Taking Refuge

Hi Fellow Buddhists,

I've been meaning to write about this for a while. Apologies for only just getting around to it!  Taking refuge is one of the absolute cornerstones of Buddhism, though how many of us are really clear what we're taking refuge in and in what form we're doing it. Often it's just a mechanical thing we do at the beginning of any session.  Nevertheless, different Buddhist groups have completely different approaches to the subject. For example, the four-fold refuge of Tibetan Buddhism is quite distinct from, say, the Three Jewels of Theravada Buddhism.  As this is my blog, I can only really give my view on it.  However, I hope those who agree, disagree or would just like to make comments do so.

I personally either take refuge in the historical Buddha or if I'm up to it directly in the Mind of the Buddha, i.e. the Buddha Nature itself. For me, the life story of the historical Buddha has always been such an inspiration that I always visualise him there sitting under the Bodhi Tree in a fully enlightened state. I think feeling a strong sense of commitment every time you take refuge is very important, both to him and his teachings.  Ultimately, though, the truest place of refuge is the Buddha Nature or Dharmakaya, as the Buddha's person is just his outer form. It's the inner mind that we are really interested in.  However, I think this is more advanced approach, only really for those with considerable meditation experience.

The Dharma is relatively straightforward I think, i.e. simply the main body of the Buddha's teaching, including the Mahayana.  You may have in your mind, though, what you consider to be the most important aspects of his teaching, like karma, compassion, emptiness, etc.  But, whatever, taking refuge in the Dharma should remind you that you want to base your life on the Buddha's teachings.  Of course, there's some debate about whether certain aspects were actually taught by the Buddha, e.g. the Tantras, but more about that in another post.

The Sangha is another problem area.  Who do we include?   Of course, traditionally, it is the monastic community.  At the time of the Buddha they would have been extremely important because Buddhism was not yet an established religion and anyone interested would have needed the focus of the Sangha.  Of course, times have changed since then, and maybe no-one really sees the Sangha as perfect.  So I would say visualise only beings who are actually close to Enlightenment, whether that be great teachers living today or great Bodhisattvas from the past, like Avalokiteshvara, etc.  That way you can't go wrong.  Your own personal teacher, if you have one, could or should be included as an important part of the Sangha. In my opinion, you should definitely not include the regular lay sangha who we meet on a daily basis.  They are not a proper place of refuge, as they will have varying degrees of commitment and levels of practice.  In fact, my experience with Dharma communities is that there can be as much negativity there as anywhere else in the normal world.

Moving on to the four-fold refuge, I was seriously involved in Tibetan Buddhism for quite a while, and indeed still do many of their practices.  However, I had some serious doubts about whether there was maybe too much of an emphasis on the lama or guru. Of course, teachers are extremely important, and we should always have the utmost respect for them. Without them it would be extremely difficult to make progress on their path. Their guidance and wisdom is invaluable.  Nevertheless, they are still basically Sangha, as described in the paragraph above, rather than actual Buddhas. However, the Tibetans have elevated their role to one where you actually take refuge in the lama as the number one place of refuge, ahead of the Buddha himself,  In fact, on the Tibetan Refuge Tree, the Buddhas are out to the side.  This is known as the four-fold refuge.  I think that if you adopt this approach you need to be really sure what you are doing and why you are doing it.  It's a major decision, with several long term ramifications, so don't just do it because you've been told to.

I hope this has been helpful and has at least maybe got you thinking about Refuge.  Please do make comments and contributions.

Happy meditation!

Humanistic Buddhism

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Hi Bloggers,

It's been a while since I last blogged, but don't think I haven't been practising or thinking about things. I think what's uppermost on my mind these days is how Buddhism might come to have a universal and global appeal. And I don't mean just for those people who believe in life after death, but also for complete materialists, who reckon it's a straight black out when you die, and who certainly don't believe in any sort of mystical universal justice through a notion as unprovable as karma.

What's my own position on these questions? Well. I used to be a firm believer in karma and rebirth. However, the more I studied science, both in terms of physics and biology, the more I have come to doubt the truth of these. I certainly hope my doubts are unfounded. I certainly hope consciousness isn't simply a bi-product of the biological process. I hope that consciousness exists independently and that the brain and nervous system are simply the mediums through which it functions in the material world. However, it is difficult to prove either way.

Regarding karma, I now consider that to be primarily an internal event. I think the permutations of the external world are simply too vast to be explained by karma. Clearly a lot of events, both fortunate and unfortunate are random. Not to mention the glaring injustices in our world, such as people being born into hopeless poverty traps or being struck by natural disasters, etc. To me karma works only inwardly, in that the shape of one's mind is truly karmic. Practice love and you will have a beautiful mind. Go around being nasty to people and you will be uptight and will never get that happy, relaxed, open mind that meditators seek.

As for rebirth, well, the problem is where do we get reborn. In the Buddha's day, they had a fixed view of the universe. Now we know it will almost certainly eventually self destruct, with no guarantee of another conveniently similar one popping up somewhere else. Could we be born on another dimension or what. Who knows?

Anyway, despite these perplexities, I still fully believe in the importance of practicing the Buddha's teachings, particularly doing meditation. Ironically, by removing the theological debate from the equation, Buddhism may gain a much wider appeal in that it will become the ultimate form of humanism, and could be approached as such. In fact, there would be two ways of practising Buddhism, firstly in the traditional religous way it has been for centuries and secondly in a completely modern humanistic way. Either way, the benefits would be vast.

I'm going to stop here for now. Will continue in my next blog.

Look forward to getting some comments from you!

Happy Meditation,
Robert

Financial Tsunami

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Hi Folks,

I've lost a fair bit on the markets, about $50,000 altogether over the year, and it's certainly having a detrimental effect on my retirement plans. In fact, I wonder if I'll be able to afford to retire!

But it's in times of financial crisis like this that one's development as a Buddhist is truly tested. Just how free from attachment to worldly things are we? We all know what the Buddha taught about impermanence and attachment, but how much progress have we made in these meditations? What a great opportunity to practice them !!

We understandably tend to seek security in the future based on an accumulation of wealth. But actually the future is of its nature always insecure, almost by definition. I think what this feeling of insecurity should do is bring our consciousnesses into the present, which is ultimately where Enlightenment is to be found. In my opinion, this is the true meaning of the Buddhist term "taking Refuge"

I must admit I'm personally quite pleased with the way I'm handling it. As yet, I've felt very little stress over the whole thing, even though the world economy looks like it's going to continue to nose dive this coming year!

How are you others coping? Let's hear from you.

Nirvana's the way!

Robert