On Devotion and Faithfulness
Once upon a time, there was a big river in the southeastern part of Shravasti City, on whose banks more than 500 families lived. All of the families were accustomed to deceiving others and to behaving recklessly and greedily. They had never heard of morality, helping people, and saving the world.
The World-Honored One often observed the causality of these people, who had already accumulated enough merits in their past lives for liberation in their current lifetime. When He found out that the cause and condition of these 500 families for liberation had matured, He came and sat under a large tree on the riverbank.
When the people in the village saw the Buddha in His majestic and radiant appearance, they were amazed and became solemnly respectful. They all went to where the Buddha was situated to show their respect to Him, make offerings to Him, or praise Him, and to ask Him, “Are you physically well and healthy? Are you at ease and comfortable?”
When the Buddha saw all the people coming to where He was situated, he compassionately started preaching the Dharma to them. However, although they heard the Buddha’s teachings, they were doubtful and remained unconvinced of them because they were accustomed to deceitfulness and contemptuousness. The doubts in their minds thus made them unable to faithfully accept the true teachings of the Buddha.
The Buddha then transformed another person from afar and made him walk on the river from the south bank toward Him on the shore. The water reached only this person’s ankles. Swiftly, this transformed man came ashore and bowed to the Buddha, showing great devotion and respect to Him.
When the crowd saw this, they were all amazed and hurried forward to ask the transformed man, “We have never seen anyone walk on water without drowning. What magical power do you have that enables you to walk on water as if walking on the ground? We would like to know how you do it.”
The transformed man replied, “I am an upright person who lives on the southern bank of the river. I am passionate about the virtuous Dharma that the Buddha teaches. Upon hearing the Buddha expound the genuine Dharma here, I anxiously wanted to be with Him. I couldn’t wait for the Buddha to come to the southern bank for it might be too late for me then to be saved. I thus inquired about the depth of the river before crossing it. The person I asked told me, ‘The river is only around ankle deep. Why don’t you just stride through the water to get to the other side?’ I completely trusted his reply, without any doubt, and I thus came over on foot. The river was really only up to my ankles; there was nothing mystical about my walking on it. I simply believed and trusted what the man said!”
The Buddha then praised the transformed man: “How wonderful! How wonderful! If a person can have faith and understand the correct and true principle of the Buddha’s Dharma, then he can be liberated from the abyss of birth and death. What is there to be surprised about with wading across this river, which is only a few miles wide?”
Thus, the World-Honored One spoke of the following verses:
"As long as one believes in the true principle taught by the Buddha, one can be liberated from the abyss of the three realms of birth and death.
As long as one adheres to the teachings of the Buddha, one will be like a ship that has a captain and can sail to the other shore of liberation.
As long as one is diligent in the practice of eliminating evil deeds for good virtues and not letting one’s mind wander about, one will be able to extinguish all kinds of great sufferings from birth to death.
If we are guided by wisdom, we can be freed from the deep stream of transmigration and arrive at the other shore of liberation.
Whoever is able to preserve and uphold the True Dharma and practice the right faith will be praised and extolled by the sages.
He who hopes for and desires the path of unconditioned nirvana will be liberated from all fetters and bondages.
Only those who have the right faith in the Dharma can enter the Path of Buddhahood, and only by following the practices of the True Dharma can they reach the ultimate peace and happiness of total extinguishment.
All the Buddha Dharma practices are based on the wisdom gained through hearing, contemplating, and realizing.
By relying on the wisdom of the Buddha Dharma, one will be able to eradicate ignorance and attain the light of wisdom.
Only through intentional wisdom can the two dharmas of right faith and precept observance be successfully pursued without any hindrance on the Path to Buddhahood.
Those who are brave and diligent can practice the prajnaparamita. By relying on prajna (wisdom), they can be liberated from the deep stream of transmigration and arrive at the ultimate shore, where there is no birth or death."
Having heard the teachings of the Buddha and obtaining sufficient proof of their truth, the villagers opened their minds. The roots of their faith were thus strengthened, and they all accepted the Dharma with full confidence. They then asked the Buddha to teach them the Five Precepts (S: pañca-śīlāni): no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no lying, and no taking of alcohol. All the villagers finally became upāsikās (laywomen) and upāsakas (laymen) with pure faith after extinguishing all their doubts. They diligently practiced all kinds of good dharmas daily to gain dharma wisdom, and thus eradicated their past unwholesome dharmas. Their cultivation efforts enabled the Buddha’s teachings to gradually and widely spread in this region.
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