The Buddhist Path to Enlightenment (study)
by Dr Kala Acharya | 2016 | 118,883 words
This page relates ‘Mental Power of Faith (Saddhabala or Shradda)’ of the study on the Buddhist path to enlightenment. The Buddha was born in the Lumbini grove near the present-day border of India and Nepal in the 6th century B.C. He had achieved enlightenment at the age of thirty–five under the ‘Bodhi-tree’ at Buddha-Gaya. This study investigates the teachings after his Enlightenment which the Buddha decided to teach ‘out of compassion for beings’.
5.1. Mental Power of Faith (Saddhābala or Śraddā)
[Full title: The Five Mental Powers (Pañcabalāni or Bala)—(1): Mental Power of Faith (Saddhābala or Śraddā)]
Faith (saddhā): The first of the beautiful cetasikās is faith (also translated as “confidence”), which has the characteristic of placing faith in or of trusting. Its function is to clarify, as a water-clearing gem causes muddy wate r to become clear; or its function is to set forth, as one might set forth to cross a flood. It is manifested as non-fogginess, that is, the removal of the mind’s impurities, or as resolution. Its proximate cause is something to place faith in, or the hearing of the good dhamma, etc., that constitute the factor s of stream-entry (sotāpatti).
A Buddhist is said to have saddhā if “he believes in the Perfect One’s Enlightenment” or in the Three Jewels (ti-ratana) by taking refuge in them. His faith, however, should be “reasoned and rooted in understanding,” and he is asked to investigate and test the object of his faith. A Buddhist’s faith is not in conflict with the spirit of inquiry—“doubt about dubitable things” is admitted, and inquiry into them is encouraged. The “faculty of faith” (saddhindriya) should be balanced with that of wisdom (paññindriya). Through faith and understanding, faith becomes an inner certainty and firm conviction based upon one’s own experience.
Faith is called the seed of all wholesome states, because, according to commentarial explanations, it inspires the mind with confidence and determination for “launching out” to cross the flood of saṃsāra.
Unshakable faith is attained on reaching the first stage of holiness, Stream-Entry (sotāpatti), when the fetter of skeptical doubt (vicikicchā) is eliminated. Unshakable confidence (avecca-pasāda) in the Three Jewels (the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha) is one of the characteristics of a Stream-Winner (sotāpannassaangāni).
The power of faith (saddhā-bala) is of two kinds: 1) The power of ordinary faith (pakati-saddhā), and 2) the power of developed faith (bhāvanā-saddhā).
“Ordinary faith,” which has no development through specific practice, associates with taṇhā according to circumstances, and can thus produce only the ordinary good actions (pakati-kusala-kamma) of generosity or liberatity, dāna, morality (sīla), etc. The limited measure of strength it possesses, cannot overcome craving. On the contrary, taṇhā keeps “ordinary faith” under its power.
The Pāli texts mention, with the great clarity, four by “traditional practices of the Noble Ones” (ariya-vaṃsa). They are:
- Being easily satisfied with food
- Being easily satisfied with clothing
- Being easily satisfied with any dwelling place
- Finding pleasure and enjoyment in the work of bhāvanā (meditation).[1]
They constitute the realm of saddhā. In the present-day world, this great kingdom of saddhā lies hidden and submerged. Today, beings take pleasure and enjoyment in material things (paccayāmisa): they take pleasure and enjoyment in worldly rank, dignity, and honour (lokāmisa); they take pleasure and enjoyment in the attainment of the pleasant life, in worldly riches, and in power and dominion (vaṭṭāmisa); and thus is the great kingdom of taṇhā established as clearly as the great ocean round the island. This shows the weakness of ordinary faith (pakati-saddhā) in this world.
It is developed faith which, having its genesis in the successful practice of body contemplation (such as mindfulness of breathing) and being pursued until the disappearance of the distraction and unsettled condition of the mind, can dispel the craving which takes pleasure and enjoyment in the aforementioned three kinds of worldliness (āmisa). It is this developed faith (bhāvanā-saddhā) that can save bhikkhus and lay-folk who are in the course of being drowned and submerged in the ocean of the three cravings,[2] and that enables them to reach the island haven of the kingdom of saddhā, as manifested (e.g.,) in the four traditional practices of the Noble Ones (ariya-vaṃsa-dhamma). In the context of the bodhipakkhiya-dhamma it is this developed faith that should be acquired.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
AN IV, Ariyavaṃsa-Sutta
[2]:
The three cravings are: sensual craving, craving for existence and craving for selfannihilation