Why Take Refuge
Driven only by fear, do men go for refuge to many places—to hills, woods, groves, trees, and
shrines. Such, indeed, is no safe refuge; such is not the refuge supreme. Not by resorting to such a refuge is one released from all suffering. He who has gone for refuge to the Buddha, his Teaching and his Order, penetrates with transcendental wisdom the Four Noble Truths—suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the Noble Eightfold Path leading to the cessation of suffering. This indeed is the safe refuge, this is the refuge supreme. Having gone to such a refuge, one is released from all suffering. –Dhammapada, 188-191
Outline
I. According to the unbroken age-old Buddhist tradition, one formally becomes a Buddhist if one takes refuge in the Triple Gem (also called the Three Jewels).II. Why do we need a refuge?
A. What is the harm or danger from which we need to be protected?
B. The need to look at the larger picture
C. When there is a storm, we seek shelter.
D. Out of compassion, we encourage others to take the same refuge.
III. Refuge transmission must come from an unbroken lineage.
A. The teaching and the practice must be purely and literally preserved from the Buddha’s time down to the present day.
B. The lineage holder embodies the accumulated spiritual energy of the lineage.
C. Why authorization is needed.
1. No matter how realized a teacher may be, there are formal logistics and forms involved.
2. The analogy of a light switch, the unbroken wire, and the switchboard.
IV. The Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha are called the Triple Gem, because they represent qualities precious and excellent like a gem.
A. We take refuge in the Buddha because we recognize him as the Supreme Human Being, the Fully Enlightened One who, out of compassion, shows us the way that ends all suffering and leads to Enlightenment.
B. We take refuge in the Dharma because we recognize it to be the Law, the Truth, the “What Is.”
C. We take refuge in the Sangha, the supreme assembly of assemblies, because the lives of this community of noble monks and nuns are exemplary, and we can look to them for help in times of need.
V. One who takes refuge also undertakes to observe the Five Precepts—the minimum moral obligations of a lay Buddhist: not to kill, not to steal, not to lie, not to engage in sexual misconduct, not to take intoxicating substances.
VI. Taking refuge is an extremely economical approach.
A. We join a path that is strategically designed.
B. No trial and error.
VII. The formal refuge ceremony.
A. The Venerable Khedrup Rinpoche will first ask if you are willing to cut your hair. This is a symbolic gesture indicating your intention to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha who cut his hair when he embarked on his great quest for enlightenment.
B. Rinpoche will then cut a small piece of your hair, and then you will be given your refuge name indicating the beginning of your Buddhist life.
Universal Wisdom Foundation,
Saturday, February 28, 2009
