起信論疏筆削記 1.7

1.7

'Awakening faith' refers to the function, because within this treatise, it can break doubts and attachments and generate right faith. 'Awakening' means revealing and setting forth; 'faith' means receptive conviction and aspiration. That is, in relation to the aforementioned realm of the One Mind and three meanings of the Mahāyāna, revealing and setting forth a mind of receptive conviction and aspiration is called 'awakening faith.' Thus the treatise says: 'In order to cause sentient beings to eliminate doubt, cast off false attachments, and awaken right faith in the Mahāyāna, so that the lineage of the Buddhas will not be interrupted.' When this faith arises, it must internally rely on original enlightenment as the cause, and externally rely on the master's teaching as the condition; cause and condition coming together, the internal and external mutually assisting each other, it can thus be revealed. The treatise below says: 'Those who are endowed with causes and conditions are those who inherently possess the power of vāsanā, and furthermore, being protected by the compassionate vows of all Buddhas and bodhisattvas, are able to give rise to a mind that is weary of suffering, believe in the existence of nirvāṇa, and cultivate the roots of goodness,' and so forth. Yet this single dharma of faith is the source of all virtues and the beginning of the myriad practices; comprehension, conduct, cultivation, and realization all proceed from it, and the culmination of realization is called attaining nirvāṇa. If not for such faith, how could this matter be accomplished? Hence the *Avataṃsaka-sūtra* says: 'Faith is the source of the path and the mother of merits, / Nurturing all good dharmas, / Cutting off the net of doubt to escape the river of craving, / And revealing the unsurpassable path to nirvāṇa.' However, in this treatise, it does not only awaken faith, but also incorporates comprehension and conduct: namely, among the five sections of the treatise text, the second and third are comprehension, and the fourth and fifth are conduct. Since it contains many meanings and broadly accords with the sentiments of all, yet aims to lead from the shallow to the deep, it is for this reason designated merely as 'awakening faith.'