XPost: alt.religion.buddhism.tibetan, alt.zen   
   From: peter@dharma.dyndns.info   
      
   Taking Refuge: Becoming a Buddhist   
   The Meaning of Taking Refuge   
      
   By Barbara O'Brien, About.com Guide   
      
   To become a Buddhist is to take refuge in the Three Jewels, also called   
   the Three Treasures. The Three Jewels are the Buddha, the Dharma, and   
   the Sangha.   
      
   The formal ceremony of Ti Samana Gamana (Pali), or "taking the three   
   refuges," is performed in nearly all schools of Buddhism. However,   
   anyone who sincerely wants to follow the Buddha's path may begin that   
   commitment by reciting these lines:   
      
   I take refuge in the Buddha.   
   I take refuge in the Dharma.   
   I take refuge in the Sangha.   
      
   The English word refuge refers to a place of shelter and protection from   
   danger. What danger? We seek shelter from the passions that jerk us   
   around, from feeling distressed and broken, from pain and suffering,   
   from the fear of death. We seek shelter from the wheel of samsara, the   
   cycle of death and rebirth.   
      
   Taking Refuge   
      
   The meaning of taking refuge in the Three Jewels is explained somewhat   
   differently by the various schools of Buddhism. The Theravada teacher   
   Bhikkhu Bodhi said,   
   "The Buddha's teaching can be thought of as a kind of building with its   
   own distinct foundation, stories, stairs, and roof. Like any other   
   building the teaching also has a door, and in order to enter it we have   
   to enter through this door. The door of entrance to the teaching of the   
   Buddha is the going for refuge to the Triple Gem — that is, to the   
   Buddha as the fully enlightened teacher, to the Dhamma as the truth   
   taught by him, and to the Sangha as the community of his noble disciples."   
      
   In his book Taking the Path of Zen, Zen teacher Robert Aitken wrote that   
   taking refuge in the Three Jewels more of a vow than a prayer. The   
   original Pali words of the three "I take refuge" lines, translated   
   literally, read "I will undertake to find my home in the Buddha," and   
   then the Dharma and Sangha. "The implication is that by finding my home   
   in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha I can free myself from blind   
   conditioning and realize true nature," Aitken writes.   
      
   No Magic   
      
   Taking the refuges will not summon supernatural spirits to come and save   
   you. The power of the vow comes from your own sincerity and commitment.   
   Robert Thurman, a Tibetan Buddhist and Professor of Indo-Tibetan   
   Buddhist studies at Columbia University, said of the Three Jewels,   
      
   "Remember that awakening, freedom from suffering, salvation, if you   
   will, liberation, omniscience, buddhahood, all come from your own   
   understanding, your insight into your own reality. It cannot come just   
   from the blessing of another, from some magical empowerment, from some   
   sort of secret gimmick, or from membership in a group."   
      
   Ch'an Master Sheng-Yen said, "The genuine Three Jewels, in essence, are   
   none other than the enlightened Buddha nature that is already inside you."   
      
   "Taking refuge in the Buddha, we learn to transform anger into   
   compassion; taking refuge in the Dharma, we learn to transform delusion   
   into wisdom; taking refuge in the Sangha, we learn to transform desire   
   into generosity." (Red Pine, The Heart Sutra: The Womb of Buddhas, p. 132).   
      
   "I Take Refuge in the Buddha"   
      
   When we say "the Buddha" often we are speaking of the historical Buddha,   
   the man who lived 26 centuries ago and whose teachings form the basis of   
   Buddhism. But the Buddha taught his disciples that he was not a god, but   
   a man. How can we take refuge in him?   
      
   Bikkhu Bodhi wrote that taking refuge in the Buddha is not merely taking   
   refuge in his "concrete particularity. ... When we go for refuge to the   
   Buddha we resort to him as the supreme embodiment of purity, wisdom and   
   compassion, the peerless teacher who can guide us to safety out of the   
   perilous ocean of samsara."   
      
   In Mahayana Buddhism, while "Buddha" may refer to the historical Buddha,   
   called Shakyamuni Buddha, "Buddha" also refers to "Buddha-nature," the   
   absolute, unconditioned nature of all things. While "Buddha" may be a   
   person who has awakened to enlightnment, "Buddha" might also refer to   
   enlightenment itself (bodhi).   
      
   Robert Thurman said we take refuge in the Buddha as the embodiment of   
   teacher. "We turn to the teaching of the reality of bliss, the teaching   
   of the method of achieving happiness in whatever form it comes to us,   
   whether it comes as Christianity, whether it comes as humanism, whether   
   it comes as Hinduism, Sufism, or Buddhism. The form doesn't matter. The   
   teacher is Buddha to us, one who can point the way to our own reality   
   for us. He could be a scientist; she could be a religious teacher."   
      
   Zen teacher Robert Aitken said of the First Jewel:   
      
   "This refers, of course, to Shakyamuni, the Enlightened One, but it also   
   has a far broader meaning. It includes mythological personages who   
   preceded Shakyamuni and dozens of archetypal figures in the Buddhist   
   pantheon. It includes all the great teachers of our lineage ... but also   
   everyone who has realized his or her nature -- all the monks, nuns, and   
   lay people in Buddhist history who have shaken the tree of life and death.   
      
   "In a deeper and yet more ordinary dimension, all of us are Buddha. We   
   haven't realized it yet, but that does not deny the fact."   
      
   "I Take Refuge in the Dharma"   
      
   Like "Buddha," the word Dharma can point to several meanings. For   
   example, it refers to the Buddha's teachings, and also to the law of   
   karma and rebirth. It is also sometimes used to refer to ethical rules   
   and to mental objects or thoughts.   
      
   In Theravada Buddhism, dharma (or dhamma in Pali) is a term for the   
   factors of existence, or the transitory conditions that cause phenomena   
   to come into being. In Mahayana, the word is sometimes used to mean   
   "manifestation of reality" or "phenomenon." This sense can be found in   
   the Heart Sutra, which refers to the voidness or emptiness (shunyata) of   
   all dharmas.   
      
   Bikkhu Bodhi said that there are two levels of dharma. One is the   
   teaching of the Buddha, as expressed in the sutras and other articulated   
   discourses. The other is the Buddhist path, and the goal, which is Nirvana.   
      
   Robert Thurman said,   
      
   "Dharma is our own reality that we seek to understand fully, to open to   
   fully. Dharma, therefore, also consists of those methods and the   
   teaching of those methods that are the arts and sciences which enable us   
   to open ourselves. The practices that we do, which will open us, which   
   follow those teachings, which implement them in our lives, in our   
   practice, and in our performance, which deploy those arts-they are also   
   Dharma."   
      
   Studying the Buddha's teachings -- one definition of dharma -- is   
   important, but to take refuge in the Dharma is much more than just trust   
   and acceptance of teachings. It's also trusting your practice of   
   Buddhism, whether regular meditation and regular chanting. It's about   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)