Cultivating faith to awaken to the truth (SN 55.55)

The Buddha shares stream entry as a simile to awakening to the truth of his teachings. He highlights the factors that leads one to awaken to his truth when followed.

Factors that lead to awakening to the truth of the teachings

1. Association with good people: Spending time with virtuous, wise individuals who embody the qualities one seeks to develop can profoundly influence one's own faith and practice. They serve as living examples of the teachings and can provide guidance and support.
2. Hearing the true Dhamma: Listening to the teachings of the Buddha opens one's mind to the principles of Dhamma. This hearing is not just a passive act but involves active engagement and reflection upon the teachings.
3. Careful attention: Paying careful attention to the teachings, to one's experiences, and to the world around us allows us to see things as they truly are. This clear seeing reinforces faith as it is based on direct experience and understanding, rather than blind belief.
4. Practice in accordance with the Dhamma: Applying the teachings in one's daily life through ethical conduct, meditation, and developing qualities like mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom strengthens faith. This is because one directly experiences the benefits and transformative power of the Dhamma.
5. Insight into the noble truths: Understanding the Four Noble Truths – the truth of discontentment, its origin, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation – is central to Buddhist practice. Insight into these truths arises from deep meditation and reflection, further solidifying one's faith in the path.

This teaching is shared in SN 55.55 in brief. It also ties into the previous teaching on the preservation of truth and awakening to this truth where this teaching is expanding on the definite factors that leads one to awaken to this truth, which is also defined as stream entry.

If you're just getting started and have been introduced to the teachings of the Buddha in a more secular form of meditation, this and the previous teaching shows that the factors the Buddha himself highlighted the most were about association with good and wise people and then carefully hearing his true teachings from them. And this should intuitive sense, one can only awaken to a truth when they've actually understood the truth fully expounded, without misconceptions, and from someone who has experientially verified the truth themselves.