Myoki Raizelah offers a reflection on taking refuge in the Triple Treasures at the first Red Cedar Zen Community Women's Retreat.
Stream video:
Myoki Raizelah's talk notes:
I remember vividly an EDZ women’s retreat that Chris Fortin and Sue Moon led several years ago. We contemplated the Triple Refuges throughout the weekend seeking meaning for ourselves. They asked us and I ask you:
What does it mean to you to take refuge in Buddha?
What does it mean to you to take refuge in Dharma?
What does it mean to you to take refuge in Sangha?
We’ll take some time this afternoon to explore these questions.
Let’s start by unpacking the meaning of “taking refuge.” “Taking refuge” is translated from Pali, “sarana-gamana.” Sarana means “shelter, protection or sanctuary.” Gamana means to return. So, sarana-gamana means to go back or return to a safe place, a place of shelter or protection, like a child running into their parents arms when afraid or hurt. For me, it can mean returning to my heart, returning to stillness, returning to the spaciousness that arises when I let go of preference. Returning, returning.
The Latin root, “refugere” means to flee or fly back. To take refuge in the 3 Treasures is to fly back or return to the sanctuary of our true home, our true home within.
Looking at the Japanese, we glean another feeling about this word. Refuge is taken from the Japanese terms “kei-ei (2 characters).”Kie” means “to unreservedly throw oneself into,” no holding back. The way a parent would rescue a child in danger. No hesitation. Total abandon to the moment and what is called for. The second character, “ei” literally means to rely upon, as a child relies on that parent for safety and protection.
What is it we are relying upon? Completely throwing ourselves into, with total abandon, into Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. To me, this sounds like giving ourselves completely to our spiritual practice.
Getting back to my retreat with my teacher, Chris Fortin, and Sue Moon. We did a series of writing exercises to explore the meaning of taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha within ourselves. What I wrote then is is still on my altar at home:
I take refuge in Buddha, the Essence of Being, the Great Mystery
I take refuge in Dharma, all that life teaches me
I take refuge in Sangha, the interdependent web of life we share
The words I wrote 15 or so years ago are still meaningful to me.
I’ve been studying Okumura’s book, Living by Vow. As I contemplate this practice, the practice of vowing, it feels more like living as vow. I’ve come to feel that this body is the vow. In John Loori’s book, The Heart of Being, he says, “ Taking refuge is not a matter of casual encounter. This is a whole body-and-mind vow, whole body-and-mind unity, whole body-and-mind commitment.” Beautiful.
If you lived in a monastery, you would vow each morning during service to take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. You would sing this vow at the end of each day, as we do on Thursday evenings, the Pali refuges. And you would repeat this vow at each Full Moon. Let’s do it, let’s chant together:
I take refuge in buddha
Before all beings, immersing body and mind
Deeply in the way, awakening true mind
I take refuge in dharma
Before all beings, entering deeply
The merciful ocean of buddha’s way
I take refuge in sangha
Before all beings, bringing harmony
To everyone, free from hindrance
In Nancy Baker’s book on the Zen Precepts, Opening to Oneness on p.121 She writes, “The important thing, especially in considering the precepts from the Bodhidharma’s or Dogen’s perspective on oneness, is that we are the 3 Treasures. They are not just a set of truths “out there” for us to take refuge in. Since we are the 3 Treasures, we take refuge not in, but as the 3 Treasures.” (READ AGAIN) Living as vow.
What does that mean to you? To live as vow? What does it mean to commit? To be one with? To find the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha within?
John Loori, the author of The Heart of Being, delineates a few different ways the Triple Treasures can be understood or felt:
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From the perspective of Unified 3 Treasures
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From the perspective the Manifested 3 Treasures
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Also from the perspective of the Abiding 3 Treasures
The unified, the manifested and the abiding 3 Treasures. Let’s take a closer look at each of these.
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From the perspective of the Unified 3 Treasures:
The Buddha’s alive in each one of us. The Dharma reaches everywhere. And Sangha includes the whole world. In reality, there is nothing outside of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
In Reb Andersen’s book, Being Upright, he writes, (p. 42) “To take refuge in Buddha means to take refuge in what you really are…It is simply you being you that is Buddha.”
Then he continues, “When you take refuge in Buddha, when you go back to being fully yourself, you begin to see how you are connected and dependent on everyone, and how everyone depends on you. In other words, the first refuge contains the other two. When you take refuge in Buddha, you begin to understand the teaching of interdependence, which is taking refuge in the Dharma, and you honor your connection to other beings, which is taking refuge in the Sangha.”
This is the Unified 3 Treasures.
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From the perspective of the Manifested 3 Treasures:
The Buddha Treasure is the direct manifestation of Bodhi: the awakened mind. Buddha was the first person to teach Bodhi; this realization has been passed to us through the generations of Buddhas and Boddhisattvas. The Dharma of the Manifested Treasures is, of course, Buddha’s teachings, the teachings that have been passed down to us through the generations of Buddhas and Boddhisattvas.. The sangha of the Manifested Treasure is our shared practice - with everyone, everywhere.
Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are not limited by traditional concepts of time and space. We are living Buddha’s life, right here, right now. We are receiving the Dharma through all that life ever has and continues to teach us. We are practicing with and for all beings throughout the generations. Life is Refuge. This is the Manifested 3 Treasure.
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From the perspective of the Abiding 3 Treasures:
The spiritual meaning of the word, “abide” means to preserve and protect. This, I believe is referencing the heart of Boddhisattva practice - that our practice is with and for all beings. We are not practicing just for ourselves, not just for the relief of our personal suffering. We are practicing with and for everyone - you could say to “preserve and protect” all beings. This is the path of the Boddhisattva.
When I see this word, “abide,” I am reminded of abode, home. Abiding in the 3 Treasures is returning home, returning to who we really are, our true nature, our pre-conditioned nature.
Knowing our Buddhahood is know that we are essentially, love; the Dharma teaches us to act with kindness and compassion; the sangha is knowing the interconnection of beings. This is the Abiding 3 Treasures.
Maybe you’ve heard this story about Dogen, our revered founder. As he approached death, of all the practices in our tradition that he might choose to focus on, it wasn’t Zazen, it was this practice of Taking Refuge. He wrote in big, black letters “Buddha, Dharma and Sangha” on a long, white piece of paper. He hung this paper on a pillar in his deathroom. He would summon his waning energy to get up from his sickbed and walk around this pillar chanting “Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.” This is our refuge, our place of peace, stillness. This is where Dogen turned - or re-turned - in his final days of his life.
We emphasize taking refuge in Buddha, when we sew: Namu Kie Butsu with every stitch. I take refuge in Buddha. Lots of ways to say this: I return home to myself. I fly back to my True Nature. I take comfort in allowing myself to be myself. I am comforted by being myself. Like a child running to its parent, I am returning to my source. I return to the Source, the Mystery from which all life emerges. I take refuge in the Boundless nature of all things.
Writing exercise:
5 minutes stream of consciousness on each question.
What does it mean to you to take refuge in Buddha?
What does it mean to you to take refuge in Dharma?
What does it mean to you to take refuge Sangha?
Underline what is most salient for each. This is your version of the Triple Treasures.
