Buddha
Dhamma Sangha
Ven. Ajahn Sumedho
When people ask 'What do you have to do to become
a Buddhist?' we say that we take refuge in Buddha Dhamma Sangha and to take refuge
we recite a Pali formula:
Buddham saranam
gacchami (I go to the Buddha for refuge)
Dhammam saranam gacchami (I go to the Dhamma for refuge)
Sangham saranam gacchami (I go to the Sangha for refuge)
As we practise more and
more and begin to realise the profundity of the
Buddhist Teachings it becomes a real joy to take these refuges and even just
their recitation inspires the mind. After sixteen years as a monk I still like
to chant 'Buddham saranam gacchami', in fact I like it more than I did fifteen years ago
because then it didn't really mean anything to me, I just chanted it because I
had to, because it was part of the tradition. Merely taking refuge in the
Buddha verbally doesn't mean you take refuge in anything, a parrot could be trained
to say 'Buddham saranam gacchami', and it would probably be as meaningful to a parrot as it is
to many Buddhists. These words are for reflection, looking at them and actually
investigating what they mean: what 'refuge' means, what 'Buddha' means. When we
say 'I take refuge in the Buddha' what do we mean by that? How can we use that
so that it is not just a repetition of nonsense syllables but something that
really helps to remind us, gives us direction and increases our devotion, our
dedication to the path of the Buddha.
The word Buddha is a lovely word, it means 'the one
who knows', and the first refuge is in Buddha as the personification of wisdom.
Unpersonified wisdom remains too abstract for us, we
can't conceive a bodiless, soulless wisdom, and so as wisdom always seems to
have a personal quality to it, using Buddha as its symbol is very useful.
We can use the word Buddha to refer to Gotama, the founder of what is now known as Buddhism, the
historical sage who attained Parinibbana[*] in India 2500
years ago, the teacher of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, teachings
from which we today still benefit. But when we take refuge in the Buddha it
doesn't mean that we take refuge in some historical prophet but in that which
is wise in the universe, in our minds, that which is not separate from us but
is more real than anything we can conceive with the mind or experience through
the senses. Without any Buddha-wisdom in the universe life for any length of
time would be totally impossible, it is the Buddha-wisdom that protects. We
call it Buddha-wisdom, other people can call it other things if they want,
these are just words.We
happen to use the words of our tradition. We're not going to argue about Pali
words, Sanskrit words, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English or any other, we're just
using the term Buddha-wisdom as a conventional symbol to help remind us to be
wise, to be alert, to be awake.
Many forest bhikkhus in the North-East of Thailand
use the word 'Buddho' as their meditation object.
They use it as a kind of koan, firstly they calm the mind by
following the inhalations and exhalations using the syllables 'Bud-dho' and then begin to contemplate 'What is Buddho, the "one who knows"?' 'What is the
knowing?' When I used to travel around the North-East of Thailand on 'tudong' I liked to go and stay at the monastery of Ajahn Fun. Ajahn Fun was a
much-loved and deeply respected monk, the teacher of the Royal Family, and he
was so popular that he was constantly receiving guests. I would sit at
his kuti and hear him give the most amazing kind of Dhamma talks
all on the subject of Buddho, as far as I could see
it was all that he taught. He could make it into a really profound meditation
whether for an illiterate farmer or an elegant Western-educated Thai aristocrat.
The main part of his teaching was to not just mechanically repeat 'Buddho' but to reflect and investigate, to awaken the mind
to really look into the 'Buddho', the 'one who knows',
really investigate its beginning, its end, above and below, so that one's whole
attention was stuck onto it. When one did that, 'Buddho'
became something that echoed through the mind. One would investigate it, look
at it, examine it before it was said, after it was said and eventually one
would start listening to it and hear beyond the sound until one heard the
silence.
A refuge is a place of safety and so when superstitious
people would come to my teacher Ajahn Chah, wanting charmed medallions or little talismans to
protect them from bullets and knives, ghosts and so on he would say 'Why do you
want things like that? The only real protection is taking refuge in the Buddha.
Taking refuge in the Buddha is enough.' But their faith in Buddha usually
wasn't quite as much as their faith in those silly little medallions. They wanted
something made out of bronze and clay, stamped and blessed. This is what is
called taking refuge in bronze and clay, taking refuge in superstition, taking
refuge in that which is truly unsafe and cannot really help us. Today in modern
Britain we find that generally people are more sophisticated. They don't take
refuge in magic charms, they take refuge in things like the Westminster Bank,
but that is still taking refuge in something that offers no safety. Taking
refuge in the Buddha, in wisdom, means that we have a place of safety. When
there is wisdom, when we act wisely and live wisely we
are truly safe. The conditions around us might change. We can't guarantee what
will happen to the material standard of living or that the Westminster Bank
will survive the decade, the future remains unknown and mysterious, but in the
present taking refuge in the Buddha we have that presence of mind now to
reflect on and learn from life as we live it.
Wisdom doesn't mean having a lot of knowledge about
the world, we don't have to go to university and collect information about the
world to be wise. Wisdom means knowing the nature of conditions as we're
experiencing them. It is not just being caught up in reacting to and absorbing
into the conditions of our bodies and minds out of habit, out of fear, worry,
doubt, greed and so on, but using that 'Buddho', that
'one who knows', to observe that these conditions are changing. It is the
knowing of that change that we call Buddha and in which we take refuge. We make
no claims to Buddha as being 'me' or 'mine'. We don't say 'I am Buddha' but
rather 'I take refuge in Buddha'. It is a way of humbly submitting to that
wisdom, being aware, being awake.
Although in one sense taking refuge is something we are doing all the time, the Pali formula we use
is a reminder because we forget, because we habitually take refuge in worry,
doubt, fear, anger, greed and so on. The Buddha-image is similar, when we bow
to it we don't imagine that it is anything other than
a bronze image, a symbol. It is a reflection and makes us a little more aware
of Buddha, of our refuge in Buddha Dhamma Sangha. The Buddha image sits in
great dignity and calm, not in a trance but fully alert, with a look of
wakefulness and kindness, not being caught in the changing conditions around
it. Though the image is made of brass and we have these flesh-and-blood bodies
and it is much more difficult for us, still it is a reminder. Some people get
very puritanical about Buddha-images, but here in the West I haven't found them
to be a danger. The real idols that we believe in and worship and that
constantly delude us are our thoughts, views and opinions, our loves and hates,
our self-conceit and pride.
The second refuge is in the Dhamma, in ultimate truth
or ultimate reality. Dhamma is impersonal, we don't in any way try to personify
it to make it any kind of personal deity. When we chant in Pali the verse on
Dhamma we say it is 'sanditthiko akaliko ehipassiko
opanayiko paccattam veditabbo viññuhi'. As Dhamma has no personal attributes we can't even say it is
good or bad or anything that has any superlative or comparative quality, it is
beyond the dualistic conceptions of mind. So when we
describe Dhamma or give an impression of it we do it through words such as 'sanditthiko' which means immanent, here-and-now. That brings us back
into the present, we feel a sense of immediacy, of now. You may think that
Dhamma is some kind of thing that is out there, something you have to find
elsewhere, but sanditthiko dhamma means that it is immanent, here and now.
Akalikodhamma means that Dhamma is not bound by any time condition, the
word akala means timeless. Our conceptual mind can't conceive of anything
that is timeless because our conceptions and perceptions are time-based
conditions, but what we can say is that Dhamma is akala, not bound by time.
Ehipassikodhamma means to come and see, to turn towards or go to the Dhamma.
It means to look, to be aware. It is not that we pray to the Dhamma to come, or
wait for it to tap us on the shoulder, we have to put forth effort. It is like
Christ's saying 'knock on the door and it shall be opened'. Ehipassiko means that we have to put forward that effort, to turn
towards that truth.
Opanayiko means leading inwards towards the peace within the mind.
Dhamma doesn't take us into fascination, into excitement, romance and adventure,
but leads to Nibbana, to calm, to silence.
Paccattam veditabbo viññuhi means that we can only know Dhamma through direct experience.
It is like the taste of honey, if someone else tastes it we still don't know
its flavour. We may know the chemical formula or be
able to recite all the great poetry ever written about honey but only when we
taste it for ourselves do we really know what it is
like. It is the same with Dhamma, we have to taste it, we have to know it
directly.
Taking refuge in Dhamma is taking another safe refuge.
It is not taking refuge in philosophy or intellectual concepts, in theories, in
ideas, in doctrines or beliefs of any sort. It is not taking refuge in a belief
in Dhamma, or a belief in God or in some kind of force in outer space or
something beyond or something separate, something that we have to find sometime
later. The descriptions of the Dhamma keep us in the present, in the here and
now, unbound by time. Taking refuge is an immediate, immanent reflection in the
mind, it is not just repeating 'Dhammam saranam gacchami' like a parrot, thinking 'Buddhists say this so I have to
say it'. We turn towards the Dhamma, we are aware now, take refuge in Dhamma,
now as an immediate action, an immediate reflection of being the Dhamma, being
that very truth.
Because our conceiving mind tends always to delude
us it takes us into becoming. We think 'I'll practise
meditation so that I'll become enlightened in the future. I will take the Three Refuges
in order to become a Buddhist. I want to become wise. I want to get away from suffering and
ignorance and become something else.' This is the conceiving mind, the desire
mind, the mind that always deludes us. Rather than constantly thinking in terms
of becoming something we take refuge in being Dhamma in the present.
The impersonality of Dhamma bothers many people because
devotional religion tends to personify everything and people coming from such
traditions don't feel right if they can't have some sort of personal relationship
with it. I remember one time a French Catholic missionary came to stay in our
monastery and practise meditation. He felt at
something of a loss with Buddhism because he said it was like 'cold surgery',
there was no personal relationship with God. One cannot have a personal
relationship with Dhamma, one cannot say ' Love the Dhamma!' or 'The Dhamma
loves me!' -- there is no need for that. We only need a personal relationship
with something we are not yet, like our mother, father, husband or wife,
something separate from us. We don't need to take refuge in mother or father
again, someone to protect us and love us and say 'l love you no matter what you
do. Everything is going to be alright' and pat us on the head. The Buddhadhamma is a very maturing refuge, it is a religious
practice that is a complete sanity or maturity, in which we are no longer
seeking a mother or father, because we don't need to become anything anymore.
We don't need to be loved or protected by anyone anymore because we can love
and protect others and that is all that is important. We no longer have to ask
or demand things from others, whether it is from other people or even some
deity or force that we feel is separate from us and has to be prayed to and
asked for guidance.
We give up all our attempts to conceive Dhamma as
being this or that or anything at all and let go of our desire to have a personal
relationship with the truth. We have to be that truth here and now. Being that
truth, taking that refuge, calls for an immediate awakening, for being wise
now, being Buddha, being Dhamma in the present.
The Third refuge is Sangha, which means a group. 'Sangha'
may be the bhikkhu-Sangha or the ariya-Sangha, the group of the Noble Beings, those who live virtuously, doing
good and refraining from evil with bodily action and speech. Here taking refuge
in the Sangha with 'Sangham saranam gacchami' means we take refuge in virtue, in that which is good, virtuous,
kind, compassionate and generous. We don't take refuge in those things in our
minds that are mean, nasty, cruel, selfish, jealous, hateful, angry, even
though admittedly that is what we often tend to do out of heedlessness, out of
not reflecting, not being awake, but just reacting to conditions. Taking refuge
in the Sangha means on the conventional level doing good and refraining from
evil with bodily action and speech.
All of us have both good thoughts and intentions and
bad ones. Sankharas (conditioned phenomena) are that way, some are good and
some aren't, some are indifferent, some are wonderful and some are nasty. Conditions
in the world are changing conditions, we can't just think the best, the most
refined thoughts and feel only the best and the kindest feelings: both good and
bad thoughts and feelings come and go, but we take refuge in virtue rather than
in hatred. We take refuge in that in all of us that intends to do good, which
is compassionate and kind and loving towards ourselves and others. So the refuge of Sangha is a very practical refuge for
day-to-day living within the human form, within this body, in relation to the
bodies of other beings and the physical world that we live in. When we take
this refuge we do not act in any way that causes
division, disharmony, cruelty, meanness or unkindness to any living being
including ourself, our own body and mind. This is
being 'supatipanno', one who practises well.
When we are aware and mindful, when we reflect and
observe, we begin to see that acting on impulses that are cruel and selfish only
brings harm and misery to ourself as well as to
others, it doesn't take any great powers of observation to see that. If you've
met any criminals in your life, people who have acted selfishly and evilly,
you'll find them constantly frightened, obsessed, paranoid, suspicious, having
to drink a lot, take drugs, keep busy, do all kinds of things because living
with themselves is so horrible. Five minutes alone with themselves without any
dope or drink or anything would seem to them like eternal hell, because the kammic result of evil is so appalling mentally. Even if
they're never caught by the police or sent to prison don't think they're going
to get away with anything. In fact sometimes that is
the kindest thing, to put them in prison and punish them, it makes them feel
better. I was never a criminal but I have managed to tell a few lies and do a
few mean and nasty things in my lifetime and the results were always
unpleasant. Even today when I think of those things it is not a pleasant memory,
it is not something that I want to go to announce to everybody, not something
that I feel joy when I think about.
When we are meditating
we realise that we have to be completely responsible
for how we live. In no way can we blame anyone else for anything at all. Before
I started to meditate I used to blame people and society, 'If only my parents
had been completely wise,enlightened arahants I would be alright. If only the United States
of America had a truly wise compassionate government that never made any mistakes,
supported me completely and appreciated me fully. If only my friends were wise
and encouraging and the teachers truly wise, generous and kind. If everyone
around me was perfect, if the society was perfect, if the world wise, perfect,
then I wouldn't have any of these problems. But all have failed me.'
My parents had a few flaws and they did make a few
mistakes but now when I look back on it they didn't
make very many. At the time when I was looking to blame others and I was
desperately trying to think of the faults of my parents, I really had to work
at it. My generation was very good at blaming everything on the United States
and that is a really easy one because the United States makes a lot of
mistakes. But when we meditate it means we can no longer get away with that
kind of lying to ourselves. We suddenly realise that
no matter what anyone else has done or how unjust the society might be or what
our parents might have been like we can in no way spend the rest of our lives
blaming anyone else, that is a complete waste of time. We have to accept
complete responsibility for our life and live it. Even if we did have miserable
parents, were raised in a terrible society with no opportunities, it still
doesn't matter. There is no one else to blame for our suffering now but
ourselves, our own ignorance, selfishness and conceit.
In the crucifixion of Jesus
we can see a brilliant example of a man in pain, stripped naked, made fun of,
completely humiliated and then publicly executed in the most horrible,
excruciating way, yet without blaming anyone: 'Forgive them for they know not
what they do.' This is a sign of wisdom, it means that even if people are
crucifying us, nailing us to the cross, scourging us, humiliating us in every
way it is our aversion, self-pity, pettiness and selfishness that is the
problem, the suffering. It is not even the physical pain that is the suffering,
it is the aversion. Now if Jesus Christ had said 'Curse you for treating me
like this!' he would have been just another criminal and would have been
forgotten a few days later. Reflect on this because we tend to easily blame
others for our suffering and we can justify it because maybe other people are mistreating us or exploiting us or don't understand
us or are doing dreadful things to us. We're not denying that but we make
nothing of it any more. We forgive, we let go of those memories because taking
refuge in Sangha means here and now doing good and refraining from doing evil
with bodily action and speech.
So may you reflect on this and see Buddha Dhamma Sangha as
really a refuge. Look on them as opportunities for reflection and consideration.
It is not a matter of believing in Buddha Dhamma Sangha, not a faith in
concepts but a using of symbols for mindfulness, for awakening the mind
here-and-now, being here-and-now.
-oOo-
Footnote
[*] The dissolution of the Five Aggregates, in common
parlance the 'death', of an enlightened one.
-oOo-
[Taken from
Now Is The Knowing]