So what exactly does it mean to take refuge?

[wei wu wei]

I took refuge about two years back at a local dharma center. I'm sure it was given a good explanation at the time but I've forgotten it and found myself returning to the question "What does taking refuge really mean?" frequently. I think what I'm looking for is clarity about how "taking refuge" translates into different or new ways of thinking, acting, being--like, how is taking refuge "cashed out" in behavior or thought? Can you share what taking refuge means to you and how it "shows up" in your daily life?

Many Thanks

[PadmaVonSamba]

I don’t know about ‘cashed out’.
In practical terms, I think taking refuge amounts to different things as time goes by and according to how one’s practice develops.
In other words refuge tangibly manifests a little differently through one’s life, as one progresses along the path. So in terms of what it ‘means’ sometimes it means something very profound, sometimes it means a guide to daily life, sometimes it means confronting one’s fears, etc.

Specifically, there are many possible paths to whatever one defines as liberation, according to who you ask. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, all have what they believe to be some version of deliverance from suffering. Buddhists are those who have decided that the teaching of the Buddha is the only method of freedom from samsara, because the Buddha’s analysis of the cause of suffering and the nature of samsara is the only accurate one, and his instructions, based on that diagnosis, are the only methods that actually work. So, those teachings and that teacher is the object of our ‘refuge’.

That’s just one definition of taking refuge.

A friend suggested something to me the other day, that Buddhism itself isn’t something that you do, Buddhism is something that you apply to everything else that you do.

I think you will get a lot of different answers to your question!

[KathyLauren]

I think you will get a lot of different answers to your question!

Not from me.

The way it was explained to me was: First of all ask yourself "refuge" from what? It is refuge from suffering. When you take refuge, you are acknowledging that the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are the only true refuges from suffering.

Society provides all kinds of fake refuges from suffering. We are told regularly that having money will make everything okay. Having fame or power will make it all right. You need the latest Porsche to feel good. Etc., etc..

The Triple Refuge reminds us that those things are all fake refuges. The only true refuge from suffering is found in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Om mani padme hum
Kathy

[Giovanni]

I think you will get a lot of different answers to your question!

Not from me.

The way it was explained to me was: First of all ask yourself "refuge" from what? It is refuge from suffering. When you take refuge, you are acknowledging that the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are the only true refuges from suffering.

Society provides all kinds of fake refuges from suffering. We are told regularly that having money will make everything okay. Having fame or power will make it all right. You need the latest Porsche to feel good. Etc., etc..

The Triple Refuge reminds us that those things are all fake refuges. The only true refuge from suffering is found in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Om mani padme hum
Kathy

Well said…

[Soma999]

It has a religion definition, with vows and all kind of thing.

What is important is that it speaks to you, it touches you.

For me, taking the refuge in the Buddha reminds me that all beings have Buddha nature. So everyone can awaken, and all can manifest all the pure qualities of the mind. Even the most disorted and perverted being can awaken and become a source of goodness.

Taking the refuge in the dharma is more than learning the techniques of the Buddha. It is considering and respecting all teachers of wisdom and love. It is understanding there are laws in the universe, it is logic, and if i learn them and use them wisely, i can manifest good circonstances from myself and others. It is understanding the law of karma, and understanding the creative power of the mind.

Taking refuge in the sangha touch me in the knowledge i am not alone, we are all interconnected and act as a universal family of compassion even thought we don’t know each others.

Just a sharing, be creative. The important is that it touches you and inspire you.

All mundane pleasures are the mundane gods. They bring all kind of satisfaction but so temporary. The real refuge is the wisdom that teaches the nature of reality and the love that ripen buddha nature.

[curtstein]

Where do you turn when you are in trouble? Taking refuge means that you turn to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

We all take refuge in something.

[KeithA]

For me, taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha is to simply place my wholehearted trust in the practice.

_/|\_
Keith

[wei wu wei]

Thank you, all, for these really great answers. I appreciated hearing how different people understand taking refuge.

Warmly,

[mirrormind]

Refuge is also an acknowledgement that we need help, that our situation in samsara is desperate, that we will not make it out on our own, that there is no other path to liberation in this world other than the one the buddha showed, that we get lost easily, endlessly without true refuge.

[Aemilius]

from The Platform Sutra of Hui-Neng, translation of Red Pine:

"20. Good friends, while I confer on you the Formless Precepts, you must all experience this for yourselves. Recite this together with me, and it will enable you to see the three-bodied buddha within you :

'I take refuge in the pure dharma-body buddha in my own material body.

I take refuge in the myriad transformation-body buddha in my own material body.

I take refuge in the future and perfect realization-body buddha in my own material body.'

Now recite this three times."

(and so on... the teaching of Formess Precepts continues for a couple of pages.)

[Sādhaka]

It’s pretty straight forward:

You take Refuge in the ones who teach what is not of worldly vehicles (including secularism); that is, we take Refuge in the Triple Gem. Here, our activities of Body, Speech, and Mind aspire to be in accord with this; and not in accord with worldly vehicles.

Then if you want to be a Bodhisattva, take Bodhisattva Vows.

If you want to practice Tantra, receive a Tantric Initiation or Empowerment.

If you want to practice Dzogchen, then receive Direct Introduction.

[ThreeVows]

There are outer, inner, and secret levels of refuge, basically put, and all told it is a complete practice.

[jet.urgyen]

For me, taking refuge, means like having a dharma family that foresee you, educate you and supports you in everything one's "mundane" family doesn't.

The Buddha keep me in constant learning and the learning itself i do together with my dharma friends, and we talk, do things, so and so forth. That is something that my biological family can't give me regardless how much we appreciate and support each other.

Once i read "everything that your family can't give you, the dharma does". I find it a great expression.

[krodha]

Taking refuge is the simple acknowledgement that everything in samsara is suffering and there is no refuge in samsara at all. Therefore you take refuge in the triple gem because it is the only means to be liberated from suffering.

[ThreeVows]

Taking refuge is the simple acknowledgement that everything in samsara is suffering and there is no refuge in samsara at all. Therefore you take refuge in the triple gem because it is the only means to be liberated from suffering.

FWIW, in my opinion this is overly simplistic and doesn't acknowledge the fullness of taking refuge. In the Pali Canon for instance, it is said that recollection of the three jewels can lead one all the way to full awakening, and this is true. But the fullness of what that means is quite significant, I think. If one considers refuge to simply be an intellectual orientation, I think this is only scratching the very surface.