According to Imre Hamar, Fazang was the first to argue that "enlightenment at the stage of faith" (xinman cheng fo 信滿成佛) was "a unique doctrine of the distinct teaching of One Vehicle". According to Fazang, "all practices are born from resolute faith." Thus, for Fazang, at the initial stages of the path (after having given rise to faith and bodhicitta), a bodhisattva already has access to the limitless merit of all the other stages (since all stages are mutually interfused with each other). Thus, for Fazang, the first initial arising of bodhicitta is also the stage of irreversibility, the stage at which one knows one is assured to become a Buddha in the future.
