The writing called "The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana" is traditionally attributed to an Indian Mahayana philosopher called Ashvagosa. However it currently exists only in a Chinese-language version, and some scholars think it was actually composed in China in the 6^th century A.D. by some scholar trying to present the basics of Mahayana philosophy to the Chinese educated public.

This writing contains several recognizable new developments of older Buddhist ideas, some of which will be pointed out in the commentary below. One idea deserves some special treatment here, since it represents one more difference between Theravada and Mahayana thought. This is the idea of the Dharmakaya.

Theravada thought (the earliest, conservative Buddhism) generally refuses to give direct positive descriptions of Nibbana.  (Perhaps the closest they come is describing Nibbana as a vinnana not "abiding in" any perceptual object.)  This refusal is probably due to the fact that Theravada Buddhism partly defines itself by contrast with the Hinduism taught in the Bhagavad Gita.  The Gita identifies its goal in a very clear and positive way, as uniting with one's own Atman ("True Self"), which also unites a person with the highest (nonpersonal) Supreme Being, Brahman.  The Theravada Buddhist an-atta (an-atman) doctrine explicitly rejects the Atman-doctrine of Hinduism, and with it the connected idea of Brahman.  Nibbana is the highest state there is, but it does not unite a person with any other Highest Being.

Mahayana thought (a more ''liberal" tradition accepting later developments), is not so concerned to define itself by contrast with Hinduism, and so is more at ease giving clear and positive, often very glowing descriptions of the Enlightened Mind.  This is what we have in the Awakening of Faith, which posits an ultimate nonpersonal supreme reality called the Dharmakaya, and held that each person’s own mind, at its deepest level is identical with this Dharmakaya. This reality is also variously called "Buddha Nature," "The Essence of Mind," and (by the modern author Shunryu Suzuki) "Big Mind."

Paul Williams describes the doctrine as follows:

Williams comments on the attractiveness of this notion in the context of Chinese culture:

Excerpts from Awakening Faith In The Mahayana

Likening Enlightenment to... a clear mirror,

a fourfold significance relating to its greatness is revealed.

The first significance to be revealed is when,

by reason of removing of objects to a distance from a mirror,

there is no reflection.

[In the same way] when all disturbing mental conditions

and all mental spheres in contact with objects

through the sense organs

are done away with,

there is no disturbance of the Mind's tranquility.

This first significance, therefore, is a revelation of the greatness of the Mind's Emptiness.

The second significance...:

No matter what phenomena or the conditions may be...

they are reflected in the mirror of the Mind's pure Essence

with perfect trueness and impartiality.

[So in the Mind] there is nothing that enters and nothing that departs,

there is nothing that is lost nor destroyed,

for in the true Essential Mind all conceptions are of one sameness

that in its suchness abides unchanged and permanent.

For true Essential Mind yields to no contaminations

that can possibly contaminate it,

and even its reflected contaminated conceptions

have no effect upon it.

Its intuitional nature is never disturbing and,

on the contrary, is in possession of boundless non-intoxicant virtues

that influence all sentient beings

to draw them into the unity and purity of its pure Essence.

The third significance...:

Just as a mirror reflects freely all objects brought before it,

so Essential Mind reflects all concepts freely

without being contaminated by them.

They go forth freely just as they are,

separated from all hindrances and annoyances of knowledge,

and all the phenomena of composition and conformity,

for in Essential Mind all is pure and bright and free.

The fourth significance

is an affirmation of compassionate helpfulness,

for being free from all limitations of selfness,

it draws all alike into its all-embracing purity and unity and peacefulness,

illumining their minds with equal brightness

so that all sentient beings have an equal right to Enlightenment,

an equal chance to practice the ultimate principle of kindness,

an equal surety that ultimately all sentient beings will attain Enlightenment,

mature their root of merit and realize their inherent Buddha-nature. (Goddard 384-85)

******

Comment:

Although this doctrine of "Essential Mind" resembles the Hindu Atman/Brahman idea, Mahayana Buddhists were greatly concerned to avoid the "dualism" that tends to accompany this notion in Hinduism. That is, belief in some pure inner world might lead to an introverted religion, in which one turns away from the disturbing external world toward this pure and calm internal Mind. The comparison of a the Mind to a mirror in the passage above avoids this notion by emphasizing the way that the Mind’s purity enables it to reflect the external world without distortion.

The Awakening of Faith combats dualism also by further developing the idea found in the earlier Heart Sutra, the idea that Dukkha "does not exist." That is, it might appear that Craving and Dukkha are independent forces inflicting themselves on us, preventing us from reaching enlightenment. Craving and Dukkha appear to have this character of "obstacle to enlightenment" as part of their own-being (sva-bhava). It might appear then that the emotional part of our being that causes mental disturbance has an unavoidably negative character, and that we have to eliminate it entirely to get to Enlightenment. This would be a "dualistic" division between emotional disturbance on the one hand, and the pure undisturbed Mind on the other.

The Awakening of Faith combats this dualism by developing the idea of Dependent Origination, with a specific twist: Craving and Dukkha "arise dependently" on the mind, that is, on what the author calls "discriminating Ignorance." He says "Craving thoughts and Dukkha do not exist in their own right [i.e. they have no sva-bhava], but arise from the non-enlightenment of discriminating Ignorance."

The passage explaining this makes it clear that "discriminating" refers specifically to dividing up the world into things that feel crucial to our happiness and things that do not. It is called "discriminating Ignorance," because from a Buddhist point of view, this is our fundamental (pre-conscious) mistake or illusion – the idea that there is something out there in the world on which our happiness depends.

Another explanation of the same process:

If there was only a state of pure Enlightenment,

the mind would remain undisturbed and in tranquility,

but because of discriminating Ignorance

the mind becomes disturbed...

The mind perceives differences [between things having, and not-having, crucial importance],

[and this] awakens Craving, Clinging, and the Dukkha that follows...

The mind notes that some things relate to self

and some to not-self,

from which arises a conception of an actor, an ego self.

If the mind could remain undisturbed

by differences and discriminations

the conception of an ego-self would die away.

Independent of an actor

there is no meaning to an external world

of things produced, acted upon and reacting.

As one gets rid of the conception of self,

the conception of an external world [with meanings independent of the mind] vanishes with it.

Comment:

The apparent power that things in the world have to affect us does not really belong to the things themselves (their sva-bhava), but arises because of our mental state, and will disappear once our mental state changes. This includes the apparent power of Dukkha to prevent us from reaching Enlightenment and Nirvana. Dukkha is not really a solid force standing in the way, but a mental construct.

If obstacles to Enlightenment lack reality, then Enlightenment itself is actually everyone's only real reality. Reaching Enlightenment is not a matter of overcoming some obstacles, or creating something that does not exist. If one comes to see fully that all apparent obstacles lack Own Being, this would be Enlightenment. This became a major theme in Mahayana philosophy. The Enlightened Mind which is everyone's only real reality is called variously "Essential Mind," "Essence of Mind," (Suzuki's "Big Mind") or "Buddha Nature," and is identical with the Dharmakaya, the ultimate reality (similar to the Hindu Brahman).

The following passage from The Awakening of Faith begins by mentioning the familiar mistake people make in confusing Enlightenment with an "empty," tranquil mind.

According to the Sutras,

Tathagatas [Buddhas] are represented as existing in a state of emptiness and tranquillity.

Common minds interpret this to mean that Tathagatas' minds are empty and tranquil...

They mistakenly consider that "emptiness" is a characteristic of Tathagatas.

To disabuse their minds of this false conception,

it is necessary to show that "emptiness" is a false conception arising in their own minds,

existing only in relation to their senses and discriminating mind,

and having no substantiality of its own...

But then the passage goes on to say that when one truly realizes the falsity (Emptiness) of such conceptions, all that remains is the "Essential Mind."

When the mind understands the falsity of the conceptions,

the objects themselves vanish into nothingness.

Then, nothing would remain but the purity of Essential Mind

radiantly present in all the ten quarters of the universes.

This is the true significance of the Tathagata's intrinsic and all embracing Wisdom.(386)

Other passages in the Awakening of Faith elaborate on the wonderfulness of this Mind Essence, which everyone has, and which is identical with the Dharmakaya.

The self-substance of Mind-Essence is inconceivably pure...

All sentient beings, common people, disciples,

Pratyekabuddhas, Arhats, Bodhisattvas and Buddhas

are in their essential nature of the same purity.

In not one is it deficient, in not one is it in excess;

nor has it any source of arising, nor time of disappearing;

it is ever abiding, a permanent unchangeable Reality.

From its beginningless beginning

it has been in full possession of all virtue and merit.

It is in full possession of radiant Wisdom and luminosity,

penetrating everywhere by the purity of its concepts;

seeing everything adequately and truly,

its mind innately free and unprejudiced, ever abiding in blissful peace,

pure, fresh, unchangeable, ever abounding,

never segregating, never ceasing, never conceivable,

an illimitable Fountain, a Womb of exuberant fertility,

a Mind of perfect clarity and universality --

the Tathagata's Truth-body, the all-embracing Dharmakaya [Ultimate Reality].

What is meant by the Pure Essence of Mind?

It is the ultimate purity and unity,

the all-embracing wholeness,

the quintessence of Truth.

Essence of Mind belongs to neither death nor rebirth, it is uncreated and eternal...

As applying to Mind-essence, words have no validity,

for in Mind-essence there is nothing to be grasped nor named.

But we use words to get free from words until we reach the pure wordless Essence...

(Question: if all concepts are to be thus regarded,

how are sentient beings to make use of them

to abstract their minds into the Mind's Pure Essence?

Reply: Whenever any sentient being uses words in relation to the mind's pure Essence

he should remember their falsity and cherish no arbitrary conceptions,

nor distinctions between themselves and the spoken words and the thing spoken about.

As they use words to express the thoughts

they should remember that words are wholly independent of the speaker

and are not to be grasped as their own.

If any sentient being should be able to thus keep free from a arbitrary conceptions,

it would mean that they had attained oneness with the pure Essence of all concepts.) (362-63)

Mind-Essence is by no means to be thought of

as being empty of its own perfectly universalized nature;

it is only empty in the sense that it includes in its true nature no elements of falsity,

namely, it is the pure Dharmakaya, the very suchness of Truth.

Since it has ever been permanent and invariable in its nature,

and possessing the whole body of conceptions in perfectly undifferentiated purity,

it is the very acme of non-emptiness.

At the same time, it must by no means be considered

that Mind-Essence has its own transcendental phenomena [distinct and definite realities];

not at all, it has no conceivable or inconceivable phenomena of its own,

it is perfect Emptiness,

and can only be apprehended as the mind,

transcending its discriminating processes of thought and all imagery of selfness,

becomes itself unified with the pure Suchness of Mind-Essence.(364)

(Question: If Mind-Essence is free from all conceptions of phenomena, how can it be said to possess all kinds of merits and virtues.

(Reply: although it really possesses all kinds of merits and virtues, it does not possess them in the sense of Clinging to them.) (Goddard: 381-82).

It may be inferred from what has been said

that if a disciple has the true understanding of Mind-Essence

and concentrates his mind on that, that he needs to do nothing further

but to quietly wait for the unfolding of Enlightenment and Nirvana.

The answer to this is, that a disciple is like a precious gem

whose brilliance is hidden by a coating of impurities.

If we are to enjoy the pure brilliance of the gem we must first resort to polishing.

The true nature of Mind-Essence is immaculately pure

but in the disciple it is hidden by accumulations of defilement

that must be removed by expedient means if he is to attain Enlightenment.

Therefore, besides having a true understanding of the Dharma,

he must also keep the precepts and cherish a great heart of compassion.

******

[This emphasis on virtues led to the development of a standard list, called the Six Paramitas (Six Perfections). The description of the Paramitas contained in The Awakening of Faith is worth quoting at length.  I think the main idea is that, although Buddhist practice specializes in developing a unique set of admirable personal qualities (independent self-confidence, flexible adaptation, broad appreciative abilities), the Dharmakaya also has all the virtues in itself, so it will naturally express itself in morally good behavior.  Someone who claims to have an enlightened mind but does not act in ways that are morally admirable, does not have the kind of Enlightened Mind (Dharmakaya) that Buddhists are talking about.  Besides Craving and Clinging, moral vices are also "defilements" of the mind.  ML]

There are six ways of practicing faith...

First, the Way of Giving.

The purpose of this practice is to eradicate one's own stinginess and cupidity.

To effect this, one should train himself to be generous.

If any one comes to him begging,

he should give him money or things as he has particular need,

with discretion and kindness,

as much as he can up to his ability and the other's need,

so that the begging ones may be relieved and go away cheerful.

[Note: This is not a rule "always give to beggars."  Just one brief example of how the virtue of Giving might be practiced in the concrete.  Buddhist thought has no special advice to offer as to when to give and not to give to beggars.  ML]

Or, if the disciple come upon one in danger or hardship

or an extremity of any kind,

he should encourage him and help him as much as he can.

Or, if anyone should come seeking instruction in the Dharma

he should humbly and patiently interpret it to him using expedient means,

as much as he can interpret with clearness according to his ability.

The disciple should practice Giving simply and unostentatiously,

with no ulterior motive in mind of ambition, self-interest, reward, or praise,

keeping in mind only this that the giving and receiving

shall both tend in the direction of Enlightenment

from them both [both giving and receiving] alike and equally.

Second, the way of Keeping the Precepts.

The purpose of this practice is to get rid

of all selfish grasping after comforts, delights, and self-interests.

It means not to kill any sentient being,

not to steal, not to commit adultery,

not to deceive nor slander nor to utter malicious words nor to flatter.

If he is a layman, it means keeping away from all greedy actions,

envy, cheating, mischief, injustice, hatred, anger, and all heretical views.

If he is a Bhikshu, it means he should avoid all vexatious and annoying acts,

he should keep away from the turmoil and activities of the worldly life

and live in solitude and quietness,

practicing begging and disciplining himself to be content with least desires.

He should feel regret over any slight fault

and should always act with prudence and attentiveness.

He should not neglect any of the Lord Tathagata's instructions

and should be always ready to defend

any one suffering under suspicion or slander

so as to restrain them from falling into further evil.

Third, the Way of Patience.

This means to practice patience when vexed or annoyed by others

and to restrain any rising thoughts of ill-will or vengeance.

It means being patient when overtaken by any affront to one's pride,

personal losses, criticisms, or praise, or flattery;

it means being patient and undisturbed

by either happiness or suffering, comfort or discomfort.

Fourth, the Way of Zealous Effort.

[This passage counters the tendency of some Americans to associate Buddhism with just taking things easy and not trying too hard at anything.  This passage emphasizes that achieving an Enlightened Mind is very difficult and takes a lot of hard work motivated by "zeal" for Enlightenment.  It's only the result of such zealous efforts that might manifest itself in a more easygoing attitude toward life's stresses.  Suzuki thought that laid-back Americans trying to practice Zen Buddhism need more rules and discipline in their practice than to Japanese.  See Notes on Suzuki in America. ML] 

The purpose of this discipline

is to restrain oneself from yielding to temptations to laziness and weariness.

It disciplines one not to relax one's effort

when he meets success and praise,

but to ever renew one's resolution to seek enlightenment.

It should strengthen one to keep far away

from temptations to timidity or false modesty.

One should ever remember past sufferings borne

because of evil committed carelessly and to no benefit to himself,

and by these recollections to renew his zeal and perseverance

to make diligent practicing of all kinds of meritorious and virtuous deeds

that will benefit both others and himself

and keep himself free from suffering in the future.

In spite of his being a Bhikshu [monk or nun]

he may be suffering from unmatured karma of previous lives

and thus still be open to the attacks of evil influences,

or still be entangled in worldly affairs,

or the responsibilities of a family life,

or under some chronic illness or disability.

In the face of all such burdensome hindrances,

he should be courageous and zealous

and unceaselessly diligent in his practicings during the day,

and in the six watches of the night

should be on his guard against idle thoughts

by constantly repeating adorations to all the Buddhas with zeal and sincerity,

beseeching the Buddhas to abide in the world

to turn the Dharma wheel, to support all right efforts to practice,

to encourage all kind acts, to awaken faith in the faithless, to encourage right vows

and to return all merit for the Enlightenment of all sentient beings.

Unless one is zealous and persevering in his practice,

he will not be able to keep himself from increasing hindrances to cultivating his root of devotion.

Fifth, The Way of Tranquillity.

The purpose of this discipline is twofold:

First, to bring to a standstill all disturbing thoughts,

(and all discriminating thoughts are disturbing),

to quiet all engrossing moods and emotions,

so that it will be possible to concentrate the mind

for the practice of meditation and realization,

and thus to be able to follow the practice willingly and gladly.

Secondly, when the mind is tranquilized by stopping all thought,

to practice "reflection" or meditation,

not in a discriminating way, but in a more intellectual way,

of realizing the meaning and significance of one's thoughts and experiences,

and also to follow this part of the practice willingly and gladly.

[Note that, as explained below, the first "stopping" phase  described here seems more like what we call "concentrating," as for example concentrating on breathing to stop oneself from being caught up in thoughts.  And concentrating is only a preparation for the second phase, described below as not preventing thoughts from arising, but letting one's mind be like a mirror, letting one thing after another appear in the mind without grasping at any of them.  ML.]

By this twofold practice of "stopping and realizing",

one's faith, that is already awakened, will become developed

and gradually the two aspects of this practice will merge into one another,

the mind perfectly tranquil but most active in realization.

In the past, one naturally has had confidence in his faculty of discrimination,

but this is now to be eradicated and ended.

[First phase:] For those who are practicing "stopping",

they should retire to some quiet place, or better live in some quiet place,

sitting erect, and with earnest and zestful purpose

seek to quiet and concentrate the mind.

[Second phase:] While one may at first think of his breathing,

it is not wise to continue it very long,

nor to let the mind rest on any particular appearances or sights,

or conceptions arising from the senses,

such as the primal elements of earth, water, fire and ether,

nor to let it rest on any of the lower mind's perceptions,

particularizations, discriminations moods or emotions.

All kinds of ideation are to be discarded as fast as they arise,

even the notions of controlling and discarding are to be gotten rid of.

One's mind should become like a mirror,

reflecting things but not judging them nor retaining them.

Conceptions of themselves have no substance,

let them rise and pass away unheeded.

Conceptions arising from the senses and lower mind will not take form of themselves,

unless they are grasped by the attention,

but if they are ignored there will be no appearing and no disappearing.

The same is true of conditions outside the mind:

they should not be permitted to engross one's attention nor hinder one's practice.

As the mind cannot be absolutely vacant,

as thoughts rising from the sense and discriminating mind are discarded and ignored,

one must supply their place by right mentation.

(Question: what is right mentation?

Reply: right mentation is the realization of the mind itself,

of its pure undifferentiated Essence.

Even when we sit quietly with the mind fixed on its pure Essence

there should be no lingering notions of self,

of self realizing, or any phenomena of realization.

Pure Mind-Essence is ungraspable of any rising or appearing of individuation.)

Sixth, the Way of Wisdom [Prajña]

The purpose of this discipline is to bring one into the habit of applying the insight

that has come to him by the preceding ways of discipline.

Even when one is rising standing, walking, doing something, stopping,

one should constantly concentrate his mind on the act and the desiring of it

not on his relation to it or its character or its value.

One should think:

there is walking, there is doing, there is stopping, there is realizing;

not, I am walking, I am doing this, is a good thing, it is disagreeable,

it is I who am gaining merit, it is I who am realizing how wonderful it is.

Then come vagrant thoughts, feelings of elation or defeat and failure and unhappiness.

Instead of all this, one should simply practice concentration of the mind on the act itself,

understanding it to be an expedient means for attaining tranquillity of mind,

realization, insight and Wisdom, and to follow the practice in faith willingness and gladness.

After long practice the bondage of old habits becomes weakened and disappears,

and in its place appears confidence, satisfaction, awareness and tranquillity.

What is this practice of Wisdom designed to accomplish?

There are three classes of conditions

that hinder one from advancing along the path to Enlightenment:

First, the allurements arising from the senses

and external conditions and the discriminating mind;

Second, the inner conditions of the mind, its thoughts, desires and moods;

these the earlier practices are designed to eliminate.

The third class are the instinctive and fundamental,

insidious and persistent urgings,

the will-to-live and enjoy, the will-to-protect one's life and personality,

the will-to-propagate, which give rise to greed and lust,

fear and anger, infatuation and pride of egoism.

The practice of the Wisdom Paramita [Prajña Paramita]

is designed to control and eliminate

these fundamental and instinctive hindrances.

By means of it the mind gradually becomes clearer, more luminous, more peaceful.

Insight clears, faith deepens and broadens,

until they merge into the inconceivable Samadhi of the Mind's Pure Essence.

As one continues the practice of Wisdom,

one less and less yields to thoughts of comfort or discomfort,

faith becomes surer, more pervasive, beneficent, joyous, and fear of retrogression vanishes.

But do not think that these consummations are to be attained easily or quickly;

many rebirths may be necessary, many asamkyas of kalpas may have to elapse.

So long as doubt, unbelief, slanders, evil conduct, hindrances of karma, weakness of faith,

pride, laziness, a disturbed mind, persist, or their shadow linger,

there can be no attainment of the Samadhi of the Buddhas.

But once attained, in the luminous brightness of highest Samadhi,

one will be able to realize with all the Buddhas,

the perfect unity of all sentient beings with Buddhahood's Dharmakaya.

In the pure Dharmakaya, there is no dualism, neither shadow of differences.

All sentient beings, if they are able to realize it, are already in Nirvana.

The Mind's pure Essence is Highest Samadhi.

The Mind's Pure Essence is anuttara-samyak-sambodhi,

is Prajna Paramita, Highest Perfect Wisdom.

******

The Awakening of Faith also has some practical advice criticizing some common faults of monks and nuns. I include them here because they give some concrete idea of monastic life.

There may be some disciples whose root of merit is not yet matured,

whose control of mind is weak and whose power of application is limited,

and yet who are sincere in their purpose to seek Enlightenment.

These, for a time, may be beset and be bewildered by maras [tempters] and evil influences

who are seeking to break down their good purpose.

Such disciples, seeing seductive sights, attractive girls, strong young men,

must constantly remind themselves that all such tempting and alluring things are mind made,

and if they do this, their tempting power will disappear and they will no longer be annoyed.

Or, if they have visions of heavenly gods and Bodhisattvas and Tathagatas

surrounded by celestial glories, they should remind themselves that they, too, are mind-made and unreal.

Or if they should be up-lifted and excited by listening to mysterious Dharanis,

to lectures upon the Paramitas, to elucidations of the great principles of the Mahayana,

they must remind themselves that these also are emptiness and mind-made,

that in their Essence they are Nirvana itself.

Or, if they should have intimations within that they have attained transcendental powers,

recalling past lives or fore-seeing future lives, or reading other's thoughts,

or freedom to visit other Buddha-lands, or great powers of eloquence,

all of which may tempt them to become covetous for worldly power and riches and fame.

Or, they may be tempted by extremes of emotion, at times angry at other times joyous,

or, at times very kind-hearted and compassionate at other times the very opposite,

or, at times alert and purposeful at other times indolent and stupid,

at times full of faith and zealous in their practice at other times engrossed in other affairs and negligent.

All of which will keep them vacillating, at times experiencing a kind of fictitious samadhi,

such as the heretics boast of, but not the True Samadhi.

Or later, when they are quite advanced

and become absorbed in trance for a day, or two, or even seven,

not partaking of any food but upheld by inward food of their spirit,

being admired by their friends and feeling very comfortable and proud and complacent,

and then later becoming very erratic, sometimes eating little, sometimes greedily,

and the expression of their face constantly changing.

Because of all such queer manifestations and developments in the course of their practicings,

disciples should be on their guard to keep the mind under constant control.

They should neither grasp after nor become attached

to the passing and unsubstantial things of the senses or concepts and moods of the mind.

If they do this they will be able to keep far away from hindrances....

They should constantly remind them selves that the false samadhis and raptures of the heretics

always have some imperfections about them and affinities with the triple world

which lead the heretics to grasp after worldly fame, self-interest and self-pride,

and becoming defiled by these graspings and prejudices and defilements,

and becoming separated from their good Buddhist friends and learned masters

they miss the path of the Buddhas and quickly fall away into the path of the heretics.

The true Samadhi of Mind-Essence is free from all arbitrary conceptions, all prejudices, all attainments.

There is only purity and blissful tranquillity.

As the advanced Bodhisattva passed into true Samadhi

all individualized concepts of body or mind vanish

and only the pure awareness of truth in its undifferentiated wholeness remains,

and the mind realizes its true freedom and peace,

with no notions of egoism or individuality beclouding it...(397-403)

Finally, while it concentrates on teaching very "advanced" Buddhist philosophy and spirituality meant for monks and nuns, The Awakening of Faith also gives some attention to the practices of lay Buddhists, whom it pictures as people at a very beginning stage on the Buddhist path.

We must... distinguish between the spontaneous activities attained by Buddhas

and the crude practices laboriously undertaken by the Bodhisattvas [future Buddhas]

at the beginning of their devotions.

First, let us consider the awakening and maturing of a pure faith in the Dharma.

Every sentient being, no matter how unconcentrated his mind may be,

has certain instinctive reactions of mind

that make him sensitive to kindness, shrink from suffering, fear evil, dread retribution,

be confident in self-effort and attainment, and be hopeful of something better.

If by chance they should come in contact with a Buddha,

give offerings to him, worship him or his image,

they would develop their germ of faith

and after ten thousand kalpas would have so far matured their faith

that all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas would teach them how to start their devotions...

Or, because of the absence of the Dharma, or fear that it might become lost

their faith may awaken and they begin devotional practices

for the sake of preserving the true Dharma [i.e. paying to have copies made of Buddhist writings]

All of these ways of beginning devotional practices are a manifestation of true faith

It will not be in vain nor will it suffer retrogression,

but will develop under proper conditions,

into right aspiration and right ways of practice

until it merges into the true Samadhi of Buddhahood.

There may be others who, having a less developed kindness of disposition,

but who have suffered extremes of vexations and sufferings for many kalpas,

who by chance meet Buddhas and make offerings to them and worship them,

they awaken faith also, and start their devotions

for the purposes of attaining happy rebirth in this world,

or among devas in some superior realm of heaven,

or as an Arhat, or as a Pratyekabuddha in some Nirvana of their own. (Goddard 389-90)