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The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (大乘起信論) is a text of the Mahayana branch of Buddhism. Although often omitted from lists of canonical Buddhist texts, the Awakening of Faith strongly influenced subsequent Mahayana doctrine. While the text is attributed by the faithful to the great Indian poet Ashvaghosha (b. 80? d. 150?), no Sanskrit version of the text is available. Instead, the earliest known versions are written in Chinese. Many scholars doubt whether the text originated in India, suspecting instead that it is of East Asian origin. Paramartha (499-569 translated or authored the first known version, which dates to 553. Śikṣānanda translated or re-edited another version, perhaps during 695-700.
The doctrine expressed in the Awakening of Faith combines aspects of Yogacara and Buddha nature (or tathagatagarbha) philosophies. The text inspired commentary by Fazang, Zongmi, and a great many other early Chinese Buddhist teachers, as well as having strong influence on Korean Buddhism. As one might expect from the word Mahayana in its title, the text is critical of Buddhists who do not subscribe to Mahayana doctrines.
References
Entry in the Dictionary of East Asian Buddhist Terms (http://www.guoxue.com/fxyj/dic/zrhy/data/037.htm#b037005927-004084E58-156038D77-009074FE1-149088AD6)]
Entry in Soothill and Hodous Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms (http://www.hm.tyg.jp/~acmuller/soothill/data/s5927-4e58-8d77-4fe1-8ad6.html)
Awakening of Faith Attributed to Aśvaghoṣa, translated by Yoshito S. Hakeda, Columbia University Press, 1967.
The Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna Doctrine—the New Buddhism (http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/aof/index.htm) Timothy Richard, 1907 (html-ized full text at link)
Aśvaghoṣa's Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/taf/index.htm), Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki, Open Court Publishing Co, Chicago, 1900 (html-ized full text at link)
Buddha Nature, Sallie B. King, 1991, State University of New York Press; see p22 for remarks to the effect that, although Paramartha undoubtedly was among the most prolific translators of Sanskrit texts into Chinese, he may have originated, not translated, the Buddha Nature Treatise as well as the Awakening of Faith. On these points, King cites Philosophy of Mind in Sixth-Century China: Paramartha's 'Evolution of Consciousness' , Diana Y. Paul, 1984, Stanford University Press.
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