Faith in Buddhism

Faith is the seed of spiritual awakening. This may sound surprising to those who assume that Buddhism negates faith through its emphasis on self-reliance and coming to know the truth directly for oneself. Buddhism certainly has no use for blind belief, but faith is a different matter. In Buddhism, the Sanskrit word shraddha which is usually translated as “faith” is understood to mean trust or confidence. We trust in the Three Treasures of the Buddha as our teacher and model of awakening; the Dharma as the teaching leading to awakening; and the Sangha as the community that preserves and upholds the teachings. We also have confidence in our ability to awaken spiritually. Without such trust and confidence, we would be overcome by cynicism and self-doubt. With faith, anything becomes possible. We can, as the saying goes, move mountains. An eloquent description of the role of faith can be found in the many verses of Chief-in-Goodness Bodhisattva in the Flower Garland Sutra that describe the path of a bodhisattva. Here are some of those verses:

When bodhisattvas determine to seek awakening,

This is not without cause, not without conditions;

Engendering pure faith in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha,

By this they produce a broad, magnanimous mind.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

Deep faith, belief, and resolution always pure,

They honor and respect all Buddhas,

As well as their Dharmas and Sanghas;

Making offerings with ultimate sincerity, they arouse their will.

Deeply believing in the Buddha and the Buddha’s teaching,

They also believe in the Way traversed by buddhas-to-be,

And believe in perfect complete awakening:

Thereby do bodhisattvas first arouse 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.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

Faith is the unspoiled seed of virtues,

Faith can grow the seed of awakening.

Faith can increase supreme knowledge,

Faith can reveal all Buddhas.[1]

These verses as well as the many others not quoted here for lack of space express the intimate connection between faith, the aspiration for awakening, and the resolutions made by bodhisattvas as they embark on the way to buddhahood. The basis of Buddhist practice is not a formal or external rite or ritual. Rather, practice is founded upon a transformation of our attitudes and aspirations, from a fearful, narrow, and self-serving perspective to a trusting broad outlook with an altruistic aspiration.

It cannot be emphasized enough that the role of faith in Buddhism is different from the way it is commonly understood. Far from indicating blind belief or a mere intellectual assent to religious dogmas or creeds, the Buddha taught that we should only take faith in a person or teaching after a careful investigation. Faith should then inspire further practice and inquiry until we know the truth for ourselves. In one discourse, the Buddha cautions a young man of the priestly caste (the brahmins) against clinging to a dogmatic faith. He tells him that truth is preserved when we admit that faith should not be confused with actual knowledge of the truth.

If a person has faith, Bharadvaja, he preserves truth when he says: ‘My faith is thus’; but he does not yet come to the conclusion: ‘Only this is true, anything else is wrong.’ In this way, Bharadvaja, there is the preservation of truth; in this way he preserves truth; in this way, we describe the preservation of truth. But as yet there is no discovery of truth.[2]

Bharadvaja asks the Buddha how one may discover the truth. The Buddha responds by explaining step-by-step how we may arrive at the truth. The first step is a thorough investigation of the character and integrity of a teacher and the efficacy of his teaching. We must discern whether a teacher is still motivated by greed, hatred, or delusion and whether the teaching given is “profound, hard to see and understand, peaceful and sublime, unattainable by mere reasoning, subtle, to be experienced by the wise and not easily taught by one affected by greed, hatred, or delusion.”[3] Once the investigation has concluded satisfactorily we can then place our faith in the teacher and the teaching. This faith then leads to actually hearing and practicing the teaching until one arrives at the truth. The Buddha explains:

When he has investigated him and has seen that he is purified from states based on delusion, then he places his faith in him; filled with faith he visits him and pays respect to him; having paid respect to him, he gives ear; when he gives ear, he hears the Dharma; having heard the Dharma, he memorizes it and examines the meaning of the teaching he has memorized; when he examines their meaning, he accepts those teachings as a result of pondering them; when he has accepted those teachings as a result of pondering them, desire springs up; when desire has spring up, he applies his will; having applied his will, he scrutinizes; having scrutinized, he strives; resolutely striving, he realizes with the body the supreme truth and sees it by penetrating it with wisdom. In this way, Bharadvaja, there is the discovery of truth; in this way one discovers truth; in this way, we describe the discovery of truth. But as yet there is no final arrival at truth.[4]

Tantalized by this, Bharadvaja asks the Buddha how to finally arrive at the truth. The Buddha responds:

That final arrival at truth, Bharadvaja, lies in the repetition, development, and cultivation of these same things. In this way, Bharadvaja, there is the final arrival at truth; in this way, one finally arrives at truth; in this way, we describe the final arrival at truth.[5]

In another discourse, the Buddha invites his disciples to thoroughly investigate whether the Tathagata (a term the Buddha used to refer to himself that can mean either “One Thus Gone [to the Realm of Truth]” or “One Thus Come [from the Realm of Truth]”) is what he says he is and whether the Dharma he teaches leads to spiritual awakening or not. Only after such a thorough investigation leading to awakening on the part of the disciple (presumably by the same steps taught in detail to Bharadvaja) can faith be said to be firm and invincible.

Monks, when anyone’s faith has been planted, rooted, and established in the Tathagata through these reasons, terms, and phrases, his faith is said to be supported by reasons, rooted in vision, firm; it is invincible by any ascetic or priest, or god, or Mara, or Brahma or by anyone in the world. That is how, monks, there is an investigation of the Tathagata in accordance with the Dharma, and that is how the Tathagata is well investigated in accordance with the Dharma.[6]

The Buddha taught that earnest inquiry and direct knowledge are not only compatible with authentic faith – they follow from it. From the beginning, we must be discerning about who or what we place our faith in, and that faith must inspire further investigation until we come to know the truth for ourselves. Authentic and unshakeable faith is only attained when we have actual knowledge. This sounds like a contradiction, but it is not. Knowledge negates faith only if faith means blind belief. In Buddhism, however, faith means trust and confidence. Actual verification makes such a faith even stronger. According to one scholar, in Buddhism, faith is best understood as “abiding firmly with resolute conviction in a state of clearness, tranquility, and freedom.”[7]

In taking up the practice of Nichiren Buddhism centered on the Lotus Sutra, we are never asked to blindly believe but rather are invited to take up faith in the Buddhist sense, a faith that leads us beyond our present meager knowledge and limited wisdom to the understanding and perfect wisdom of buddhahood. All those who take up Buddhism must enter through faith upon hearing the Dharma; then by practice gain understanding by following through on their faith. That is why in the Lotus Sutra the Buddha says of Shariputra, the foremost of the shravakas (“hearers” of the Buddha’s teachings):

Even you, Shariputra,

Have understood this sutra only by faith.

Needless to say,

The other shravakas cannot do otherwise.

They will be able to follow this sutra

Only because they believe my words,

Not because they have wisdom.[8]

Further on in the sutra the Buddha says to the bodhisattvas led by Medicine King Bodhisattva:

Medicine King! Although many laymen or monks will practice the way of bodhisattvas, they will not be able to practice it satisfactorily, know this, unless they see, hear, read, recite, copy, or keep this Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra or make offerings to it. If they hear this sutra, they will. Anyone who, while he is seeking the awakening of the Buddha, sees or hears this Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra, and after hearing it, understands it by faith and keeps it, know this, will approach unsurpassed complete awakening.[9]

Our founder, Nichiren Shonin, likewise stressed the importance of faith as the starting point of Buddhist practice:

The Lotus Sutra enjoins us to give up the provisional teachings, saying that with faith we can enter the way to buddhahood. The Nirvana Sutra preached last in the sala forest states that there are numerous ways to get the seed of buddhahood, but as faith in the Three Treasures includes all those ways, it is faith in the Three Treasures that matters most. The basic way to buddhahood thus lies in faith.[10]

[1] Flower Ornament Scripture pp. 331-332.

[2] In the Buddha’s Words p. 99.

[3] Ibid p. 99.

[4] Ibid p. 100.

[5] Ibid p. 101.

[6] Ibid p. 96.

[7] Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment pp. 16.

[8] Lotus Sutra p. 82.

[9] Ibid p. 181.

[10] Writings of Nichiren Shonin: Faith and Practice Volume 4, p. 39.