Refuge

Also see entries: “Three Jewels,” “triratna,” “sarana” 

In addition to meaning “refuge,” the Sanskrit word, “sarana,” also translates to “haven” or “shelter” (Buswell & Lopez).  

In the Mahayana and Vijrayana Buddhist traditions, when one commits to the Buddhist path, they go for “refuge” in the “Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha,” or the “Three Jewels” (“tri-ratna/ti-ratana” in Sanskrit). These three sources of safety and spiritual richness, the Three Jewels, encapsulate all of the inner and outer ways one may find “refuge” and the Buddha’s essence. Refuge may be found in the teachings, their practice, their relationships with fellow practitioners, and more. Both laypeople and ordained monks and nuns partake in this “formal recitation of a three fold formula, the Refuge Vow: 

To the Buddha I go for refuge;

to the Dharma I go for refuge;

to the Sangha I go for refuge.

While English translations of the original Sanskrit vary slightly, the essential message remains uniform: a practitioner seeks refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma (religious texts and teachings, Vinayana, etc.), and the practice community, the Sangha. In doing so, they put full faith and trust in these Three Jewels. The Refuge Vow is recited verbally three times (Buswell & Lopez). Upon recitation, a person aligns their being with wakefulness (Rinpoche) and formally enters the Sangha community in the journey towards enlightenment.

Images Depicting the Practice of Seeking Refuge:

“Item: Refuge Field (Buddhist) – Kagyu Lineage.” Refuge Field (Buddhist) – Kagyu Lineage (Himalayan Art), Himalayan Art Resources Inc. , www.himalayanart.org/items/65861.

Interpretations of “Seeking Refuge:”

From American Buddhist Monk, Vipassana Teacher, and author Jack Kornfield: 

“Refuge offers support for our journey as we move through joy and sorrow, gain and loss.  In refuge, we reaffirm our sacred connection with the world. Refuge is not necessarily religious. Refuge can be as simple as making conscious our trust in a lineage of teachings.  Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath, dating from ancient Greece…Professional musicians proudly name their teachers and their teacher’s teachers…”(Kornfield)

While the word “Refuge” is not exclusively Buddhist, it carries weight in the Buddhist tradition as “I take refuge in…” is a signifier that a given text is Buddhist, similarly to the way in which “Thus I have heard…” signifies relation to the Buddha/ Tatagatha’s primary teachings.

From the Dhammapada translation:

188. Driven only by fear, do men go for refuge to many places — to hills, woods, groves, trees and shrines.

189. 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.

190-191. He who has gone for refuge to the Buddha, the 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. [16]

From Shantideva, scholar from 8th C. and Indian Buddhist Monk, in his revered and historically significant text, The Way of the Bodhisattva:

“I bow down to the body of him/ In whom the sacred precious mind is born./ I seek refuge in that source of joy/ Who brings to happiness even those who harm him.” (24)

“With bodies as numerous/ As all the atoms within the universe,/I prostrate to all Buddhas of the three times,/ The Dharma and the supreme community.” (25)

“I seek refuge in all Buddhas/ Until I possess the essence of Awakening, Likewise I seek refuge in Dharma/ And in the assembly of Bodhisattvas.” (27)

• Shantideva “presents the practice of offering, prostration, confession and refuge”(Barwich 2014) in order to achieve an awakened mind (Bodhichitta). Seeking refuge falls within the core practice rituals of making offerings to various Buddhas, lighting incense, and doing prostrations, among many other forms of devotion.  

Further Readings:

• “How To Become a Buddhist by Taking Refuge by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.” Lion’s Roar, Shambala Publications
  • This is an article adapted from the book The Heart of the Buddha, published by Shambala Publications in 1991. This reading outlines the ways in which modern Buddhist practices of taking refuge signify a commitment to freedom in buddhist practice.

•  “What is the Triple Gem?”, by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, translated from the Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013.
  • This source goes into depth as to what is meant by each of the three gems, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. For example, it outlines a practice of the Dhamma under three categories of “virtue, concentration, and discernment,” and then delves deeper into what is meant by these categories. By understanding the embodied and cosmological nature of each of these three gems, we can understand what it is a person is really doing when they recite the “three refuges” and commit to the three gems of Buddhism.

• “Taking Refuge, the Foundation Stone of All Paths .” A Guide to the Words of My Perfect Teacher, by Khenpo Ngawang Pelzang and O-rgyan-T̤jigs-med-chos-kyi-dbaṅ-po , Shambhala, 2004.
  • This chapter addresses “seeking refuge” under three headings: approaches to taking refuge, the benefits of taking refuge, and how to take refuge. It begins by expressing the need for one to have faith before even initiating seeking refuge. It provides useful stories of people’s faith, such as a woman who did prostration and offerings to a dog’s tooth, thinking it was the Buddha’s, and how this strong faith actually imbued within her the Buddha’s blessings.
  • Along with outlining different practices and providing vivid examples, this chapter includes guided visualizations for imaging places such as “the field of merit.” This chapter sheds important light on the multiplicities of seeking refuge and the mental practices of doing so.

External Links:

The Refuge Prayer in Tibetan script: (Tibetan Language Institute)

Refuge Prayer

*In this Refuge Prayer, there is a fourth source of refuge added, the “Guru,” which is a spiritual guide in Tantric Buddhism.

Lama la kyab su chi wo

‘I go for refuge in the Guru.’

Sangye la kyab su chi wo

‘I go for refuge in the Buddha.’

Chö la kyab su chi wo

‘I go for refuge in the Dharma.’

Gendün la kyab su chi wo

‘I go for refuge in the Sangha.’

. 

Works Cited:

“Buddhavagga: The Buddha” (Dhp XIV), translated from the Pali by Acharya Buddharakkhita. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.14.budd.html .

Buswell, Robert E., Jr., and Donald S., Jr. Lopez. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/wesleyan/detail.action?docID=1354685.

Gethin, Rupert. The Foundations of Buddhism, Oxford University Press USA – OSO, 1998. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/wesleyan/detail.action?docID=684592.

Kornfield, Jack. “Finding Refuge.” Jack Kornfield, 3 Mar. 2016, jackkornfield.com/finding-refuge-part-two/.

“Refuge: An Introduction to the Buddha, Dhamma, & Sangha”, by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/refuge.html .