THE POWER OF FAITH
Faith makes the faculties
pure, clear and sharp;
The power of faith is strong
and indestructible.
Faith can annihilate the
root of affliction.
Faith can turn one wholly to
the virtues of buddhahood…
The
Flower Ornament Scripture
(The Avatamsaka Sutra) Book 12 (1)
“Faith
is to realizations as the mother is to the child,” says Geshe-la (born 1943), a
contemporary Tibetan spiritual master of stature. (2)
“Faith is the root of
spiritual realizations,” writes Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, an accomplished Tibetan
meditation master and internationally renowned Buddhist teacher, saying the
same thing with a different metaphor. (3)
“Without faith our mind is
like a burnt seed, for just as a burnt seed cannot germinate, so knowledge
without faith cannot produce Dharma realizations…”
He calls for faith in the
Three Jewels – Buddha (teacher), Dharma (teaching), and Sangha (spiritual
community).
Awakening of spiritual insight and faith
In a profoundly insightful essay on SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT, the Right
Reverend Soyen Shaku has written on the intuitive nature of faith through its
origin in the awakening of the religious sense or faculty, known as Prajna (spiritual insight/intuitive
wisdom):
“Without the awakening of the religious sense or faculty, God is a
shadow, the soul a ghost, and life a dream. In Buddhism this faculty is known
as Prajna.
“If we distinguish faith from knowledge, the latter can be understood as
simply intellectual, while the former is intuition gained through the exercise
of the Prajna.
“In knowledge subject and object co-exist and condition each other; in
faith they become one, there is identity only and no mutuality (dualism).
Transcending the reciprocity of the “I” and the “not-I,” the Prajna beholds the universe in its
ultimate oneness and feels all forms of life in their essential sameness…
“The dictates of the Prajna
are final and there is no higher faculty in our consciousness to annul them.
“Faith is absolute within its limits and the office of the intellect is
to explain or interpret it objectively.
“Speaking religiously, faith is fact and has to be reckoned with as
such. It is only when it wants to express itself that intellection comes in…”
(4)
Describing the Prajna as the
organ of spiritual insight, this distinguished Japanese scholar-monk has
stressed that discipline in Buddhist practice “is directed towards the
awakening of this faculty (as distinct from intellection), which is rightly
designated “the mother of all Buddhas,” and (deploying another metaphor) “the
sharpest sword that cuts ignorance and egotism.”
Primacy of faith
Kunkhyen Longchen Rabjam
(1308-1363), the greatest author of the Nyingma order in Tibetan Buddhism, has
composed an immortal poem on CONTEMPLATING THE NATURE OF FAITH. His resonant verses on the nature, power, and primacy of faith are
quoted:
Following the natural realization of impermanence,
Devote yourself exclusively to building a store of faith.
With aspiring faith, work to choose wisely your path of evolution.
With confident faith, immerse your mind in the supreme objective.
With devoted faith, purify your mental qualities.
With sincere faith, eliminate doubt about the truth.
With certain faith, meditate on what you have learned.
: Especially have faith in the excellence of
the teaching.
The nature of faith is like
that of a good foundation,
As the groundwork of all
spirituality.
It
serves to foster the accumulation of virtues…
Evolving through faith, in time one develops
Insight into life, death, and transference (of merit),
The ability to heal, bear the worst suffering, learn the teaching,
Understand the lives of superior beings, and remember your past lives.
Since these develop through faith and enhance life,
You should always meditate on the primacy of faith…
Since it is the supreme way to virtue for living beings,
Be sure to apply yourself to the full, hundred-thousand-petaled lotus of
faith. (5)
28.9.2003 0912
Faith in life’s spiritual journey
The following quotations from two major sutras elaborate on the lifelong
role of firm and strong faith:
Avatamsaka-sutra 33: “On the long journey of human life, faith is the best of
companions; it is the best refreshment on the journey; and it is the greatest
property.” (6)
Avatamsaka-sutra 24: “Faith is the encouragement when one’s way is long and
wearisome, and it leads to Enlightenment.
“Faith makes us feel that we are in the presence of Buddha and it brings
us to where Buddha’s arm supports us…” (7)
Samyutta
Nikaya 1-4-6: “Wisdom is the best guide and faith
is the best companion. One must try to escape from the darkness of ignorance
and suffering, and seek the light of Enlightenment.
“If a man’s body and mind are under control he should give evidence of
it in virtuous deeds. This is a sacred duty. Faith will then be his wealth,
sincerity will give his life a sweet savor, and to accumulate virtues will be
his sacred task.
“On life’s journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter,
wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If
a man lives a pure life nothing can destroy him; if he has conquered greed
nothing can limit his freedom…” (8).
And up to the end of life,
faith continues to stand us in good stead.
“Without faith, we cannot be fearless about death, since true
fearlessness comes from faith,” Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, a notable contemporary
Nyingma teacher, has written in a thoughtful essay on “Love and Faith.” (9)
Faith in spiritual practice
In Ways of Enlightenment, the brilliant
manual prepared and published by the Nyingma Institute in Berkeley, “Patrul
Rinpoche (a great 19th century Tibetan teacher and writer) explains
the deep connections between human beings and the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma,
and Sangha). The blessing of the Three Jewels enters one’s mind because of the
power of faith. This blessing gives birth to perfect knowing that allows one to
see
the meaning of truth. Seeing truth in turn gives rise to ever deeper faith in
the Three Jewels. Nourished by faith and knowledge, the enlightened nature of
being (Buddha-nature) shines forth…(10)
“Discovering that we are
part of the enlightened family, the royal lineage of the Buddha, we realize
that the potential of human beings embraces an enlightened field of knowledge
and pure qualities that are utterly reliable. Protected and uplifted by faith,
we are able to manifest a more enlightened way of being. We accomplish our aims
and face obstacles without fear. A deep peace of mind surrounds us, like a halo
around the shining moon. We have touched the faith that is hidden within the
human heart and found the unfailing experience of truth.” (11)
“Faith in the Buddhadharma
is alive, dynamic. Faith in the Way (of spiritual liberation and enlightenment)
is wide-open eyes and here-and-now. It is practical; it is joyous and magical,”
Ven. Dr. Heng Sure, an American monk at Gold Mountain Monastery in San
Francisco, has written with an eloquence born in the depths of heart-felt
faith, (12)
“”The Way and the response
intertwined are hard to conceive of,” as it says in the Great Compassion
Repentance. A day of effort yields a day of response. The best part is
Buddhism’s focus on the individual. Faith is your own business. Your resolve
and your own efforts in practice will realize your faith. It has nothing to do
with external forces. As pure as your faith becomes, so do your mind and your
body grow in purity.
“If we truly believed in the
teachings of the sages, we could become sages ourselves on the spot. But
doubting is a heavy habit. Doubts grow like a forest, like a net. Long-term
hard work is the way to success…”
With faith, one can give
and the mind will not be stingy.
With faith, one can
happily enter the Buddhadharma.
With faith, one’s wisdom,
merit, and virtue all increase.
With faith, one will
certainly arrive at the ground of the Tathagata..
Avatamsaka Sutra 28.9.2003 2359
Lama Surya
Das, a leading spokesperson for the emerging American Buddhism and contemporary
spirituality, has written that all Tibetan masters say that “faith and devotion
are a major part of the path” of Buddhist practice. A well-known song of the
Mahamudra lineage has placed faith and devotion at the head of the path.
Lama Surya Das has also commented that “awareness and mindfulness are at
the center, the very heart of practice; faith and devotion are likened to the
head because the head includes the eyes, which represent the vision to keep
looking deeper.” (13)
At a public
seminar held in London in 1994, the Dalai Lama was asked: “Is it necessary to
be very clever and to have a well-trained, educated, and precise mind in order
to be enlightened?”
His Holiness replied” “No, of course not! As in all things, extremism is
always a fault. The Buddhist scriptures describe three categories of people
according to individual aptitude in spiritual practice, demonstrating the types
of people most suited to derive the greatest benefits from profound spiritual
practice.
“Although I cannot remember the exact quotation, it runs something like
the following: ideally, individuals who are best suited for practice are those
who are not only intellectually gifted, but also have single-pointed faith and
dedication and are wise. These people are the most receptive to spiritual
practice.
“Individuals in the second group are those who may not be highly
intelligent, but they have a rock-solid foundation in faith.
“The unfortunate are those in the third category. Although these individuals
may be highly intelligent, they are always dogged by skepticism and doubts.
They are clever, but they tend to be hesitant and skeptical and are never
really able to settle down. These are the people listed as the least receptive…
“Generally speaking, what seems to be true is that in one’s own
spiritual practice, any faith or conviction that is based on an understanding
attained through a process of reasoning (intelligence cooperating with the
heart) is very firm…” (14)
In the
Buddhist scripture Milindapanha (The
Questions of King Milinda), the monk Nagasena explained to the king the
purifying power of faith, comparing it to “the miraculous water-clearing gem.”
He also told the king that through aspiration, the leap of faith takes one to
the fruits of spiritual cultivation. (15)
On faith, the
first of five controlling faculties in spiritual development leading to wisdom,
the eminent Burmese master Sayadaw U Pandita has taught:
“ Strong faith is the foundation of sincerity and commitment. Sincerity
of practice and commitment to the Dharma will of course lead to the development
of effort, mindfulness and concentration. Then wisdom will enfold in the form
of the various stages of vipassana
insight…” (16)
He has also
explained why:
“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.
“When the Buddha first revealed the Noble
Eightfold Path, he set the (five) controlling faculties into motion. This view
of dhammas was set rolling in the heart of beings, and thereby true freedom and
happiness came within reach…” (17)
The same belief can be found in Hinduism. In one of the major Hindu
scriptures known as the BHAGAVADGITA,
the Lord Krishna teaches:
“”Faith is necessary for Wisdom. He who has faith, who is absorbed in it
and who has subdued his senses gains wisdom and having gained wisdom he attains
quickly the supreme peace.” (18)
The prominent Indian philosopher and author S. Radhakrishnan comments:
“Faith (sraddha) is necessary for
gaining wisdom. Faith is not blind belief. It is the aspiration of the soul to
gain wisdom.
“It is the reflection in the empirical self of the wisdom that dwells in
the deepest levels of our being. If faith is constant, it takes us to the
realization of wisdom.
“Jnana or wisdom is free from
doubts while intellectual knowledge where we depend on sense data and logical
inference, doubt and skepticism have their place. Wisdom is not acquired by
these means. We have to live it inwardly and grow into its reality. The way to
it is through faith and self-control.” (19)
FAITH IN AMITABHA BUDDHA
In Pure Land faith and practice, one’s faith in Amitabha Buddha, the
Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life, is the cause of one’s rebirth in
Amitabha’s Pure Land. And one expresses faith by being constantly mindful of
the Buddha and chanting/reciting his name sincerely and earnestly.
Birth in the Pure Land brings spiritual liberation, leading one
eventually to complete and perfect enlightenment.
To save, liberate and enlighten all sentient beings who have faith in
him, Amitabha has made and fulfilled all the forty-eight great vows, the most
important being the 18th and the 11th to assure all the
faithful their rebirth in the Pure Land and eventual attainment of buddhahood.
On the attainment of spiritual liberation through our encounter with the
Buddha of Infinite Light and Life, Inagaki has written: “Speaking in
ontological terms, the moment we encounter Amida through the Nembutsu-Faith of
the Eighteenth Vow, we realize oneness with Amida, and thus we are immediately
emancipated from bondage to Samsara (the cycle of birth and death).
“After the fruits of our past karma, that
is, our bodies with all the defilements of blind passions, are relinquished at
our bodily death, we will attain Nirvana. This process is shown in the Eleventh
Vow – the Vow assuring our unfailing attainment of Nirvana. This Vow reads:
If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas (gods) in my land should
not dwell
in the Definitely Assured Stage and unfailingly reach Nirvana, may I not
attain
perfect Enlightenment.
“What a joy it is to be firmly established in the Stage of
Non-retrogression! Amida has made this possible by transferring all his merit
and power through the Name: Namu Amida
Butsu (Namo Amitabha Buddha).”
(21)
This, in brief, is the message of the main Pure Land
“The mind of faith is the mind of sincerity; it is a deep mind, a mind
that is sincerely glad to be led to Buddha’s Pure Land
“Therefore, Buddha gives a power to faith that leads people to the Pure Land
“Even if they have faith only for a moment, when they hear Buddha’s name
(Amitabha) praised all over the world, they will be led to His Pure Land…” (22)
“If any man hears Amida Buddha’s Name, awakens his faith in His
teachings, he will be able to attain unsurpassed perfect Enlightenment.” (23)
NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA
30.9.2003 0747 1818 1.10.2003 0009 2.10.2003 0415
THE POWER OF FAITH: NOTES
1. Translated by Thomas Cleary,
published by Shambhala, Boston
2. The Book of Tibetan Elders, by Sandy
Johnson, featuring life stories from Tibet
great spiritual masters,
published by The Berkeley Publishing Group, New York
3. Living Meaningfully, Dying Joyfully published by Tharpa
Publications, London
4. Zen for Americans, originally published by Open Court Dorset
Press, New York
Shaku Soen (1859-1919)
introduced Zen to the West at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago
This collection of his
lectures delivered in the US
Americans, were translated
by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, his most famous pupil who, like his master,
was at home in both the East
and the West.
5. Extract published in Essential
Tibetan Buddhism, by Robert Thurman, published by Castle
Books, New Jersey USA
6. THE TEACHING OF BUDDHA, published by
Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, Tokyo
p. 352
7. Ibid., p. 354
8. Ibid., p. 378
9. WHITE SAIL, published by
Shambhala, Boston
10. Ways of Enlightenment, based on the
encyclopedic Gateway to Knowledge by
Lama Mipham (1846-1912), prepared and
published by Dharma Publishing, Nyingma Institute, Berkeley, California, 1993,
p. 123
In Masters of Meditation and
Miracles (p. 201), Tulku Thondup has described Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887)
as one of the greatest scholars and adepts of the Nyingma school: “He spoke
directly and loudly, but every word of his was the word of truth, wisdom, and
caring.”
11. Ibid., p. 124
Human beings belong to the
Lotus family of Lord Amitabha Buddha, hence their great affinity.
12.Ven. Dr. Heng Sure’s felicitous and splendidly written essay on Faith was originally published in
MAHSISWA BUDHIS, and reprinted in BUDDHIST DIGEST 2, February 1983, Dickens Street Penang . .
The “Tathagata” (translated
as “Thus-come” or “Thus-gone”) is a fully enlightened buddha. It’s also one of
the highest titles of the Buddha.
13. .Awakening to the Sacred,
published by Broadway Books, New York
14. The Dalai Lama led the 10th annual John Main seminar in
mid-September 1994 at Middlesex
University London Boston
15. BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES,
selected and translated by Edward Conze, published by Penguin Books, London
Sayadaw U Pandita has said
that the quality of faith “has the power to clarify the mind and clear away
clouds of doubt or aversion… It settles impurities and brings a sparkling
clarity to the mind…” THIS VERY LIFE,
p. 76.
In Buddhist practice, faith
is the first of five controlling faculties in spiritual development, leading to
the other four, namely, energy/effort, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom.
Conze has commented that
wisdom (prajna) is the crown of all Buddhist endeavour: “It is an attempt to
penetrate to the actual reality of things as they are in themselves.” In the
course of King Milinda’s discussions with the monk Negasena “all the basic
problems of Buddhist wisdom are touched upon…”
29.9.2003 0151 30.9.2003 0403
16. In 1984, after more than 55 years of monastic training, the
63-year-old Sayadaw U Pandita, the successor to the great Mahasi Sayadaw,
taught at the first three-month retreat at the Insight Meditation Society (IMS)
in Barre, Massachusetts. His talks have been collected in the book IN THIS VERY LIFE: The Liberation Teachings
of the Buddha, published by Buddhist Publication Society, Sri Lanka
Through vipassana (insight), one sees through mental and physical objects
with the universal traits of impermanence, suffering and absence of an
inherent, independent and abiding self or essence. In Buddhism, impermanence, suffering and not-self
are the three universal characteristics of existence.
17. Ibid., p. 259
18. THE BHAGAVADGITA,
translated with an introductory essay by S. Radhakrishnan, published by Harper
Collins, New Delhi, 2002 (17th impression), p. 171. From Chapter IV:
The Way of Knowledge IV:39
S. Radhakrishnan (1888—1975) was also a leading educationist
and president of India
19. Ibid., pp. 171-172
On the morning of July 4th
(anniversary day of American independence) in 1895 at the village of the Healing Temple Himalayas ,
Master Emil spoke eloquently and insightfully on the parable and metaphor of
the mustard seed of faith:
“Just as the mustard seed,
although it is among the smallest of seeds, has the faith to know that within
itself it has the power to express the mustard plant, the greatest of all
herbs, for ‘when it is grown it becomes a tree and the birds may come and lodge
in the branches thereof;’ just as a seed knows that within itself it has the
power to express the greatest, so must we know that we have the power within
ourselves to express the greatest
“In giving this parable it
was the quality instead of the quantity of faith that Jesus referred to. ‘If ye
have the faith as a grain of mustard seed (and that faith becomes knowing), ye
shall say unto this mountain, “Remove hence to yonder place,” and it shall
remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you.’
“Just so the frailest poppy
seed and the mightiest banyan tree, the bulb, the plant, the tree seed, all
know that they can express the greatest. Each has an exact picture or
representation of what it must express. So must we have an exact picture within
ourselves of what we desire to express.
“Then there must be an inner
perfecting wrought by hourly preparation and this perfection will come forth.
No flower ever burst into full bloom without this perfecting inner urge. A
moment before the bud was confined within the sepal sense of self, but when
this inner perfection is complete, the flower bursts forth beautiful.
“As the seed that falls into
the ground must first give forth from self in order to grow, develop, and
multiply, so must we first give forth from self to unfold. As the seed must
first burst its shell in order to grow, so must we burst our shell in order to
grow, so must we burst our shell of limitation to begin our growth. When this
inner perfection is complete we must come forth beautiful, the same as the
flowers…”
In Pure Land practice, a
devotee of sincere and strong faith attains rebirth in a beautiful and fragrant
lotus flower in Amitabha’s Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, marking his/her
spiritual liberation.
Master Emil’s speech, one of
the finest expositions on the development of faith, is excerpted from LIFE AND TEACHING OF THE MASTERS OF THE FAR
EAST, by Baird T. Spalding (1857-1953), Volume I, published by DeVorss,
Marina del Rey, CA, 1924, pp. 66-67.
In the foreword, Spalding
writes that he was a member of a research party of eleven persons that visited
the Far East in 1894 and stayed for three and
a half years, where they contacted the Great Masters of the Himalayas .
He writes that their
metaphysical research covered a large portion of India India Tibet China Persia Iran
He writes: “There were
eleven practical, scientifically trained men in our party. The greater part of
our lives had been spent in research work. We had been accustomed to accept
nothing unless it was fully verified and we never took anything for granted.
“We went thoroughly
skeptical and came away thoroughly convinced and converted, so much so that
three of our number went back determined to stay until they are able to perform
the works and live the life, just as these Masters are living today…”
Spalding concludes with
this message: “The Masters accept that Buddha represents the Way to
Enlightenment, but they clearly set forth that Christ IS Enlightenment, or a
state of consciousness for which we are all seeking – the Christ light of every
individual; therefore, the light of every child that is born into the world.”
In Pure Land
20. The Way of Nembutsu-Faith,
by Dr. Hisao Inagaki, published by Nagata Bunsho, Kyoto
The gist of the Eighteenth
Vow (p. 102) is as follows:
“If, when I (namely,
Dharmakara Bodhisattva, before becoming Amitabha Buddha) 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.” 30.9.2003 0659
21. Ibid., pp. 25-26
Nembutsu (in Japanese) is the Pure Land
Before becoming a buddha,
Amitabha vowed to make his Pure
Land Pure
Land
Although nirvana/nibbana cannot be defined,
approximations of it can be described.
In THE WAY TO NIBBANA published by the Buddhist Missionary Society in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia
“What is Nibbana, friend? The destruction of
lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of delusion – that, friend, is
called Nibbana.” (p.71)
“In contradistinction
to Samsara, the phenomenal existence, Nibbana
is eternal (dhuva), desirable (subha), and happy (sukha),” Narada Thera has written
(p. 71)
A supramandane state, nibbana is not conditioned by any cause.
“Hence it is not subjected to any becoming, change and dissolution. It is
birthless (ajata), decayless (ajara), and deathless (amara). Strictly speaking,
Nibbana is neither a cause nor an
effect. Hence it is unique (kevala)… (p. 72)
“The happiness of Nibbana should be differentiated from
ordinary worldly happiness. Nibbanic bliss grows neither stale nor monotonous.
It is a form of happiness that never wearies, never fluctuates. It arises by
allaying passions (vupasama) unlike that temporary worldly happiness which
results from the gratification of some desire (vedayita)… (p. 73)
“In conventional
terms the Buddha declares: “Nibbanam
paramam sukham --- Nibbana is the highest bliss.” It is bliss supreme
because it is not a kind of happiness experienced by the senses. It is a
blissful state of positive relief from the ills of (mundane) life.
“The very fact of the
cessation of suffering is ordinarily termed happiness, though this is not an
appropriate word to depict its real nature.” (pp. 77-78)
Amitabha Buddha’s Pure Land Land
of Bliss
22. THE TEACHING OF BUDDHA,, p. 356
“He who has faith has
wisdom, who lives in self-harmony, whose faith is his life; and he who finds
wisdom, soon finds the peace supreme…” 4:39
THE BHAGAVAD GITA, translated
with an introduction by Juan Mascaro, published by Penguin, Middlesex, 1962
23.THE TEACHING OF BUDDHA,
p. 224
Like chanting or reciting the Buddha’s name, hearing or listening to it
with faith also has the ineffable power of obtaining rebirth in Amitabha’s Pure Land
1.10.2003 0132 1845 2.10.2003 0419 4.10.2003 0550 24.6.2005 0048 11
pages 4,500 words
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