The Faculty and Strength of Conviction (Faith)

Week of May 8, 2005 – The Faculty and Strength of Conviction (Faith)

The Fourth and Fifth Sets of The 37 Aids to Enlightenment are: The Five Faculties and The Five Strengths.

The Five Faculties (Roots of Goodness) are:
1) The faculty of conviction (faith)
2) The faculty of persistence (effort)
3) The faculty of mindfulness
4) The faculty of concentration
5) The faculty of discernment (wisdom)

The Five Strengths (Powers) are:
1) The strength of conviction (faith)
2) The strength of persistence (effort)
3) The strength of mindfulness
4) The strength of concentration
5) The strength of discernment (wisdom)

The five faculties and the five strengths are like the two sides of a coin. When you cultivate the faculties you attain the corresponding strengths. This week we will explore the faculty and strength of conviction (faith).

Any practitioner who has cultivated The Four Frames of Mindfulness, The Four Right Exertions and The Four Bases of Miraculous Power to a certain degree, should start to work on the faculty and strength of faith. The faculty and strength of faith is the result of all previous practices and it is also the driving force for all future practices.

Generally speaking, faith can be aroused through:
(i) External physical stimulus (i.e. persons, mantras, objects)
(ii) Abstract and spiritual stimulus (i.e. gods, spirits, bodhisattvas)
(iii) Internal stimulus (i.e. realization, recapturing one’s natural ability)

Faith that is aroused from the external physical stimulus is the most vulnerable since it is subject to impermanence (i.e., people and objects are inconstant and subject to change). Faith that is aroused from the abstract and spiritual is easier to hold on to as it is all in the mind, yet it, too, is vulnerable as there are no physical counterparts (i.e., not tangible or verifiable). Faith that is aroused from internal stimulus is permanent and non-removable as nothing or no one can take it away from you. Once you realize how to generate faith internally, that faith is a natural ability, you do not need any external stimulus (this is faith transformed into certainty through realization). The wonderful thing about faith is that it can provide you with an enormous and bottomless source of power or Life Energy.

The strength of faith is particularly important for the transformation of the Sensation elements of the Five Aggregates. The Five Aggregates (or Five Skandhas) are the five components of an intelligent being, especially a human being. The Five Aggregates are: 1) Form (Rupa); 2) Sensation (Vedana); 3) Perception (Sanjna); 4) Volition, (Samskara); 5) Consciousness (Vijnana).
Sensation is the functioning of the mind in connection with affairs or things. With faith, one will not be so easily affected by the ups and downs of daily events; faith provides a constant thread that runs through all experience. One can even transform the negative sensations that are aroused from depressing or harmful experiences into positive and productive attitudes. It is with internal faith that one can ascertain that “Every action is Samantabhadra’s Manifestation and every vision is Samantabhadra’s Revelation.” The strength of faith is magnificent, but one will have to cultivate and realize it to taste its sweetness. As stated in the Hua Yen Sutra (The Avatamsaka Sutra): Faith is the basis of the Path, the mother of virtues,Nourishing and growing all the sources of goodness.

Cultivate your Faith and Understanding and, above all, keep on Practicing!