People ask a lot about
what is it that makes somebody a Buddhist?
And in fact the traditional answer is
a Buddhist is somebody who,
as it's said, takes refuge in the Three Jewels,
the three rare and precious objects, meaning
the Buddha himself, the founder of the tradition,
the Dharma, his teachings,
and the Sangha, the community of those who followed
the Buddhist teachings,
and therefore, act as our helpers and companions
in the practice of the Dharma, taught by the Buddha.
But this phrase, take refuge,
that kind of could sound a little odd actually.
So I want to explain that.
In fact what we really need to know to begin with
is that in a sense,
all beings already possess the qualities of enlightenment,
at least in a kind of embryonic fashion.
Every sentient being, every being endowed with a mind
has the potential to awaken to the nature of reality,
which is the meaning of the name, the Buddha,
the one who awakened.
But be that as it may, obviously, experientially,
practically, we don't realize that potential
that we possess for wisdom, compassion
and enlightened activity.
And so because we're alienated from it,
we somehow lost or continue to lose contact with it,
we're in ignorance of our own fundamental nature.
And as a result of that,
because of our alienation from our true nature,
we get entangled continuously,
in all kinds of sufferings brought about by our ignorance,
and by the disturbing emotion,
hatred, desire and so on that arise from that
and by the actions we make prompted
by those disturbing emotions.
So in short we're actually revolving generally
in a kind of cycle of suffering,
of frustration, disappointment and suffering.
In some beings, for some beings, it's very intense.
For others it's not so obvious,
but all beings are in a sense, alienated from what we can be,
from what we really are.
So we need some, we could say some protection
from that suffering.
We need to connect with a source of protection, of strength.
Ultimately, that protection and strength comes
from none other than the Buddha nature itself,
our fundamental nature,
the fundamental nature of reality.
But from where we're at at the moment,
that's not so possible to see or to connect with.
So we make a connection with it
through the Three Jewels
because the Buddha is the one who himself awakened
to this true nature of reality,
and awakening which is possible for all of us.
So he represents, as it were the principle of enlightenment
in his most obvious form.
And then he shared his understanding
his understanding of what is the cause of suffering,
and what is the way to overcome, it in the Dharma.
So the Dharma is also a source of protection.
And those people who have followed the Dharma,
those men and women who through the ages
have followed the Dharma,
especially those who achieved realisation,
at some level of the Dharma,
again, associate protection because they're our helpers.
So we take refuge in the Three Jewels for protection
from suffering.
How long do we do that?
Well, until actually, we've gained that protection.
Not just a temporary kind of protection,
not just a kind of temporary solution to our problems,
but until we've gained final liberation from suffering.
That is generally how long we should say
we will take refuge.
So now I want to explain a little bit about refuge
in five ways.
First of all to talk about what are the motivations
we need in refuge;
then a little bit more about the objects;
then about the method;
then about the way we train when we've taken refuge;
and finally, about the benefits.
So I'm going to, of course, summarise this very,
each of these five points very briefly.
Essentially, the motive for taking refuge.
Well, we've touched on it,
it begins with this sense of one might even say, fear.
Fear in the sense of recognizing
that there is suffering in our life -
there's suffering in the life of all beings, in fact, of course -
but the suffering in our life,
whether it's experiential suffering right now,
in a physical way,
or experiential suffering in the sense
of emotional distress or loss,
or just actual alienation from a sense of what is real,
all these are a kind of a manifestation of suffering.
And so they drive us to to look for something real,
for something dependable,
for some solid basis to plant our feet
and that is provided by the refugees
since they represent the connection with reality,
with ultimate reality.
So fear is part of it, part of the motivation.
But it's got to be allied with confidence,
confidence that the three refuges actually are
a valid source of protection,
not just a fantasy, not just an antique,
not just some wishful thinking,
but they actually provide means for protection.
And that means therefore,
that a degree of intelligence has got to come
into our thinking.
The three refuges are not some saviour,
not some Creator God,
but they are the principles of reality.
And the final and highest motivation
is when we link our suffering and our situation
to the suffering of others and think,
actually, although I cannot provide protection
for everybody right now from suffering,
because I'm still ignorant,
because I'm still trapped in my disturbing emotions,
nevertheless that's what I want to do.
So we bring compassion,
compassion for others into the mix of motivation.
So fear, faith and compassion, they're the motivation.
Then the objects.
Well we've already begun by discussing them,
the three objects in which we take refuge
are the Buddha, the supreme teacher for all of us Buddhists.
Of course we may have human teachers,
we will have human teachers,
but the Buddha is if you like the primary teacher
for anybody who's a Buddhist,
because we see that he has seen the true nature of reality,
and therefore, he is a dependable source of guidance,
the best of all teachers, we might say.
And that human being, the Buddha,
the Indian prince who awoke to the nature reality
2,500 years ago, he is in a sense,
just a representative of enlightenment, of Buddhahood.
Because what he awoke to,
everybody can awaken to.
As he himself said other people have awoken up to this,
have realised this,
I'm merely revealing an old but temporarily forgotten path.
So in a sense, Buddhahood is a universal principle,
it's not one, that's bound in time and space
to that one individual, but he is like,
the most personal manifestation of it
that we can see right now in our particular cultural period.
So the Buddha is the first object of refuge.
The Dharma, the teaching he gave,
now what is the teaching?
Of course in one way the teachings are a record of his advice
found in the scriptures that preserve his oral teachings.
But in a second sense, the Dharma is our experience
of the path that we embark upon by following
and putting into practice the Buddha's teachings.
So there's an experiential aspect to the Dharma,
it's not enough simply
to assent to the teachings in the scriptures,
we must experience their reality for ourselves.
So the Dharma is two-fold,
as the Buddha is twofold -
the individual human being, the Buddha,
and the principle of enlightenment -
so the Dharma is twofold,
the scriptural teachings and the experiential realization.
And the third object, the Sangha.
The Sangha, the community of those who practice.
In a way the Sangha is simply everybody
who's gone before us on the path.
All the women and men who have gone forward before us.
Visibly they're most obviously represented
by the renunciates, by the monks and nuns,
but from a deeper point of view it's everybody
who has taken refuge and entered into the path.
And beyond those ordinary people
who embody the principle of the Sangha,
there's the noble ones,
the ones who who have gained actually realisation,
whose therefore advice and help
to us will be very reliable and very trustworthy.
So those are the three objects of refuge.
Later on in more extensive presentations of Dharma,
we can amplify them.
But for now, the Three Jewels.
And then the method of taking refuge.
Well, as a beginner,
most beginners will take refuge simply
with the feeling of wishing for protection
from suffering, their own individual suffering.
And most people will think of it
as from now to the end of this life.
And in that way, they will go for refuge
to the Buddha as the teacher,
the Dharma as the path,
and the Sangha as the friends,
the companions who will help them with the practice
of the Dharma.
Gradually as we understand
more about the nature of the Three Jewels and the nature refuge,
this understanding will deepen.
But as a beginner, that's what we're doing,
take refuge in the Buddha as the teacher,
the Dharma as the path,
and the Sangha as the companions.
And then having entered into refuge,
having taken refuge and therefore become a Buddhist,
because that is the mark of being a Buddhist,
a Buddhist is someone who's taking refuge in three jewels,
and all Buddhist practices begins
with that act of taking refuge.
Whatever meditation one does, whatever study one does,
on a daily basis or more intermittently,
one always begins it with refuge,
to signify that it is a Buddhist practice,
is part of the Buddhist path.
So the training in general one could say,
is having taken refuge,
then to listen to the teachings given by the Buddha,
to hear, and then to think, to reflect on those teachings,
and then to experience their truth through meditation.
So train by hearing, thinking and meditating.
If one put it in a slightly more kind of formal way,
one would say that one trains in taking refuge
by remembering that the Buddha is our guide,
and that although Gods if they exist,
or teachers of other systems
may have something valuable about them.
For us, the Buddha is our teacher.
That's a decision we've made.
And so we train in the connection with the Buddha
by remembering that.
And we train in the connection with the Dharma
by remembering the Dharma is like a medicine
to heal the sufferings of beings.
So any violence that we may do is contradictory to that.
So non violence is the principal way
of training in the Dharma jewel.
And the Sangha,
well the Sangha are our companions
who will help us to practice the Dharma.
That's how we remember the Sangha,
they're the companions.
We should strive to develop love and compassion
for all beings.
But all beings cannot guide us in the
practice of the Dharma right now
because they don't all practice it.
So for us, our brothers and sisters in the Dharma
are the primary means of training with the Sangha jewel.
And finally, the benefits.
The benefits of taking refuge are in a way,
all stem from the fact that
we've consciously made a connection
with the principle of ultimate reality,
with awakening to that ultimate reality.
So we're grounded.
We have a ground, solid ground underneath our feet,
so to speak, for the first time.
And that brings about a sense of protection,
a sense of stability, of gravity.
Of course, difficulties will arise in our life,
it's not a magic cure to take refuge.
It's simply a beginning the first step on the way,
but we nevertheless from that time onwards,
if we make the refuges central to our life,
we will feel that sense of stability, of protection.
And no matter what storms arise in our life,
from our internal problems or external faults,
we're never destroyed by them
we're never overcome by them.
We have a kind of resolute cheerfulness which allows us
to persist with our journey to freedom,
to liberation from suffering.
So that is the benefit of taking refuge.
Beyond that the benefit of taking refuge
is that as I've just said,
we made a start on the path.
Traditionally it's said, whoever has taken refuge,
then that becomes a basis
to receive, for making the vows,
making the commitments to practice the Dharma
that leads finally to enlightenment itself.
So it's like we are connected,
we are plugged in once we've taken refuge
and everything will follow from that.
So that is taking refuge in the Three Jewels.