“I take refuge in The Buddha. I take refuge in The Dharma. I take refuge in the Sangha.”

In Buddhism, what is generally accepted as the second most important teaching following The Four Noble Truths, the teaching concerning human suffering or discontent with Life-as-it-is, is The Three Gems or Triple Refuge, which advises us to find refuge from our emotional turmoil in The Buddha, The Dharma, and The Sangha.

Let us give clarity to the terms. First – refuge. What is refuge? It is safety. Yes, conventionally, we speak of it as a physical place that gives protection from unpleasant or dangerous circumstances. But Buddhism is always more subtle than this. From what do we truly need refuge? We need refuge from our own troubled minds. Dangerous or stressful situations arise, but what is it that truly causes us difficulty? It is our own mind interpreting, anticipating and reacting to situations. Yes, we can have anxious, troubled, angry, depressed, unhappy mind-states in the midst of truly difficult circumstances, yet, even more troubling is how our mind is unbalanced by its interpretation, anticipation or rehashing of circumstances more than the actual circumstances.

Buddhism teaches it is not our circumstances that are our true challenge – often in the midst of great challenge our mind is the clearest of all – but our mind’s stories catastrophizing circumstances that gives us trouble. Buddhism’s goal is first, to be in great appreciation and joy for the beauty of life, and for when circumstances turn difficult, to be without troubled mind and clear of anticipatory and reflective unease relating to our circumstances.  A famous teaching in Buddhism tells us, “Obstacles do not block the path; obstacles are the path.” Our growth as a conscious, wise, and compassionate person often grows out of our most challenging times. The Three Gems or Refuges are mental devices to calm and focus the mind into its inherent capacity to face any situation with confidence and faith in our ability to meet whatever may arise without fear. Refuge then is freedom from troubled states of mind regardless of circumstance.

Now, to the sources of refuge in the Three Gems. “The Buddha” referred to here is not the historical figure, Siddhartha Gautama, the 5^th century B.C. human being from whom the Buddhist religion/philosophy/psychology springs. Importantly, in Buddhism, Siddhartha is not held to be a god or demi-god to be worshipped; he is a human being to be admired and emulated.  The term and title “Buddha,” which translates as “Awakened Being,” is a descriptor of what Siddhartha realized and what his teachings point to and can lead others to realize in themselves. A very telling story in Buddhism is of a group of pilgrims encountering Siddhartha and being so overwhelmed by the peaceful power of his presence that they inquired, “Are you a god?” To which, Siddhartha answered, “No, I am not a god.” They then asked, “Are you a demi-god?” And Siddhartha answered, “No, I am not a demi-god.”  “Well then, what are you?” To which Siddhartha answered, “I am awake.”

 “Buddha,” means “awake,” and it is this potential to be awake to our full human potential which Buddhism insists is within every human.  What is pointed to as “Buddha” in the Triple Gems is awakened reality, Life as it truly is.  Thus, birds are “Buddha,” dogs are “Buddha,” rain and sunshine, the wind and trees, the mountains and the rivers, all of nature is “Buddha.” Only humans can experience not being “Buddha” because of our abstracting, egoic mind spinning stories “about” reality.  Living in these confusing stories our mind creates leaves us off balance, out of touch with reality, and so, confused, afraid and insecure.  This is what Buddhism calls dukkha, the experience of Life as psychologically problematic.

The purpose of Buddhism is to bring humans back in touch with their true nature, or “buddha-nature.” Buddha is, because it is reality, everywhere, and therefore, MUST be in every human as well.  As “Buddha” means “Awakened,” Siddhartha’s teaching points to the result that the perspective and practices he offers can awaken in humans.  The Buddha path is liberation from delusional mental states spinning stories in the mind about what we can and cannot be okay with into true freedom and realization of our deepest and truest sane self. It awakens a deeply spiritual, and endlessly adaptive and competent human able to deal with reality as it is.  The knowledge of this potential, and the teachings that bring it about truly do offer refuge from our troubled mind. As newly elected President Franklin Roosevelt noted in his 1932 first term inaugural address, when America had lost confidence in itself in the midst of the Great Depression: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”  Very Buddhist. (Proof you don’t have to be Buddhist to be Buddhist.)

Dharma is a Sanskrit word with two meanings. First, it translates as “to hold or support,” representing the perfect harmony of the Universe which holds every atom, molecule, star, planet, and all manifestations of life in balance.  Dharma also means the Buddha’s teachings meant to hold us in balance with Life, and it is the elaboration of these teachings through the centuries, with their purpose being to bring humans out of confusion and disharmony into clarity and peace. Dharma is the realization of the Universe in its totality, manifesting through every individual phenomenon, all totally interconnected and interdependent, each phenomenon existing impermanently within the eternal unity, intelligence, and mystery of the Cosmos. It is thus the study and practice of “awakening” into Ultimate Reality. That there is a perfectly harmonized Universe, of which we are an expression, “holding and supporting” us, and that there is a body of teaching which can bring us into this harmony, is thus something we can depend upon and look to as comfort, as refuge.

Sangha, in the ancient Pali language of Siddhartha, means community. The ancient Theravada tradition of Buddhism used this term to refer to the community of monks, but the Mahayana tradition which is more prominent today in the West uses it to refer to the entirety of Buddhism as well as individual communities exploring Buddhism. As modern Mahayana has opened the Concept of “Buddha” to mean all the natural world and those humans who have dedicated themselves to awakening, the radical definition I prefer refers to all of natural Life as well as every human of every culture or religion who has sought or is seeking awakening, enlightenment, or simply, truth. Yes, Sangha is the group of seekers I personally study with and teach, but It is also the community of humans who have sensed how the rules and roles of society, secular and religious, are arbitrary creations of human egoic mind which blind us to our natural and true self and the natural and true ways of the Universe. It is every individual who, whether consciously or not, questions their inherited psycho/social/cultural conditioning and engages awareness and the inherent wisdom of deeper insightful consciousness within to seek and realize truth.

Sangha is the community of the natural world that lives harmoniously in Dharma – without thought – for it is only human thought that distracts us from Dharma.  Yet it is right application of thought that can also be the beginning of finding our way back – and paradoxically – it is what must be left behind to realize our true Self in silent, aware, wise, compassionate consciousness. For me, Socrates, the ancient Stoics, the Christian and Jewish mystics, the Sufis, Native Americans, Thoreau, Carl Jung, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr, Kurt Vonnegut, Bob Dylan, Eckhart Tolle, and Alan Watts are among my Sangha. Great and recognized cultural heroes such as these along with the countless, nameless individuals who sought ‘truth” beyond what their society held as unchallengeable are Sangha – every bit as much as great Buddhist teachers like Thich Nhat Hanh and Shunryu Suzuki. Sangha means you are not alone in being an iconoclast, a questioner, an introvert, a philosophical and spiritual seeker, even rebel, as was Buddha, as was Jesus.  Those who search to awaken into truth and who guide and support each other in this search are  Sangha. This means the often marginalized can know they are not alone. This is indeed refuge. A teaching from the great Zen Master, Dainin Katagiri, which has been a cornerstone of refuge, of affirmation, inspiration, and guidance for me tells us, “In wholehearted presence, The Buddha is realized, the Dharma is lived, and the Sangha is shared.” “Wholehearted presence,” then, is the summation of Buddhism, of awakening. Here, now, wholeheartedly open and present, is Buddhism. Refuge is safety; it is peace within a turbulent, unsafe world. It is not a physical place. It is spiritual strength and faith that within me is everything I need to face any challenge of the external world as well as the challenge of taming my own unruly mind. Refuge is showing up in the moment wholeheartedly ready and able to fully embrace life as it is; the beautiful and inspiring, the mundane and everyday, as well as the challenging, even frightening, with equanimity, wisdom, and compassion. This is faith.  This is refuge.