The Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna (Dàshèng qǐxìn lùn) is a short doctrinal treatise known only through two Chinese translations — by Paramārtha (c. 550 CE) and Śikṣānanda (c. 700 CE) — and traditionally attributed to the 1st–2nd century Indian poet and Buddhist philosopher Aśvaghoṣa. It articulates the One Mind doctrine, distinguishes the absolute (suchness, tathatā) and conditioned (saṃsāra) aspects of mind, and lays out a practical path of faith, perfections, and meditation. The text became one of the foundational documents of East Asian Mahāyāna, cited across Huayan, Tiantai, Chan/Zen, and Pure Land lineages.
Modern scholarship — beginning with Mochizuki Shinkō in the 1920s and continued through the work of Whalen Lai, Sung-bae Park, and others — has largely set aside the Aśvaghoṣa attribution and treats the text as either a 6th-century Chinese composition or a Central Asian work shaped by Chinese Buddhist concerns. Yoshito S. Hakeda's 1967 Columbia University Press translation, revised with a new introduction by Ryūichi Abé in 2005, remains the standard English edition and the basis for this entry.
Reception
The treatise is the philosophical seed of Huayan, Tiantai, Chan/Zen, and Pure Land schools, and is required reading in their seminary curricula across East Asia. Modern scholarship — beginning with Mochizuki Shinkō in the 1920s — has largely abandoned the Aśvaghoṣa attribution and treats the text as either a Chinese composition (likely 6th-century) or a Central Asian work composed in dialogue with Chinese Buddhist concerns. The Yoshito S. Hakeda Columbia University Press translation (1967; revised 2005) remains the standard English edition, praised by Choice as "at last, a critical English translation faithful to the earliest extant Chinese text."
Frequently asked
What is the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna about?
It is a short treatise that articulates the Mahāyāna doctrine of One Mind: mind has two aspects, the absolute (suchness, tathatā) and the conditioned (saṃsāra), and the text shows how both arise from the same ground and how a practitioner progresses through faith, perfections, and meditation toward awakening.
Who actually wrote the Awakening of Faith?
Tradition attributes the text to Aśvaghoṣa, a 1st–2nd century CE Indian poet and philosopher. Modern scholarship — led by Mochizuki Shinkō (1920s) and continued by Whalen Lai and others — largely holds that the text is a 6th-century Chinese composition or a Central Asian work, since no Sanskrit original exists and the content reflects distinctively Chinese Buddhist concerns.
Which English translation of the Awakening of Faith is recommended?
Yoshito S. Hakeda's 1967 Columbia University Press translation, revised in 2005 with a new introduction by Ryūichi Abé, is the standard scholarly edition. D. T. Suzuki's 1900 translation is the earliest and is in the public domain.