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श्रीमद् विजयराजेन्द्रसूरि-स्मारक-पंथ lete course of study ( vistāra ), religious exeroise ( kriyā ), brief ex. position (samksepa ) and reality (dharma)."
According to the Buddhists faith is the basic principle of all virtuous deeds. It is the germinating principle of human culture." It is characterised by two marks : (1) transquillising in the sense of making all obstacles to disappear and rendering consciousness clear, and (2) leaping high to achieve that what has not been achieved, to master that what has not been mastered, and to realise that what bas not been realised. Faith is nothing but trust in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha (Buddha, Doctrine and order ). According to the celebrated Pali Buddhist commentator Buddhaghosa, it is an act of believing in the sense of plunging, breaking, entering into qualities of Buddha and the rest and rejoicing over them. It is the guiding factor of charity, morality and religion in the sense that it precedes all charitable, moral and spiritual instinct and dispositions (Saddhā pubbāngamă purchārikā hoti ). It is transforming itself into bhakti or devotion. It is associated with love or prēma: The noble eightfold path is the development of the five controlling faculties and powers, one of which is sraddhā or faith. The other element that accompanies faith is prasáda, a sense of assurance, attended by a serene delight out of satisfaction of a man's spiritual need (Punappunam bhajanavasena saddha va bhatti. Pemam saddhapemam gehasitapemam pi yattati. Pasado saddhāpasado va-Puggalapannatti - Commentary, 248 ). The Buddha in agreement with Mabăvira held that doubt and faith are two opposite states of mind so that the affirmation of one implies the negation of the other 5 According to the Buddhists there are three species of doubt and three species of faith. The Buddha himself said that he had not found out any other element than earnestness which was conducive to the greatest good and to the stability of the faith. He further pointed out that earnestness was
1 Uttarādhyayanasitra, XXVIII, 16 :
Nisagguvaesarui anarui sutta-viyaruimeva i
Abhigama-vitthärarui kiriya-samkheva-dhammarul it 2 Suttanipata, V. 77. 3. Atthasálini, p. 145. 4. Ibid., p. 120. 8. Majjhima, I, p. 101; Cf. Sthanūnga, p. 289.
