--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Everett Thiele <rett@...> wrote:

>
> 1) In the Pali Canon and in stories such as in the Dhp-a the act

of

> putting faith in the Buddha is often enough for someone to get a
> heavenly rebirth. This sounds a lot like the Christian idea of

faith

> being salvific. The difference would be that Christianity sees

heaven

> as the end of the line, whereas Buddhism sees it as a state from
> which a being eventually falls.
> ________________

Dear Everett,
I think a difference between most religions and Buddhism is that the
Buddha taught any attachment, even to him, is unwholesome.
The mind states which condition rebirth in deva realms are kusala
and all kusala cittas arise together with saddha. However faith - in
its normal usage - may include kusala confidence in the virtues of
the Buddha but it may also include attachment. Lobhamula citta
(mindstate rooted in attachment) cannot directly condition rebirth
in a heavenly realm.
Once the Buddha scolded Vakkali for his attachment to Buddha:
Yo kho Vakkali dhammam passati so mam passati Vakkali
whoever sees Dhamma, sees me [the Buddha]
RobertK