In Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha cautions his listeners:
“The wisdom of the [present] Buddhas is profound and immeasurable. The gate to it is difficult to understand and difficult to enter.”
And in gāthās:
“The Dharma cannot be shown.
It is inexplicable by words.
No one can understand it
Except the Buddhas
And the Bodhisattvas
Who are strong in the power of faith.”
As explained earlier, we are taught that only a Buddha and another Buddha can fully understand the equality and differences of all things. What then are we expected to do?
Dale S. Wright writes in “Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character”:
“From points of departure in ordinary mentality where most of us reside, it was widely thought in Mahayana Buddhism that an initial faith is required to begin this practice of wisdom. As the Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom defines it: “Faith here means the believing in perfect wisdom, the trusting confidence, the resoluteness, the deliberation, the weighing up, the testing.” Without some faith that these practices are worthwhile, that exerting oneself in them would be a healthy engagement of time and effort, no one would or should take them up. But the sutras imagine, sensibly, that in the process of engaging in these practices, on the basis of that initial faith, what at first requires faith because it seems so foreign and unnatural later becomes a second nature, internalized on the basis of experience. At some point the practitioner ‘knows’ something, feels something strongly, based on what has already taken place. The more deeply ingrained the practices of perfection become, the less discipline is required and the more one is able to perform a wise act spontaneously out of a profound sense of what is right under the circumstances.” (Page 228-229)
In the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings this progression is explained in this way:
“Through the influence of the sutra they will awaken that person’s mind, and he or she will spontaneously experience a change of heart. With the now-awakened trusting mind, that person, through dauntless effort, can acquire this sutra’s dynamic power for great beneficial effect, and he or she will be able to realize the Way and attain its fruits.”
It’s that “now-awakened trusting mind” which is the manifestation of faith. With this faith we cross the threshold of the Buddha’s gate and we enter the path. As we walk that path “at some point the practitioner ‘knows’ something, feels something strongly, based on what has already taken place.”
With faith we begin and with practice we advance.
“Śāriputra! The Tathāgatas divide [the Dharma] into various teachings, and expound those teachings to all living beings so skillfully and with such gentle voices that living beings are delighted.”
And that delight brings joy.
“Know this, Śāriputra!
I once vowed that I would cause
All living beings to become
Exactly as I am.“That old vow of mine
Has now been fulfilled.
I lead all living beings
Into the Way to Buddhahood.”
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