Developing Faith/Saddha
Saddha - Faith – (Confidence)
Faith or Saddha is
the most significant factor in the path to Nibbana. Saddha/Faith is the belief
in the virtues of the Triple Gem (theruwan). Bududha, Dhamma and Sanga are the
highest ever qualities which are invaluable in nature that would ever exist on
this earth. These three are named the
Triple Gem. Saddha/Faith means belief in Buddha hood of the Lord Buddha, that
the Dhamma lead to Nirvana and that Sanga has attained the Noble Eight Fold
Path.
The acquisition of
the mentality of saddha is not the blind faith or the belief, through there is
an element of devotion born out of confidence and conviction. The Buddhist
after intelligent inquiry is convinced of Lord Buddha’s supreme qualities of
freedom from all defilements and impurities, the Lord Buddha has realized the
Truth on his own efforts. He is in perfect knowledge of the reality of all
things. He possesses the supreme knowledge and the resulting norms of conduct.
In short the Buddhist is fully convinced of the supreme virtues of the Lord
Buddha. There is similar conviction as
regards the virtues of the Dhamma and Sanga.
We are Buddhist by
birth and Faith/Saddha is an inheritance from our parents, therefore we engage
in religious activities from our young days as a result of the example and
advice we get from our parents, teachers and elders. As we grow older and
develop in our minds the Buddha Dhamma and the Sanga (Triple Gem). We develop
faith and belief in the Buddhist way of life and take a liking to the Dhamma.
Saddha creates in
ones mind and desire to listen to the Dhamma, to grasp the dhamma and retain it
in ones mind, to seek the meaning of the dhamma and to understand the dhamma it
leads to the appreciation of the dhamma and an effort to establish a balanced
understanding of the dhamma. This finally leads to a serene delight from the
knowledge of the dhamma.
Avecchappasada-
Serene Delight
Avecchappasada is
developed when the dhamma discoursed by the Lord Buddha is compared to ones
religious beliefs and a comparative knowledge of Buddhism is obtained. This type of delight or Avecchappasada may be
derived by most of who are born as Buddhists.
This serene
delight in the dhamma is referred to as Avecchappasada – which means the
delight one gets through knowledge of the dhamma and leads to faith and belief
in ones mind. One can even without the knowledge of the dhamma develop a serene
delight in the Lord Buddha. For example, some developed a delight in seeing him
due to his pleasant appearance and his great personality and their delight led
them to follow him. Bikku Vakkali who lived during the time of the Lord Buddha
was one such Bikku.
The next step in
Avecchappasadaya or the serene delight in the knowledge of the Dhamma is to
understand the truth and through ones wisdom realize the three common
characteristics of life (Thrilakshana) anichcha, dukka, annathma. Thus
saddha/faith which starts as a simple condition of the mind leads to the
complete understanding of the truth and through this wisdom one can accomplish
the totality of the sublime knowledge of the dhamma. At this point wisdom has
replaced saddha.
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