The Awakening of Faith (1967)

Book

The text known as the Dasheng qixinlun (Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna) is a short treatise occupying only nine pages in the Taishō edition of the Chinese Tripitaka.[1] The reconstructed Sanskrit title of the work is Mahāyāna-śraddhotpāda-śāstra; it is said to have been written in Sanskrit by Aśvaghosha and translated into Chinese in A.D. 550 by the famous Indian translator of Buddhist texts, Paramārtha. No Sanskrit version of the text exists today, however, and all our knowledge of the work is based on this Chinese version and a second version that dates from a somewhat later period.
The work is a comprehensive summary of the essentials of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the product of a mind extraordinarily apt at synthesis. It begins with an examination of the nature of the Absolute or enlightenment and of the phenomenal world or nonenlightenment and discusses the relationships that exist between them; from there, it passes on to the question of how man may transcend his finite state and participate in the life of the infinite while still remaining in the midst of the phenomenal order; it concludes with a discussion of particular practices and techniques that will aid the believer in the awakening and growth of his faith. In spite of its deep concern with philosophical concepts and definitions, therefore, it is essentially a religious work, a map drawn by a man of unshakable faith, which will guide the believer to the peak of understanding. But the map and the peak are only provisional symbols, skillful and expedient ways employed to bring men to enlightenment. The text and all the arguments in it exist not for their own sake but for the sake of this objective alone. The treatise is, indeed, a true classic of Mahāyāna Buddhism. (Hakeda, introduction, 1–2)

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Citation	Hakeda, Yoshito S., trans. The Awakening of Faith: Attributed to Aśvaghosha. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967.

- Foreword, by Wm. Theodore de Baryv
- Prefacevii
- Introduction1

The Awakening of Faith21

- Invocation23
- The Contents of the Discourse24
Part 1 The Reasons for Writing25
Part 2 Outline28
Part 3 Interpretation31
- Chapter One: Revelation of True Meaning31
  - I. One Mind and Its Two Aspects31
    - A. The Mind in Terms of the Absolute32
      - 1. Truly Empty34
      - 2. Truly Nonempty35
    - B. The Mind in Terms of Phenomena36
      - 1. The Storehouse Consciousness36
        a. The Aspect of Enlightenment37
        (1) Original Enlightenment37
        
        (2) The Process of Actualization of Enlightenment38
        (a) Purity of Wisdom41
        
        (b) Suprarational Functions41
        
        (3) The Characteristics of the Essence of Enlightenment42
        
        b. The Aspect of Nonenlightenment43
        
        c. The Relationships Between Enlightenment and Nonenlightenment45
        (1) Identity45
        
        (2) Nonidentity46
      - 2. The Cause and Conditions of Man’s Being in Samsara46
        a. Mind47
        
        b. Consciousness49
        
        c. Defiled States of Mind51
        
        d. Comments on the Terms Used in the Foregoing Discussion52
      - 3. The Characteristics of Beings in Samsara54
        a. Permeation of Ignorance56
        
        b. Permeation of Suchness58
        (1) Permeation Through Manifestation of the Essence of Suchness59
        
        (2) Permeation Through Influences61
        (a) The Specific Coordinating Causes61
        
        (b) The General Coordinating Causes63
  - II. The Essence Itself and the Attributes of Suchness, or The Meanings of Mahā64
    - A. The Greatness of the Essence of Suchness64
    - B. The Greatness of the Attributes of Suchness65
    - C. The Greatness of the Influences of Suchness67
  - III. From Samsara to Nirvana72

- Chapter Two: The Correction of Evil Attachments73
  - I. The Biased Views Held by Ordinary Men74
  - II. The Biased Views Held by the Hinayanists78

- Chapter Three: Analysis of the Types of Aspiration for Enlightenment, or The Meanings of Yāna80
  - I. The Aspiration for Enlightenment Through the Perfection of Faith80
  - II. The Aspiration for Enlightenment Through Understanding and Deeds86
  - III. The Aspiration for Enlightenment Through Insight87

Part 4 On Faith and Practice92
- On Four Faiths92
- On Five Practices93
- The Practice of Cessation96
- The Practice of Clear Observation100

Part 5 Encouragement of Practice and the Benefits Thereof103

- Notes105

- A Selected Bibliography119

- Index123

Aśvaghoṣa. Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra. (Ta-ch'eng ch'i-hsin lun). 63 (4), Taisho Volume 32, No. 1666.