adhimuttior adhimokkha). The attitude or cognitive-
affective state expressed by this word is characteristic
of the preliminary stage in a bodhisattva’s career: the
stage of acting (carya) on one’s commitment (adhi-
mukti), or adhimukticaryabhumi.
Examined from the perspective suggested by the
above range of usages, faith would be a sui generis psy-
chological state, an extension of the ability to trust or
rely on someone or something. In this aspect of the
denotation of ́raddhas ,and adhimoksa,faith is also a
virtue necessary for concentrated MEDITATION, and is
closely related to, if not synonymous with, the disci-
ple’s ardent desire for self-cultivation or the zeal re-
quired for such cultivation. In this context, faith is also
the opposite of, or an antidote against, the sluggish-
ness, dejection, and discouragement that can arise dur-
ing long hours of meditation practice.
However, such monastic or contemplative defini-
tions of faithdo not exhaust the Buddhist repertoire.
As noted previously, Buddhist concepts of faith include
as well affective states associated with the attachment
and trust of devotion. Such states are sometimes sub-
sumed under the category of prasada(the action noun
corresponding to prasannacitta). This term has a long
history in the religious traditions of India; it means et-
ymologically “settling down,” and evokes meanings of
“serenity, calm, aplomb,” as well as conviction and
trust. Furthermore, among its many usages, it ex-
presses both the “favor” of the powerful (their serene
largess, their grace) and the acceptance or recognition
of this favorable disposition on the part of the weaker
participant in the relationship (serene trust, confident
acceptance). The latter feeling is not only serene trust
in the wisdom of a teacher or in the truth of the teach-
ings, but the joyful acceptance of the benevolent power
and benediction of sacred objects and holy persons.
Thus the proper state of mind when performing a rit-
ual of devotion is a prasannacitta: a mind in the state
of prasada,that is, calmly secure, trusting, devoted,
content, and loyal.
East Asian usages
These Indian concepts were usually rendered in Chi-
nese with a term denoting trust, xin,where the accent
is on confidence, rather than on a surrender of one’s
discursive judgment. Nonetheless, xinalso could de-
note surrender and unquestioned acceptance, absolute
trust, and a believing mind and will. The later mean-
ings played a major role in both nonliterate practice
and the theologies of faith of some of the literate
schools.
The first element in this polarity (faith that does not
exclude knowledge or direct apprehension of religious
truths) is seen, for instance, in the classical CHAN
SCHOOLnotion of xinxin: “trusting the mind.” This
refers to the conviction that the searching mind is the
object of its own search—that is, buddha-nature. Such
conviction is understood as a nonmediated, non-
reasoned confidence born of the immediate apprehen-
sion of a presence. Expressed in terms of a process or
a practice, this faith is the experience of the mind when
one is not manipulating or organizing its contents with
discursive thoughts. The trusting mind itself becomes
the object of trust.This is the theme of the Xinxinming(Stanzas on
Trusting the Mind), a poem attributed to the “Third
Patriarch” of Chan Buddhism, Sengcan (d. ca. 606
C.E.), in which “mind” or “thought” is the perfect goal
of the religious aspiration that is the act of faith. It is
“perfect like vast empty space, lacking nothing, having
nothing in excess.” What keeps us from experiencing
the mind in this way is our penchant for “selecting and
rejecting.” By contrast, “the trusting mind does not
split things into twos”; not splitting things into twos is
the meaning of “trusting the mind” (or “the trusting
mind” xinxin).The idea of faith (xin) also appears in a formulation
attributed to Gaofeng Yuanmiao (1238–1295), who
describes three essential aspects of meditation practice
(chan yao). These are: the faculty of faith, persevering
commitment, and DOUBT. Faith is “the great faculty of
trusting” (daxingen), which links the idea to the ear-
lier abhidharmic notions of trust and faith as a natural
faculty. It is clear that this trust precedes full knowl-
edge or understanding because the other two aspects
of practice are great tenacity of purpose or persever-
ing commitment (dafenzhi) and a great feeling of
doubt or intensely felt doubt (dayiqing).This use of the term xinis ostensibly different from
the meanings accepted by other important strands of
the East Asian tradition in which we find an opposi-
tion between examined trust and the surrender of self-
knowledge. The PURELAND SCHOOLS(Chinese, jingtu;
Japanese, jodo) in particular understood that the
prasannacittaof the Indian tradition implied a sur-
render of the will to pursue a life of holiness or the de-
sire to attain awakening by one’s own efforts. However,
even among the most radical formulations of the Pure
Land traditions, where the trusting practitioners are
clearly separated from the object of their faith and are
incapable of achieving holiness on their own, the de-FAITH