Taking refuge in the Three Jewels or the Triple Gem

Tibetan Refuge prayer:

སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་དང་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་མཆོག་རྣམས་ལ།

Sang-gye cho-dang tsog-kyi cho-nam-laI take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha

བྱང་ཆུབ་བར་དུ་བདག་ནི་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི།

Jang-chub bar-du dag-ni kyab-su-chiUntil I attain enlightenment.

བདག་གིས་སྦྱིན་སོགས་བགྱིྱིས་པའི་བསོད་ནམས་ཀྱིས།

Dag-gi jin-sog gyi-pe so-nam-kyiBy the merit I have accumulated from practicing generosity and the other perfections.

འགྲྲོ་ལ་ཕན་ཕྱིར་སངས་རྒྱས་འགྲྲུབ་པར་ཤོག །།

Dro-la pan-chir sang-gye drub-par-shog

May I attain enlightenment, for the benefit of all beings.

External

* Buddha

* Dharma

* Sangha

Internal

* Lama

* Yidam

* Khandro [Dharmapala or Dakini]

Triratna or Ratnatraya  [Sanskrit: त्रिरत्न].

The Triratna in Tibetan Vajrayana buddhism is symbolised by a three branched rounded shape, like the Hindu trishul.

The Triratna are the three jewels, triple gems. They are the three locations in which we take refuge.

Refuge is generally taken thrice.

One of the first entry points into the teachings of the Buddha, whichever school of Buddhism you follow, is the taking of refuge. There are various versions of it.

You would already be familiar with:

Buddham sharanam gachami,

Dhammam sharanam gachhami,

Sangham sharanam Gachhami

Taking refuge in these three aspects of Buddhism is often referred to as taking refuge in the triple gem or the Triratna.

What does it mean to take refuge?

At the basic level, to the form of the teacher himself, but also of all the buddhas before him and after him. In the dharma  is considered to be the body of his teachings. In the sangha, is understood as the community of practitioners.

Vajrayana buddhism also offers refuge in the three roots [tsa sum].

These three are the lama, or the guru; a root of the blessings.

The yidam, who is the deity, is the root of accomplishment.

The khandro which comprise of the the dakinis (female) and dharmapalas (male) are the protectors; this is the root of transformation.

Taking refuge in the buddha, the dharma, the sangha means giving yourself resources, shelter, community, faith, trust, a line of teaching, seeking protection and guidance while you embark on this path.

Refuge is not conversion, it is not retreat from a worldly path, it is not blind faith, it is not even committing to be an unquestioning student. It is simply undertaking a quest willingly, with the mind and heart of a true seeker, a real, gripping wanting to know, wanting to be shown, and living amongst these ideas that in time will begin to reveal their truths to you.

Refuge is in he form of the buddha Shakyamuni, but also at a subtle level in the buddhanature.

Refuge is in the Dharma, but also n the willingness to put trust in the path one is following.

The sangha is the community of fellow travellers. We each travel the path alone, on our own leg of the journey, but we don’t have to go it alone. And the reason for this is in the previous lesson, the interconnection of all beings. At the subtle level it is collective energy, wisdom, virtue, compassion, kindness, support, encouragement that allows us to make our way.

In the Vajrayana school, the "Three Roots" support the three jewels. They are

the Guru, the "Root of Blessing"

the Yidam, the "Root of Methods"

Dakini or Dharmapalas, = the "Root of Protection"

As I have explained earlier, these support the practice. They become the body (sangha), speech (dharma) and mind (buddha) of the buddha.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche says the three roots are in fact not different from the three gems.

The Guru is the Buddha, the Yidam is the Dharma, and the Dakinis and Protectors are the Sangha.

The Dharmakaya is the Buddha, the Sambhogakaya is the Dharma, and the Nirmanakaya is the Sangha. They are the three modes of existence of the buddha.

The dharmakaya  is the unmanifested mode. It is beyond the physical form.

The sambhogakaya is the mode of divine blissfulness, the enjoyment body.

The nirmanakaya or the transformation body is the worldly or manifested mode.

When we say, “I take refuge in the Buddha” we should also understand that “The Buddha takes refuge in me,” because without the second part the first part is not complete. The Buddha needs us for awakening, understanding, and love to be real things and not just concepts. They must be real things that have real effects on life. Whenever I say, “I take refuge in the Buddha,” I hear “Buddha takes refuge in me.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

LEVEL 1: THE BASICS OF BUDDHISM COURSE - THE TEN PILLARS

Lesson 1: The Trilakshana

The Basics of Buddhism is a course in three levels to explain common terms, phrases that are commonly used without discernment. Terms such as mind, consciousness, duality are used across Hindu philosophy, Eastern philosophies, or New Age philosophy, or in popular books, blogs and articles on ‘Mindfulness’ without locating them within the specific context of usage. This course will help you understand the specific Buddhist context of the terms used.

The complete course is open to a weekly subscription here: https://www.shamah.co/basics-of-buddhism