Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon c7.s1.11

c7.s1.11

A disciple, therefore, who seeks to become a Buddhist cannot attain his end, unless he has the necessary faith as an indispensable preliminary. He must believe that the Buddha is indeed fully enlightened, the teacher of gods and men, the exalted and awakened one; that the truth has been proclaimed by the Buddha, of advantage in this world, passing not away, welcoming all, and to be attained by the wise each for himself; and that the Order of the Buddha is worthy of honour, gifts, and reverence, is the sowing ground of merit for the world, and is possessed of the virtues praised by the wise, untarnished by desire of future life or by belief in the efficacy of outward acts and conducive to concentration of the heart.⁴ Faith is the root of correct knowledge; man does not think out the doctrines of the Buddha by the independent light of reason; he must hear them taught and explained. Faith is the means by which a man may cross the depths of the river of existence to the safety of Nirvāṇa;¹ the teaching of the Buddha saves him who has faith, but destroys the faithless,² a reflection which may have strengthened the Buddha in his hesitation to preach the truth to a world which would probably be unable to comprehend it.