Faith in Buddha Nature Literature
The Nirvāṇa Sūtra is not alone in according a foundational position to faith. The Buddha nature sutra, Exposition of Non-Decrease, Non-Increase (Anunatva-Apurnatva-Nirdesa) tells of how the essence of ultimate truth, the Buddha nature (tathāgatagarbha), can be perceived by means of faith. This matter of the Buddha nature 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 Buddha nature:
No sravakas or pratyekabuddhas 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 Buddhist practitioners to penetrate through to, and realize deep spiritual truths for themselves.
It is not only in the Buddha nature literature that faith is lauded. In the perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā) 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 Prajñāpāramitā 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". This and other prajñāpāramitā 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 Prajñāpāramitā 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.
Takasaki in his translation and study of the Sanskrit Ratnagotravibhāga (with protracted consideration of the Tibetan and Chinese traditions) renders an embedded extract of a sutra of Shakyamuni unidentified in the text that conveys the importance of faith in relation to what is known in the tradition as the "revolution of the basis" (Sanskrit: āśrayaparivṛtti) of "buddha-dhatu" (buddha-nature) to the Dharmakāya (a Buddhadharma nomenclature of the ultimate truth):
O Śāriputra, the ultimate truth is really approachable only by faith . O Śāriputra, the ultimate Truth is a synonym of the mass of living beings (sattva-dhātu). The mass of living beings is, O Śāriputra, nothing but a synonym of the Matrix of the Tathāgata (tathāgatagarbha). The Matrix of the Tathāgata is, Śāriputra, nothing but a synonym of the Absolute Body (dharmakāya).
Read more about this topic: Shraadh, Faith Is Not Blind
Famous quotes containing the words faith in, faith, buddha, nature and/or literature:
“We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.”
—Bible: New Testament, Galatians 2:15-16.
“There comes a time in the affairs of men when they must prepare to defend not their homes alone but the tenets of faith and humanity on which their churches, their governments and their very foundations are set. The defense of religion, of democracy and of good faith among nations is all the same fight. To save one, we must now make up our minds to save all.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“The vast silence of Buddha overtakes
and overrules the oncoming roar
of tragic life that fills alleys and avenues;
it blocks the way of pedicabs, police, convoys.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“Men are like plants; the goodness and flavor of the fruit proceeds from the peculiar soil and exposition in which they grow. We are nothing but what we derive from the air we breathe, the climate we inhabit, the government we obey, the system of religion we profess, and the nature of our employment.”
—Michel Guillaume Jean De Crevecoeur (1735–1813)
“The higher, the more exalted the society, the greater is its culture and refinement, and the less does gossip prevail. People in such circles find too much of interest in the world of art and literature and science to discuss, without gloating over the shortcomings of their neighbors.”
—Mrs. H. O. Ward (1824–1899)