Trisarana in Tibetan Buddhism

[Norden]

Hello guys,

In Christian, it's called Baptist, in Buddhism is Trisarana, is prerequisite to become a Buddhist. However, as far as I am aware Trisarana in Tibetan Buddhism, at least from what I experienced, slightly different from other tradition i.e. was asked to cut a little bit of finger nail and hair, do the ritual and chanting in Tibetan. Does this signify something and if this has connection with early Tibetan Buddhism history i.e. Bon or other animism element? We know finger nail and hair contain DNA, if that makes any sense. And how for example if a person that has been Trisarana this way wish to change to other religion in the future? Of course we can just change to any religion we want but just wondering if you guys have any thought?

Does anyone has similar experience, please share? Thanks.

[dzoki]

Hello guys,

In Christian, it's called Baptist, in Buddhism is Trisarana, is prerequisite to become a Buddhist. However, as far as I am aware Trisarana in Tibetan Buddhism, at least from what I experienced, slightly different from other tradition i.e. was asked to cut a little bit of finger nail and hair, do the ritual and chanting in Tibetan. Does this signify something and if this has connection with early Tibetan Buddhism history i.e. Bon or other animism element? We know finger nail and hair contain DNA, if that makes any sense. And how for example if a person that has been Trisarana this way wish to change to other religion in the future? Of course we can just change to any religion we want but just wondering if you guys have any thought?

Does anyone has similar experience, please share? Thanks.

I have never seen or heard about cutting off a piece of finger nail, who did a refuge ceremony for you (if you can share this)? Cutting a piece of hair is a symbol of renouncing samsara, becuase Buddha Shakyamuni (Gautama Siddhartha) when he decided to enter a spiritual life he cut his hair in front of an ancient stupa tu signify that he leaves his worldly status behind (kshatriyas were keeping theirhair long in ancient India).

Taking refuge vows in formal way is only an outer thing it does not really make one a practitioner of buddhadharma. One should really understand the meaning of these vows and the meaning of refuge as such it is not about joining some club or a religion. Basically we can say that taking refuge means that we have decided to walk the path of liberation in order to become free from suffering. Since we have made this decision we are followers of Dharma, which also means that we will from now on try to never harm other beings and we will do our best to root out our dualistic ego clinging and liberate ourselves from our selfcreated prison of samsara. So I would not compare it to baptism. Baptism itself has many different interpretations depending on a particular denomination, but I guess this is for other discussion.

[Norden]

Hello guys,

In Christian, it's called Baptist, in Buddhism is Trisarana, is prerequisite to become a Buddhist. However, as far as I am aware Trisarana in Tibetan Buddhism, at least from what I experienced, slightly different from other tradition i.e. was asked to cut a little bit of finger nail and hair, do the ritual and chanting in Tibetan. Does this signify something and if this has connection with early Tibetan Buddhism history i.e. Bon or other animism element? We know finger nail and hair contain DNA, if that makes any sense. And how for example if a person that has been Trisarana this way wish to change to other religion in the future? Of course we can just change to any religion we want but just wondering if you guys have any thought?

Does anyone has similar experience, please share? Thanks.

I have never seen or heard about cutting off a piece of finger nail, who did a refuge ceremony for you (if you can share this)? Cutting a piece of hair is a symbol of renouncing samsara, becuase Buddha Shakyamuni (Gautama Siddhartha) when he decided to enter a spiritual life he cut his hair in front of an ancient stupa tu signify that he leaves his worldly status behind (kshatriyas were keeping theirhair long in ancient India).

Taking refuge vows in formal way is only an outer thing it does not really make one a practitioner of buddhadharma. One should really understand the meaning of these vows and the meaning of refuge as such it is not about joining some club or a religion. Basically we can say that taking refuge means that we have decided to walk the path of liberation in order to become free from suffering. Since we have made this decision we are followers of Dharma, which also means that we will from now on try to never harm other beings and we will do our best to root out our dualistic ego clinging and liberate ourselves from our selfcreated prison of samsara. So I would not compare it to baptism. Baptism itself has many different interpretations depending on a particular denomination, but I guess this is for other discussion.

Hi dzoki,

Oh yes of course, just an example I know Baptism is different.

A piece of hair was cut and finger nails. I've never known this ritual before, usually in other Buddhist tradition nothing like this. I know the external refuge is just a formal way. My concern is, as you said, renouncing samsara. The renounciation in my opinion should come naturally from our own selves, The external factor that is either seen or unseen that influence the practitioner is not what we are looking for. That is why I'm not quite clear the history of this Tibetan Buddhism ritual, what is its origin and history. I'm not saying controlling or influencing people, but certain ritual has been proven may bring this kind of effect to particular people either for positive purpose or negative. The use of spirit beings in animism is very obvious, however I'm not saying anything about Tibetan Buddhism.

I am not really into worldly thing as usual as I am used to be. Don't know if there is any connection to this.

If anyone know or has similar experience, can you please share. And oh the Rinpoche is from Sikkim, India. 12th Incarnation.

[Jangchup Donden]

When I've been to refuge ceremonies (at KTD and KPL), there's no finger nail cutting, but as part of the refuge vow they take a little bit of hair from the top of your head. The reasoning behind this is they take it from the highest point on your body, so it's like offering a bit of the best of yourself.

[Norden]

When I've been to refuge ceremonies (at KTD and KPL), there's no finger nail cutting, but as part of the refuge vow they take a little bit of hair from the top of your head. The reasoning behind this is they take it from the highest point on your body, so it's like offering a bit of the best of yourself.

But it's quite interesting isn't it there is always metaphoric reason behind these activities.
But how far this metaphoric reason is actually 'valid' since there is metaphoric in anything. I can stay awake the whole night because can't sleep but I am also training the mind to keep it 'awake'. Not feel like want to eat but training myself to be less greedy. How far can this goes? And how do we supposed to view this in the perspective of Buddhism?

[Norden]

Just try to post info more hopefully get more advise from seniors here. Rinpoche is 12th Zurmang gharwang rinpoche [www.zurmangkagyud.org] It seems quite strange that everyone does not know about the practice of this cutting fingernail and hair. This thread is still open, feel free to reply. Thanks again.

[Tom]

Just try to post info more hopefully get more advise from seniors here. Rinpoche is 12th Zurmang gharwang rinpoche [www.zurmangkagyud.org] It seems quite strange that everyone does not know about the practice of this cutting fingernail and hair. This thread is still open, feel free to reply. Thanks again.

Dear Norden,

I know Rinpoche very well and he is a wonderful Lama, and has given the refuge ceremony to thousands of people. He is the supreme lineage holder of Zurmang Kagyu and extremely qualified. Cutting hair is a common part of many refuge ceremonies, however if you have some questions you could ask Rinpoche (see the website you've given or PM me) and I'm sure he would be more than happy to answer them.