Saddhā: The Criterion of Being the Tathāgata's Son : หน้า 42/141

Saddhā: Criterion of being the Tathāgata's Son The first point to be looked at is the criterion of being the Buddha’s ‘true son’ which is, in this passage, defined by means of his irremovable confidence in the Tathāgata. The degree of saddhā is described here as ‘settled, rooted, established, and solid’ so that it cannot be altered either by the one who possesses magical power, or who is of so-called high birth, or by divine power, evil power, or highest power these being symbolized by the titles ‘ascetic, brahmin, god, Māra, and Brahma’ respectively. According to Buddhist philosophy in the Pali canonical context, this kind of unshakeable confidence is not merely a ‘strong belief’ or ‘firm faith’ in the ordinary sense, but is a specific quality of noble persons (ariya-puggala)37 who have witnessed the reality and become independent or self-reliant regarding Buddha’s dhamma, as is evident in a passage describing the spiritual attainment of a Stream-enterer: sveyathâpi nāma suddham vattham apagataâlakaâm sammad eva rajanam paṭigānehya, evam eva tassa purissa tasmiṁ yeva âsane virajam vĭṭamalam dhammacakkuṁ udapādi yam kiñci samudayadhammaṁ sabbam tam nirodha-dhamman ti. athakho so puriso dīttadhammo pattadhammo vidita dhammo pariyogālahadhammo, tinnavikicikco vigatakathamkatho vesārajjappatto aparappaccayo satthu sāśane.