In this paper, I examine the translation of saddhādhimutta through considering the definitions of saddhā and adhimutti, saddhā in religious practice, and the stories of Vakkali and Sigālaka’s mother, both of them are considered among the first saddhādhimutta in Theravāda Buddhism. In the Pali Canon, saddhā is located at the starting point of religious practice toward the Buddha, and practitioners are required to have faith(saddhā) in the teachings of the Buddha, and to enhance saddhā by understanding it. In the stories of Vakkali and Sigālaka’s mother, their saddhā is described as too powerful to carry out the religious practices that follow saddhā. And in the story of Sigālaka’s mother, abhiniviṭṭha (settled in) is used as a paraphrase of adhimutti. It is a good representation of the character of adhimutti that makes its possesser focus only the target while giving no attention to other things. My analysis leads us to the conclusion that, as Murakami and Oikawa suggest, saddhādhimutta is “someone who has set one’s mind to faith” or “someone who has inclined to faith”.
