There is a ceremony which you go through when you become a Buddhist, called "Taking Refuge," and one repeats the refuge prayer often during one's continuing practice. But what does taking refuge mean? When one takes refuge, one is doing so in the so-called Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. One is taking refuge as protection from the suffering of this world, and with the aspiration to eventually help all beings become enlightened. When I first heard about the concept of refuge, I found it difficult to understand and identify with. After all, how can the Buddha, who died 2600 years ago, offer me any protection? I've come to believe that, although the Buddha's body did in fact dissolve into its component elements, that the primordial mind of the Buddha, and of enlightened existence shines on, and pervades everything, particularly the layers of my own consciousness. Thus the Buddha is a real, solid support and source of protection. This past weekend I was at a retreat up in the mountains, and I had chosen to meditate outside on a back porch. As I meditated there, wrapped in a blanket at 6am, temperature below freezing, and gazing at the starry sky in front of me, I imagined the love and compassion of all the Buddhas surrounding me, offering me comfort and protection, just as the blanket offered me protection against the cold.
The Dharma is the living teaching of the Buddha, and is also a source of protection. It provides a means of progressing, of increasing our good deeds and reducing our negative actions. From personal experience, I can say that following the practices has helped to make me a kinder, gentler person. I'm certainly not anywhere near perfect, but I can see definite changes in the way I react to people and the way I react to my own emotions and thoughts.
Finally, the Sangha consists of those beings who have progressed further on the path to enlightenment than we have. If you think of the Buddha as the doctor, who prescribes us medicine, which is the Dharma, then one can think of the sangha as nurses and caregivers who help us take out medicine. In my own case, I've had the good fortune (i.e. karma) to come into contact with a wonderful practicing group in my hometown, and also to meet several teachers and Lamas, who, motivated by compassion, have helped to show me the way to progress.
By taking refuge, one recognizes that this world, driven by desire, hatred and ignorance, will not offer us lasting happiness, but that the Three Jewels offer us a true path to enlightenment.
I encourage you to take refuge. It has no risks, and even if you feel your commitment is not that strong, it will help to plant a seed.
4 comments:
A personified higher power? --s29
And more! In the end one transcends the concept of self, so the idea of personification becomes superfluous. A Buddha is said to have three "bodies," the nirmanakaya, the samboghakaya and the dharmakaya. The nirmanakaya is essentially the physical manifestation, like the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni. The dharmakaya is beyond concepts, and is the ground or basis of everything. (I've heard it called the peristalsis of a formless womb, gestating everything into existence.) Finally the samboghakaya is somewhat intermediate between the two. If I may make a comparison to Christianity, Jesus would represent the Nirmanakaya, God the dharmakaya, and the Holy Spirit the samboghakaya.
Well, would your description account for a personal relationship with Jesus in the here and now?
Sure. Perhaps you can think of this as a manifestation of the samboghakaya. Not Jesus's corporeal body, and yet not the ultimate nature of reality either. An intermediary.
Post a Comment