Faith (Saddha) in Theravada Buddhism

Faith (saddha) in Theravada Buddhism 

by Dr. Ari Ubeysekara

Introduction 

Faith is defined in the Oxford dictionary as “A strong belief in the doctrine of a religion based on spiritual conviction rather than proof” and as “Complete trust and confidence in someone or something.” The word faith is believed to have originated from the Latin word fidere meaning “to trust,” while in theological terms it is said to be the translation of the Greek word pistis which is a Greek mythological personification of faith, trust and reliability.

Buddhism is not a faith-based religion but a non-theistic religion with no creator God, saviour or power to whom one is expected to surrender oneself for salvation. In Buddhism, what has been translated as faith in the English language appears as saddha in the Pali language and sraddha in the Sanskrit language meaning faith, trust, devotion or confidence. Some scholars prefer the terms trust and confidence but emphasize that they should be based on reasoning and investigation. In the absence of an equivalent English word for saddha, faith, the commonly used English translation of saddha, will be applied hereafter although not in a strict theological sense.

Two types of faith have been described in Buddhist teaching;

1. Blind, irrational, baseless or rootless faith (amulika saddha)
2. Confidence based on reason and experience (akarawathi saddha)

The Buddha did not encourage His disciples to blindly follow Him or His teachings but encouraged them to question, explore and investigate them in order to develop confidence in the teachings through experiential verification. In Buddhism, faith or devotion associated with strong emotions can become an obstacle to the disciple’s spiritual development.

During the lifetime of the Buddha, a Buddhist monk by the name of Vakkali had ordained as a monk for the sole reason of being able to remain close to the Buddha as he was overwhelmed by the Buddha’s noble appearance. Through affection and immense reverence towards the Buddha, he endeavoured to remain close to the Buddha but, in doing so, neglected his religious duties including meditation. The Buddha admonished Vakkali, stating,

“ yo dhammam passati so mam passati
   yo mam passati so dhammam passati”

“The sight of my foul body is useless
  he who sees Dhamma sees me”

On another occasion following the announcement by the Buddha of his impending passing away—or parinibbana—in a few months time, most Buddhist monks visited the Buddha to pay their last respects. However, one particular monk by the name of Dhammarama did not. When the Buddha was informed of this, He called for Dhammarama and questioned him about it. Dhammarama informed the Buddha that as a means of paying his last respects to Him, he wanted to meditate as hard as possible and become an Arahant (an enlightened disciple) before the Buddha passed away. The Buddha praised the monk’s intention and proclaimed:

“He who loves me should follow the example of Dhammarama. He who honours me most practises my teaching best.”

Devotion, or bhakti in Pali, in which doubt, questioning and investigation has no place, may be noticed as a facet of faith in some Buddhist disciples but it should not be considered the same as faith in terms of saddha. Unlike faith-based religions in which faith is a significant factor for salvation, in Buddhism devotion or blind faith alone will not help one to attain liberation. When Buddhist disciples make offerings to the Buddha during religious activities, they do not expect to attain their liberation through the offerings but, rather, hope to pay homage and gratitude to the great teacher and to receive merits for their wholesome actions.

Faith in the Buddha’s enlightenment and teachings can act as an essential and powerful motivating factor particularly during the initial stages of a disciple’s spiritual journey towards liberation from suffering. When one investigates the evidence and develops conviction through personal realization, the initial faith that one had upon commencement of the spiritual practice will naturally lead to reasoned confidence. Hence, initial faith has been described as the seed that gives rise to the tree bearing the fruit of liberation and deliverance from all suffering. Having initial faith or trust does not mean that one surrenders oneself to a higher authority for salvation since Buddhists are aware, through the Buddha’s teachings, that they can attain liberation only through their own effort and that neither the Buddha nor any other superior being can liberate them from their suffering. This initial faith can also develop confidence in the prospect of attaining enlightenment, as demonstrated by the Buddha and His disciples in the past, by following the same path.

In the Kalama Sutta of the Anguttara Nikaya (collection of the Buddha’s numerical discourses), when asked about whose spiritual teaching should be believed the Buddha advised not to believe something:

“On mere hearsay,
By mere tradition,
On account of mere rumours,
Just because it accords with your scriptures,
By mere suppositions,
By mere inference,
By merely considering the reasons,
Merely because it agrees with your preconceived notions,
Because the speaker seems a good person,
Because the speaker is someone respected by you.
When you know for yourselves, these things are immoral, these things are blameworthy, these things are censured by the wise, these things when undertaken and performed conduce to ruin and sorrow, they should be rejected. When you know for yourselves, these things are moral, these things are blameless, these things are praised by the wise, these things, when undertaken and performed conduce to wellbeing and happiness, then you should live accordingly.” (1)

In the Vimansaka sutta of the Majjima Nikaya (collection of the Buddha’s middle-length discourses), the Buddha encouraged monks to critically inquire, investigate and clarify even the qualities of the Buddha as that would lead to the development of confidence based on investigation and conviction. (2)

In Buddhist teachings, faith has been compared to a boat that will ferry one across the flood of wrong views to safety, a strong branch to lift one on to a giant tree of virtue when pursued by the wild oxen of passions, the door that shuts out the serpent of disbelief and to a strong cable that holds a ship to its anchor in stormy weather. Faith keeps a man attached to the spiritual goal during the destructive storms of scepticism that may trouble him while he is still far from the noble path. (3)

Faith in the Triple Gem 

Objects of faith in Buddhism are the “Triple Gem”—the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha—which are also known as the “Triple Treasures” or “Triple Jewels.” The Buddha, not as a personality or God but as the enlightened teacher; Dhamma as that great teacher’s teachings to be followed in order to attain liberation from all suffering; and Sangha as the living community of the Buddha’s disciples who have attained the final goal of liberation or have entered its path. Having faith in the Triple Gem in the initial stages of one’s spiritual journey can help the disciple manage any doubts that may arise and enable the disciple to work persistently towards personal realization of the four Noble Truths – the ultimate goal of a Buddhist disciple.

When a Buddhist disciple develops faith or trust in the Triple Gem, it is not faith in the personalities of the Buddha or of the Buddha’s noble disciples but in the qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. Among the numerous qualities of the Triple Gem, 24 specific qualities—nine qualities of the Buddha; six qualities of the Dhamma; and nine qualities of the Sangha—have been mentioned in Buddhist teachings.

Nine qualities of the Buddha:

1. Having eradicated all mental defilements and defeated the cycle of birth and death, most worthy of receiving offerings from human and celestial beings (araham)
2. Attained perfect enlightenment by Himself with no teacher (samma-sambuddho)
3. Endowed with supreme knowledge and perfect conduct (vijjacarana sampanno)
4. Went on the correct path (middle path) (sugatho)
5. Had perfect knowledge of all existing worlds (lokavidu)
6. Trainer of beings tamed through wisdom and compassion (anuttharo purisadhamma sarathi)
7. The teacher and leader of human and celestial beings (satta deva manussanam)
8. Having attained enlightenment with no teacher, taught others to attain Nibbana (buddho)
9. The blessed one, Noble One, venerated by humans, and celestial beings (bhagava)

Six qualities of the Dhamma:

1. Well-proclaimed by the Enlightened One, excellent in the beginning, middle and end (swakkhato)
2. To self-realize by personal effort and experience (sanditthiko)
3. Timeless; results can be achieved immediately (akaliko)
4. Anyone can be invited to see and experience the results of practice (ahipassiko)
5. Suitable to be brought inside oneself and to be experienced (opanayiko)
6. To be realized individually, depending on maturity of one’s wisdom (paccattam veditabbo vinnuhi)

Nine qualities of the Sangha:

1. In practice of the right path (Middle Path) to attain liberation (supatipanno)
2. In practice of the straight path to liberation (ujupatipanno)
3. In practice of the only path (Noble Eightfold Path) to Nibbana (nyayapatipanno)
4. In practice of the path venerated by others (samicipatipanno)
5. Worthy to receive offerings brought from far away places (ahuneyyo)
6. Worthy to receive offerings prepared for rare visitors (pahuneyyo)
7. Worthy to receive offerings given with expectations of future benefits (dakkhineyyo)
8. Worthy of receiving reverential salutations from others (anjalikaraneyyo)
9. Incomparable fertile field to plant seeds of merit (anuttaram punnakkhettam lokassa)

The Buddha was an enlightened supreme human being but not a God to whom disciples are expected to pray to with blind devotion in the hope of salvation. The Buddha was the teacher who discovered the path of liberation and then revealed the path to others so that they could also liberate themselves. Buddhist disciples take refuge in the Buddha in order to pay reverence to this great teacher and to make efforts to develop the very noble qualities that the Buddha had developed within Himself. When a Buddhist disciple takes refuge in the Buddha through initial faith, the disciple does not surrender in any way or form or sacrifice freedom of thought. The knowledge-based confidence placed in the Buddha by His disciples has been compared to that placed in a noted physician by a sick person or, indeed, in a noted teacher by a student. (4)

According to Abhidhamma, the collection of higher teachings of the Buddha, faith or saddha is a wholesome mental factor, or cetasika, which can be described as the forerunner to all types of wholesome mental actions. Faith in this case is the confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha and in the principles of the Buddha’s teachings and is one of the 19 universal beautiful mental factors, or sobhana sadharana cetasika

Faith has also been described as the first of the five spiritual or controlling faculties (pancha indriya) the other faculties being effort (viriya), mindfulness (sati), concentration (samadhi) and wisdom (panna). These five spiritual faculties are believed to develop in a gradual and progressive way with faith leading to effort, effort leading to mindfulness, mindfulness leading to concentration and concentration leading to wisdom. One’s spiritual progress depends on the progressive strength of these five faculties – the greater the strength of these faculties the higher the level of enlightenment and one who has completed and fulfilled the five faculties is said to have been fully liberated and become an Arahant. These five faculties need to be in a state of harmony with each other, particularly within the pair of faith and wisdom and within the pair of effort and concentration while mindfulness remains a beneficial and balancing faculty to the other four faculties. A disciple with strong faith but weak wisdom may remain in blind devotion with poor progress while a disciple with strong wisdom but weak faith may become too rational and cunning which would also hinder spiritual progress. The same five spiritual faculties become spiritual strengths or powers (pancha bala) when they have become unshakable and strong enough to control any opposing factors.

In the Ariya Dhana sutta of the Anguttara Nikaya, the Buddha described faith as the first of the seven treasures or sources of spiritual wealth for the noble ones with the six other treasures being moral virtue (sila), moral shame (hiri), moral fear (ottappa), learning (suta), charity (caga) and wisdom (panna). (6)

In the Vyaggapajja sutta of the Anguttara Nikaya, the Buddha described four conditions that will lead to spiritual progress and future happiness. Of those four conditions, faith or belief in the Buddha and the Buddha’s enlightenment has been described as the first condition:

1. Accomplishment of faith (saddha sampada)
2. Accomplishment of virtue (sila sampada)
3. Accomplishment of charity (caga sampada)
4. Accomplishment of wisdom (panna sampada) (7)

In the Okkantha samyutta of the Khandha vagga of the Samyutta Nikaya, there are ten discourses in which the Buddha has described two noble disciples known as the faith follower (Saddhanusari ) and the  dhamma follower (Dhammanusari) both of who are on the path of Stream Entry (Sotapanna magga). A faith follower has faith in the Buddha and Buddha’s teaching and has developed the five spiritual faculties. Through faith in the Buddha, a faith follower believes in the nature of impermanence (anicca) in conditioned physical and mental phenomena (8).

The Buddha in the same ten discourses has also stated that a faith follower who believes in  impermanence through faith is on the right spiritual path and has become a noble person (ariya) from being a worlding (puthujjana). A faith follower has not eradicated any mental defilements through wisdom and has not attained any immaterial mental absorptions (arupa jhana) through meditation. A disciple who is a faith follower, will not commit any unwholesome actions causing re-birth in hell, in an animal womb or in the realm of hungry ghosts and is bound to attain the fruition of Stream Entry (sotapanna phala) before death. 

A Stream Enterer who has eradicated the three fetters of self identification view (sakkaya ditthi), sceptical doubt ( vicikicca) and attachment to mere rites and rituals (silabbata paramasa) through wisdom, will possess unwavering faith (aveccappasada) in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha.

There are four factors associated with one who has attained stream entry:

1. Unshakable faith in the Buddha
2. Unshakable faith in the Dhamma
3. Unshakable faith in the Sangha
4. Perfect morality

When a Buddhist disciple who begins the spiritual journey with initial faith in the Triple Gem attains Nibbana through the realization of the four Noble Truths of suffering (dukkha), cause of suffering (samudaya), cessation of suffering (nirodha) and the path leading to the cessation of suffering (magga), one becomes independent of faith as it is replaced by wisdom through direct experience. Hence, one who has attained Nibbana, i.e. an Arahant, is known as “assaddha.”

In the Vatthupama sutta, based on the parable of the cloth, of the Majjima Nikaya, the Buddha states that one develops unwavering confidence in the Triple Gem by practising the recollection of the qualities of the Triple Gem through meditation and by eliminating 16 different defilements of the mind: greed, ill-will, anger, resentment, contempt, malice, envy, stinginess, deceit, fraud, callousness, rivalry, conceit, arrogance, pride and heedlessness. (9)

In the Buddhist teachings, faith in the Triple Gem has been referred to as the seed of all wholesome states as it inspires the mind of a disciple with confidence and determination to launch across the floods of samsara or the cycle of birth and death. As such, in the Padhaniyanga sutta of the Anguttara Nikaya, faith has been described as the first of the five elements of effort required (padhaniyanga), the others being health, sincerity, energy and wisdom. (10)

The Saddha sutta of the Anguttara Nikaya describes five benefits that a layperson will enjoy as a result of possessing faith in the Triple Gem:

1. When good people in the world show compassion, they will first show it to people with faith
2. When visiting, they will first visit people with faith
3. When accepting gifts, they will first accept gifts from those with faith
4. When teaching the Dhamma, they will first teach those with faith
5. After death, they will be reborn in a heavenly world (11)

It is recorded in many discourses that whenever people who were new to the Buddha’s teaching visited the Buddha and listened to a sermon by the Buddha, they understood the teaching and developed confidence in the Buddha and the Buddha’s teaching. They would proclaim to the Buddha:

“Excellent, good Gotama! Excellent, good Gotama! Just as good Gotama, a man were to set upright what had been overturned, or what is closed is opened, or were to show the way to one who has lost his way, or as one who holds an oil lamp in the dark so that those with eyes may see things, in similar manner, by good Gotama, in various ways, the Dhamma has been declared. I take refuge in good Gotama, the Dhamma and the Sangha. May good Gotama accept me as a lay devotee who has taken refuge from today onwards till the end of my life.”

Yet others, through newly developed confidence in the Buddha and the Buddha’s teaching, have requested the Buddha to ordain them as Buddhist monks with the Buddha as their teacher so that they can practise the Buddha’s teaching and gain enlightenment and liberation from suffering.

In summary, faith or confidence is a significant and, indeed, essential factor in Theravada Buddhism which leads to wholesome actions and enables a Buddhist disciple to embark upon the spiritual journey towards liberation from all suffering, or Nibbana. The Buddha strongly discouraged blind devotion and, of the two types of faith, namely blind faith (amulika saddha) and confidence based on reason and investigation (akarawathi saddha), it is the latter that is considered relevant and necessary in Buddhism given its non-theistic foundation. Buddhist disciples are encouraged to doubt, question and investigate Buddhist doctrine, including the qualities of the Buddha Himself, before developing confidence or faith in the Triple Gem. Initial faith in the Triple Gem can act as an essential motivating factor during the initial stages of a disciple’s spiritual journey, eventually taking the form of unshakable faith when one attains the first stage of the Noble path, namely Stream Entry (Sotapanna). Upon completion of the spiritual journey and attainment of Nibbana by becoming an Arahant, one does not need to depend on faith any longer as it is replaced by wisdom through personal realization.

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References

1. Narada Mahathera 1982, Buddhism in a Nutshell, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
2. Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi 1995, Vimansaka sutta, Translation of the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Wisdom Publications.
3. Soma Thera (1976), ‘Faith in the Buddha’s Teachings and Refuge in the Triple Gem’, The Wheel Publication 262, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
4. Narada Mahathera 1982, Buddhism in a Nutshell, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
5. Bhikkhu Bodhi 2012, Assaddha sutta, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya, Wisdom Publications.
6. Bhikkhu Bodhi 2012, Dhana sutta, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya, Wisdom Publications.
7. Bhikkhu Bodhi 2012, Vyaggapajja sutta, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya, Wisdom Publications.
8. Bhikkhu Bodhi 1999, Okkantha samyutta, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Wisdom Publications.
9. Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi 1995, Vatthupama sutta, Translation of the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Wisdom Publications.
10. Bhikkhu Bodhi 2012, Padhaniyanga sutta, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya, Wisdom Publications..
11. Bhikkhu Bodhi 2012, Saddha sutta, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya, Wisdom Publications.

End.