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20010329GRNYOTFrefuge - Odyssey to Freedom - March 29, 2001 Continuation of Taking Refuge Run Time 33:56

00:00 Good Evening to you everybody and welcome to this Thursday evening. I recorded this recording on Tuesday, just an hour before my departure. So, I have been talking to you these Thursdays on the Odyssey to Freedom and taking refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. So, among the refuge takings, I have been talking to you about the quality of the Buddha, the quality of the Dharma, and the quality of the Sangha. And also, the ways and means of taking refuge such as totally relying on the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Also, number two I told you that by knowing a very specific qualities of taking refuge, like the six different ways. For example, knowing the actual meaning of what Buddha means and admiring. 1:33 For example the name Buddha in Tibetan is Song gye or gyay. Song is clear of all obstacles and gye or gyay is total development. Or another name they give is Jangchup. The reality of all existence is supposedly known. That is Jang, perfection. The word chup means that all development is totally completed. And that’s why given refuge as another word Jhagchup. So that is about Buddha and Dharma is the result of this perfection. 2:40

2:40 When you become perfect, what you get is pure development. Your development shared, expressed like an artist expresses their artwork by displaying the drawings, or writing music or hanging a painting, or writing poetry. These are the results, so that is the quality of Dharma. The actual Dharma I told you is spiritual development, and the Sangha is to help you, to support you. It is a support system. So, knowing what the job of the Buddha is, what is the job of Dharma, what is the job of the Sangha and taking refuge is the second level of taking refuge. 3:59

3:59 The third reason for taking refuge is knowing the activities. The Buddha’s activity is teaching. The Dharma’s activity is, in other words, this is Buddha’s work. Buddha’s work is given you teaching. Dharma’s work is to overcome your obstacles. And what is the Sangha’s work. The Sangha’s work is after listening to the Dharma and getting developed is getting the results. These are the Sangha’s’ work. Knowing those and taking it as its own refuge in that is taking refuge through activities. 4:53

4:53 Now the next is the motivational part of taking refuge (it). Motivation for the Buddha is inspiration to inspire you to become like that great Buddha. It is also the object of refuge with whom you can make offerings on the basis of building merit. It is sort of the normal Buddhist language referred to sometimes as “Field of Merit.” In other words, field is such a thing as where you can grow food. Whether you are going to grow potatoes, wheat or rice, or fruit or whatever, that is what the field represents. The Buddha represents for you to make offerings to build your merit. Offerings of food, cloths, whatever needs. The object of generosity, if you are generous, but if your object of generosity is perfect, your generosity is more effective and helpful to you. Although the object of generosity for needy people, cloths for poor, food for hunger, and shelter for homeless, and medicine for sickness, are of course, no doubt a wonderful object of generosity. However, Buddha is considered the most important object of generosity because the merit gained, by giving to Buddha versus giving to ordinary objects are a huge difference. That’s why Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are extremely important objects of generosity. And that is one way of looking and motivating Buddha to be the object of refuge, object for whom you can give offerings, and the one person you can build merit. 7:44

7:44 The motivation for taking refuge to Dharma is to obtain, to develop yourself in that manner and that’s why motivation to obtain within you. Dharma is really spiritual development. When we deal with it, we are not worshiping the spiritual development, we try to obtain it. We try to become object and that’s the motivation for taking refuge to Dharma. It is to get within you and become a part of you and to aid you. That’s why we take refuge to Dharma. That’s your motivation. 8:29

8:29 The motivation for taking refuge to Sangha is improve your standard. To improve your way of dealing with negative emotions and to improve your way of living and your way of functioning. And that’s why we take refuge to Sangha. That is the motivational difference. 9:05

9:05 Then of course, remembering. Remember I mentioned last Thursday, in quite detail, so I don’t think we have to make that much clarity here because I did that last Thursday. 9:30

9:30 So next is… How does our merit field develop? Buddha to making offerings and praying and all this, that is a single object. On the single object basis, you build tremendous merit. That is the Buddha and the multiple object you build tremendous merit that is the Sangha. And both Buddha and Dharma is a person on the basis of individual or the collective of individuals. But Dharma, itself, is not in the person, but yet you can develop merit, generosity without dependent object of generosity, it being a person. So, Dharma is a good object generosity of object of refuge. 10:44

10:44 So, the fourth one is by giving commitment. The other day I mentioned to you, we commit to Buddha as a guide, the person who gives you guidance, who’s a teacher, who’s a master, who shows me the way. And (Buddha) is showing the way to me and that is accepting Buddha as your guide, your spiritual master, your object of refuge. Dharma is the actual refuge. And the Sangha, from the acceptance point of view (? 11:32), Sangha as help. And a normal example is the doctor, medicine and nurses apply here as well. 11:50

11:50 I would like to emphasis a little bit here on the Dharma. And when we doubt, we clear one of those negativities and we gain positivity. Each and every positivity we build we build within ourselves is called “building dharma within ourselves.” By building a Dharma within ourselves, not only a one clear one obstacle on its own, but it also protects us from fear, a different fear, all kinds of fear that we have, multiple fears we have. When each understanding of one Dharma within us, it overcomes one fear. I might need to clarify this a little later. This is the third way of taking refuge. 13:22

13:22 (Note: the number given here by Rimpoche is the fourth way and maybe should be fifth) The fourth way of taking refuge is by accepting it. Not only by accepting Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, one should not accept any other as the ultimate refuge. So, particularly different spirit and so on and so forth, which I think I mentioned last time too. So, this is the fourth way of taking refuge. But there are a number of ways of taking refuge. But the most important thing is totally reliance on the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and building ultimate trust in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. 14:20

14:20 This is not a stupid blind trust. The trust in knowing the quality of the Buddha. And then I mentioned to you the other day, by simply saying I take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha just does not become refuge. Knowing the qualities of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and admiring and trusting, that helps us to really take refuge to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. That is the True Refuge. 15:01

15:01 And also as Tsongkhapa or the First Panchen Lama or somebody who say (in TB) meaning they ask questions saying what is the real nature of refuge? The nature of refuge, the reply is truly knowing the value and capability and benefit one can gain out of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and totally rely on it. 15:52

15:52 Why do we have to take refuge? Because we know, we need to help ourselves and unless and until we can help ourselves, we need someone to rely on. Knowing that clearly, taking refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, with intelligent faith is totally taking refuge. It is not the words. Knowing the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha has the capability and fear (faith 16:36) both combined together and then taking refuge will really make the refuge perfect. That’s how we take refuge.16:46

16:16 So what are the benefits for taking refuge? There is a tremendous (benefits). Number 1) Shantideva said (in TB) is the benefit in physical form the whole universe is too small to put that in. Too store, too small to place. For example, if you want to measurement of the amount of water in ocean, by taking it glass by glass, one cannot measure. Shantideva said it is just like that. It is an immeasurable benefit. That is not a blind statement. There are a zillion difference reasons behind this and of course gradually you will know. You can read it. 18:09

18:09 And also, from the Buddhist point of view, number one here they will say, you become a Buddhist, you have joint with the other members of the Buddha’s family. We don’t call this, but from the American cultural point of view, taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is a Buddhist initiation. When we talk about initiation, we talk about the Vajrayana point of view and that has a different meaning all together. But when you talk about the ususaly American language initiation actually taking refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha has been taking an initiation. Initiating yourself to be Buddhist or you become part of a Buddhist family and you become a member of Buddhists. And Buddha, Dharma and Sangha becomes your object of refuge. You’re protected. 19:17

19:17 Not only this, but it also gives you the basis to develop different vows. In Buddhist tradition there is a tremendous number of vows. So, all the Buddhist vows are given on the basis of taking to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. That is the fundament basis without which we cannot get any Buddhist vows at all, no matter whatever you attained. Highest initiation, you participated, but if you are not taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, none of these initiations works for you. So, that’s why it is basis of all vows. 20:11

20:11 And also it is purification. It purifies negativities that we have committed for the limitless beginning. So that is one of the body ways of purifying, too. And also, it builds a tremendous amount of merit. If one doesn’t have good merit, there is no way one can become enlightened. Forget about getting enlightened. One cannot even become a Bodhisattva. One cannot even get a perfect life in the future or perfect life in this life, itself. 20:57

20:57 So there all needs merit. The merit is the actual expenses that we spend to pull through our life in a good way. To build merit you don’t have to be Buddhist. you know that very well. Everybody who had good fortune, good karma, has a tremendous amount of merit. These merits are developed by each and every individual by dong good things, by doing the right thing, they have developed this. That’s why taking refuge builds a tremendous amount of merit. 21:46

21:46 I’m saying that. I am not saying that to build merit you have to take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. This is one way I’m saying. And also, it is a very good protection to protect you physically and mentally. Physically by the human beings and non-human beings’ spirits, etc. If you have a problem, the best way of protecting is taking refuge. And I noticed sometimes, my Buddhist friends, they say, hay, I need protection, what mantra should I say. I say, hay, you don’t need any mantra, you need refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is good enough for you to be protected. And if that cannot protect there is something wrong with our refuge. So, we have reobserve the refuge. 22:57

22:57 It also helps us not to fall into lower realms. Taking refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and if you are following the advice correctly, you don’t go to the Hell Realm. You don’t go to the Hungry Ghost Realm. You don’t go the Animal Realm. Your future life could be great, will be great, should be great and it should be great really. And then it helps us to fulfil all our wishes, long-term goal, short term wishes. It helps. And, of course, it helps us quickly become a Buddha. So, there are like eight qualities and benefits I have mentioned here. 23:54

23:54 So, I need to explain a little bit about each of the benefits I have talked about here, earlier. I did explain to become a basis of taking all different vows. So, I don’t have to say that very much. Yeah, before that I have said that you become a family with the Buddhist initiation. Because if you don’t have refuge, you don’t become a Buddhist. The doorway is really taking refuge or not taking refuge. That is where the line is drawn. So, that is why I said, it is a Buddhist initiation. Though the initiation terminology is only me using it and nobody else. But in knowing a little bit of American culture, that’s what it is. 25:10

25:10 So, I don’t need to explain for purifying. I do not need to explain for becoming a basis of all the vows. And purification I have mentioned. And I really become one of the best ways to cut negativities. There are a number of stories and quotations from in the Sutra during Buddha’s time. So, I won’t talk about it tonight, here. So because it is slightly complicated and actually Buddha said a number of times, those who have taken refuge have purified a number of negativities. By cutting the negativities you gain the negativities. There is no doubt that they will become arhat or fully enlightened Buddha or something. As I told you it protects us from all harms from man and spirit, etc. 26:50

26:50 Earlier during the Buddha’s period one of those anti-Buddhist yogis used magic, I don’t know whether black or white, to catch one of those young Buddhist novice. He tried a number of time and he could not control this young novice. And that was later credited for taking refuge. And also, in early India, there was some human being who had some kind of punishment from a king. And the punishment is to send this man away from his home native place or throw him in open land near a cemetery where terrible animals will eat human beings. So, there were no other human beings available and anybody who threw in that cemetery it somehow cannot come back and they would die there. But this guy who was thrown in there, so he’d been saying refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. But all those animals came at night and they went around him, the smelled him a little bit, but they didn’t eat him. So, he was alive and could come back. So even though he had taken the punishment of being thrown in there, and the punishment was over, and could come back. So, it was a good way that that had happened. Though the one that have given him the punishment, instead of killing him, they threw him in the cemetery presuming that he would be eaten by those furious animals. But because of the refuge, he was able to return the next day. So that was a nice way. 29:29 When he returned everyone ask what happened. He said, I don’t know I have been simply taking refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. So that’s why those animals didn’t eat me. Whether that’s the reason or not, I don’t know, you said. So anyway, we managed to get away. That is one of the examples. 29:55

29:55 Another example here, there was a chief (or chef) to a Buddhist monk, and they got a hold of the teeth and beat the chief with the stick three times. The first time they said take refuge to Buddha. The second said take refuge to Dharma. The third said refuging Sangha. So, they send the people away. People ran away and remained under a bridge. Over the bridge there had been a lot of spirits traveling, but the guy was sitting below the bridge saying take refuge in Buddha. Take refuge in Dharma in Sangha. So, he had been saying that and it looked a little funny for him because they didn’t hit him very hard because I said those and he didn’t get it what it is. He kept on repeating that. By repeating that those harmful spirits could not travel across the bridge that night. So, the spirits could not gather and attend their meeting because of this strange fellow sitting under the bridge saying strange words that had a strange affect. That is one of those benefits that I have mentioned earlier. 31:40

31:40 So these are a lot of those benefits. The benefits are there. It will be credited to you whether you know it or don’t know it. If you know it, it’s very good. If you don’t even, then you get credited. So that is that. And if you want to know a little more detail, read Tsongkhapa Lam Rim Chem Mo, Pabongka’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand and my little Lam Rim in that jpeg file. And if you read those, there is something more than this. But the most important thing over here is advice. After taking refuge, what do you do. So, there are common advices and specific advices and positive advice and negative advices. And many of them there and looking at the time here, and I have to catch a plane tonight so I might now be able to do this. So, I will be talking to you, not next Thursday but the Thursday after that. So (? 33:15) in the meanwhile take care of yourself and don’t get cold and be happy and thank you very much. Thank you.

≫Buddha(Pâli: बुद्ध, IAST;buddha; Sanskrit:बुद्ध, IAST:buddha; Tibetan:སངས་རྒྱས་, sangyé; Wylie:sangs rgyas; Chinese: 佛, pinyin:fó) = (1)Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha who lived in ancient India in the 5th to 4th century BCE (c. 563/480 – c. 483/400 BCE); (2) a buddha,a fully enlightened person.

• note (on meaning): DJKR emphasizes that the semantic range of the English word “enlightenment” does not at all do justice to the meaning of buddha/sangyé or bodhi/jangchup. For example, inReturn to Normal, Day 2, October 11, 2020 (Taiwan), he said: “Words like “enlightenment” are actually not so good. Not so good. I think it’s words like “enlightenment” that really made Buddhism look like a religion.” He suggests that the intended meaning is better expressed with words like denpa tong (“seeing the truth”) and chö namla mig dulmé (“there is no dust, veil or obstruction between you and phenomena”, i.e. “seeing the truth, basically”)

• dictionary definition of “enlightenment” = (1) the action of enlightening or the state of being enlightened; the action or state of attaining or having attained spiritual knowledge or insight, in particular (in Buddhism) that awareness which frees a person from the cycle of rebirth; (2) a European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It was heavily influenced by 17th-century philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, and Newton, and its prominent exponents include Kant, Goethe, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Adam Smith (Google Dictionary).

• other languages:sangyé(Tibetan)

• easily confused: the English words “enlightenment/awakening” (Sanskrit: ≫ बोधि,bodhi; Tibetan: བྱང་ཆུབ་,jangchup; Chinese: 佛位, fówèi), “buddha/buddhahood” (Sanskrit:≫ बुद्ध,buddha; Tibetan: སངས་རྒྱས་, sangyé; Chinese: 佛, fó), “liberation” (Sanskrit: ≫ मोक्ष,moksha; Tibetan: ཐར་པ་, tarpa; Chinese: 解脫, jiìtuô) and “nirvana” (Sanskrit: ≫ निर्वाण, nirvana; Tibetan: མྱང་འདས་, nyandé; Chinese: �

槃, nièpán) are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings in Sanskrit/Tibetan.

• see also:bodhi(enlightenment);pañchakula(5 buddha families);Shakyamuni(the Buddha);Siddhartha(the Buddha);sugata(“gone blissfully”, syn. the Buddha);tathagata(“thus come / thus gone”, syn. the Buddha)

• external links:wiktionary/wikipedia/rigpawiki/Digital Dictionary of Buddhism/Himalayan

Source: https://madhyamaka.com/tibetan-sanskrit/