14) 

   Heinrich Dumoulin, one of the world’s foremost scholars on Zen Buddhism, has written: “…Throughout Buddhism the powerful confession of faith of his disciple Sariputra (the chief disciple of the Master) resounds like “the roar of a lion”:

   “Lord! Such faith have I in the Exalted One, that methinks there never has been,

   nor will there be, nor is there now any other, whether wanderer or Brahmin, who

   is greater and wiser than the Exalted One, that is to say, as regards the higher

   wisdom”.”    (15)                                                                     29.11.2001   2341

   Ananda, a cousin of the Buddha Shakyamuni and the closest of his senior disciples, said: “…Here a noble disciple has faith; he places his faith in the Tathagata’s enlightenment thus: ‘The Blessed One is accomplished, fully enlightened, perfect in true knowledge and conduct, sublime, knower of worlds, incomparable leader of persons to be tamed, teacher of gods and humans, enlightened, blessed’…”  (16)  

   The Buddha used the same words when he taught Prince Bodhi of Bhagga after a meal in the Kokanada Palace in Kotagari, a town in the Kasi country. Here the Blessed One instructed the prince on the five factors of striving, including faith, honesty, sincerity, energy, and wisdom, leading to the complete destruction of suffering.  (17)

   “The nature of faith is to trust in sublime beings in order to receive the blessings of wisdom energy that benefit oneself and others. True faith creates the vast love of compassion that benefits countless beings,” Thinley Norby Rinpoche, a highly regarded Nyingma teacher, has written in a recent essay.  (18)

   Dr.J. C. Cleary, a noted American Pure Land specialist and scholar, has written: “Pure Land Buddhism is a religion of faith, of faith in Amitabha Buddha (as well as faith in one’s Buddha-nature and inherent capacity to achieve Buddhahood)…

   “The immediate goal of Pure Land believers is to be reborn in Amitabha’s Pure Land. There in more favorable surroundings, in the presence of Amitabha, they will eventually attain complete enlightenment…

   “The present life takes on value chiefly as an opportunity to concentrate one’s awareness on Amitabha, and purify one’s mind accordingly (by reciting or chanting Amitabha’s Name)…” (19)

   Dr Hisao Inagaki, a distinguished Japanese Pure Land practitioner and historian, has written: “…When we come to take refuge in Amida (Japanese for Amitabha), our eyes are opened to his boundless Wisdom, Compassion, and Power. Then we will see that there is nothing in the world that is not pervaded by Amida…”  (20)

Faith as Amitabha’s gift

   “Sentient beings are foolish and ignorant as though blind and deaf,

   They are shrouded by all kinds of obstructing veils;

   Buddha’s light penetrates them, making them open up…”  (21)

   Faith comes from the Buddha’s great compassion and infinite wisdom. Shakyamuni has explained in the Sukhavativyuha Sutra: “The beginnings of faith were long ago planted by the compassion of Buddha. When one has faith one should realize this fact and be very grateful to Buddha for His goodness.

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   “One should never forget that it is not because of one’s own compassion that one has awakened faith, but because of the Buddha’s compassion which long ago threw its pure light of faith into human minds, and dispelled the darkness of their ignorance. He who enjoys the present faith has entered into their heritage.

   “Even living an ordinary life, one can be born in the Pure Land, because one awakens faith through the Buddha’s long continued compassion…”  (22)

   In the Avatamsaka Sutra, Shakyamuni has reiterated: “He (a lay follower) will come to realize that his faith is Buddha’s compassion itself, and that it has been bestowed upon him by Buddha.”  (23)

   That one’s faith has actually come from the Buddha, is further clarified in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra: “…There are no seeds of faith in the mind of worldly passion but, because of Buddha’s compassion, the seeds of faith may be sown there, and they will purify the mind until it has faith to believe in Buddha.

   “As has been said, the fragrant Chandana tree can not grow in a forest of Eranda trees (which are poisonous). In like manner, the seeds of faith in Buddha can not be in the bosom of delusion.

   “But actually, the flower of joy is blooming there, so we must conclude that while its blossoms are in the bosom of delusion, its roots are elsewhere, namely, its roots are in the bosom of Buddha.”  (24)

   Shakyamuni has described the faith to believe in Buddha as a “rootless” faith: “That is,” he said, “it has no root by which it can grow in the human mind, but it has a root to grow in the compassionate mind of Buddha.”  (25)

   Shakyamuni has also described such a faith as a miracle in the human heart.

   “In Pure Land Buddhism, faith is the sole cause of salvation, but only because it is a gift of Amitabha’s grace and universal compassion,” Sung Bae Park has written. “Faith cannot be acquired by human effort but is implanted in one’s heart by Amitabha when one recites his name …” (26) 

   As interpreted by Japanese Pure Land Master Shinran (1173-1262), faith is Amitabha’s gift to save all human beings. True faith is endowed by Amitabha, and Shinran has called all those who entrust themselves wholly to this Buddha of boundless great compassion, in the light of his 18^th Vow, as the true disciples of all the Buddhas.

   Inagaki has written: “Amida comes to us in the form of the Name, and his heart directly enters ours to establish in us the unshakeable faith. This faith is the cause of Birth in the Pure Land and of subsequent attainment of Enlightenment…” (27)

   “Shinran Shonin explained that the Faith given by Amida is the Bodhi-Mind containing the Buddha’s Wisdom and Compassion,” Inagaki wrote.

   John Snelling, a world-renowned Buddhist scholar and writer, has commented that for Shinran (also a Tendai monk, like his great master, Honen) “the actual recitation of the Nembutsu (Reciting the Buddha’s Name) is not as important as the underlying quality of faith, which he equated with the Buddha-nature (essence of Buddhahood) itself.

   “Faith cannot, however, be contrived by an effort of will but by pure grace – a gift bestowed by Amida, whom Shinran regarded as the ultimate Buddha. In receiving this gift of faith, one feels enormous gratitude and can accept oneself totally, vices and all, for one is saved in spite of them…’  (28)

   Honen has pointed out, however, that the Nembutsu (reciting/chanting the Name of Amitabha Buddha) is the only practice cited and supported in the 18^th (Primal) Vow. And to Honen who attained enlightenment through the Nembutsu, it’s the supreme practice.

   Shinran has described the Nembutsu as a joyous response to the assurance of universal enlightenment given in the Primal Vow. Amitabha Buddha has vowed to save every sentient being who has faith in him, and chanting/reciting His Name arises like a song of spontaneous acceptance and acknowledgement from the heart.

   Sounding the Name with clarity, sincerity and zeal expresses faith in Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life, from the depths of the heart and mind.

   And, through the passage of countless eons, has this simple act of faith, mindfulness, and piety come down to us, from Mahasthama (Great Strength) Bodhisattva.

   Mahasthama is the first enlightened being to have made it a practice of faithfully and religiously reciting the Name of Amitabha to evoke its ineffable spiritual power, in order to attain samadhi (total mindfulness/concentration and imperturbability), to attain rebirth in the Pure Land which is the ideal training ground of innumerable bodhisattvas, and then ultimately to achieve the complete and perfect enlightenment of Buddhahood.

   NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA