Don Farber
DAIBUTSU, KAMAKURA, JAPAN
2 | Refuge in the Three Jewels
ALL BUDDHIST traditions agree that taking refuge in the Three Jewels is the demarcation of becoming a Buddhist. While people may take refuge in the Three Jewels for a variety of reasons, stable refuge comes from knowing and understanding the teachings through reasoning and experience, thus confirming for ourselves that the Buddha’s teachings are true.
The chief way the Buddha leads us is by teaching the path to liberation and awakening. The Samādhirāja Sūtra says:
Buddhas do not wash away negativities with water,
clear away beings’ duḥkha with their hands,
or transfer their own knowledge to others;
they liberate by teaching the truth of reality.
We must follow this path and practice it ourselves; no one else can do it for us. The Buddha himself encouraged us to understand his teachings, not to follow them blindly. This is especially so in the twenty-first century, when literacy and education are widespread and people are not content with blind belief. People have access to literature from many religions, and if the younger generation finds the explanations of older Buddhists superficial, inadequate, or superstitious, they will not be convinced. Thus to benefit future generations, we must learn and practice the Dharma well and then teach it to others, showing the benefit that Buddha’s doctrine brings through the example of how we live.
To be able to take refuge in a proper way, we need to identify and have a clear understanding of the Three Jewels. To do that, understanding the four truths of the āryas is important. Based on taking refuge, we continue to learn, contemplate, and meditate on the Buddha’s teachings, thus deepening our refuge. That deeper refuge inspires us to learn and practice more, and so we progress, with taking refuge and understanding the teachings mutually aiding each other.
In the Pāli and Sanskrit sūtras, the Buddha said that whoever sees the interdependent nature of phenomena sees the Dharma, and whoever sees the Dharma sees the Tathāgata. Nāgārjuna explained that the key to verifying the existence of the Three Jewels is understanding the interdependent nature of phenomena.
Upon examination we find that persons and phenomena are dependent. There are three aspects of dependence: (1) Conditioned things depend on their causes and conditions—a sprout arises from a seed, and our experiences depend on our previous actions or karma. (2) All phenomena—both the impermanent and the permanent—depend on their constituent parts.2 Our body is made of parts such as arms, legs, and internal organs, and these are made of other parts. Our mind is composed of a sequence of tiny moments of mind that form its continuum. (3) On the subtlest level, all phenomena depend on the mind that conceives and designates them. On the basis of two arms, two legs, a torso, a head, and so on, a mind conceives and designates “body.” In dependence on the collection of a body and mind, we impute “person.”
Ignorance, the root of saṃsāra, grasps all persons and phenomena as having a “self”—an independent, inherent essence unrelated to anything else such as causes and conditions, parts, and the mind that conceives and designates them. Because all persons and phenomena exist dependent on other factors, they are empty of independent or inherent existence. Thus ignorance is an erroneous mind since it lacks a valid basis. Wisdom, on the other hand, is a reliable mind since it apprehends reality; it realizes that all persons and phenomena are empty of inherent existence because they exist dependent on other factors. Wisdom’s apprehension of reality can overpower ignorance, and with repeated meditation, wisdom can completely eradicate ignorance from our mindstream, making liberation possible.
In this way, knowledge of dependent arising helps us to understand the four truths that form the basic framework of the Buddha’s teachings. Ignorance misapprehending reality gives rise to afflictions, which create karma and lead to duḥkha. This is the truth of duḥkha and the truth of its origin, the first two truths of the āryas. Knowledge of dependent arising also enables us to understand emptiness and selflessness: persons and other phenomena are empty of independent existence because they are dependent. Emptiness and dependent arising are established by reasoning and can be directly experienced. The wisdom understanding emptiness is the fourth truth, true path, which counteracts the ignorance, wrong views, and afflictions that are founded on the misapprehension of reality. In this way, we can actualize a state in which all ignorance and afflictions have been removed. This is nirvāṇa, true cessation, the third truth.
Thus the four truths of the āryas exist. The last two of the four truths—true cessations and true paths—are the Dharma Jewel. Persons who have actualized at least some of these paths and cessations in their continuum are the Saṅgha Jewel. When they progress to the point where all afflictions and obscurations have been eliminated and all paths and qualities brought to perfection, they become the Buddha Jewel. Thus, beginning with the fact that all phenomena are empty of independent existence yet arise dependent on other factors, we can prove the existence of the Three Jewels. For this reason, the Buddha said that those who see interdependence see the Dharma, and those who see the Dharma see the Tathāgata.
Understanding this increases our faith in the Three Jewels because we understand the possibility of mental development that leads to actualizing the Three Jewels. In this way, understanding the four truths gives us confidence that not only can we trust the Three Jewels as spiritual guides leading us to full awakening, but we can also become the Three Jewels ourselves.
The historical order of the existence of the Three Jewels and their order of generation for individual practitioners differ. Historically, the Buddha appeared first. He then gave Dharma teachings. On the basis of practicing these, people gained realizations. Disciples possessing realizations are āryas, the Saṅgha.
An individual practitioner first actualizes the Dharma Jewel by cultivating true path and actualizing true cessation. Thus, he becomes the Saṅgha Jewel. By further enhancing the Dharma Jewel in his mind until he is fully awakened, he becomes the Buddha Jewel.
Learning about the qualities of the Three Jewels and especially of the Buddha increases our confidence in their ability to guide us from the dangers of saṃsāra. Both the Pāli and the Sanskrit traditions extensively praise the Tathāgata’s qualities by expressing his four types of fearlessness, ten powers, and eighteen unshared qualities.
Candrakīrti quotes (Madhyamakāvatāra 6.210cd) a passage, also found in the Pāli canon (MN 12:22–26), describing the four kinds of self-confidence or fearlessness of the Tathāgata that enable him to “roar his lion’s roar in the assemblies.” The Buddha sees no ground on which any recluse, brahman, god, or anyone else could accuse him of (1) claiming to be fully awakened although he is not fully awakened to certain things, (2) claiming to have destroyed pollutants (āsava, āśrava) that he has not destroyed, (3) calling things obstructions that are not obstructions, and (4) teaching a Dharma that does not lead someone who practices it to complete destruction of duḥkha. These four enable the Tathāgata to teach the Dhamma with perfect self-confidence free from all self-doubt because he is fully awakened regarding all aspects, has destroyed all pollutants, correctly identifies obstructions on the path, and gives teachings that lead those who practice them to nirvāṇa.
The ten powers are a set of exceptional knowledges exclusive to the Tathāgata. They enable him to do a Buddha’s unique activities, establish his doctrine in the world, skillfully teach sentient beings, and lead them to awakening. Spoken of in both the Pāli (MN 12) and Sanskrit sūtras (Daśabhūmika Sūtra), these ten are exalted wisdoms that have abandoned all obscurations and know the infinite objects of knowledge. Unless otherwise noted, the explanations below are shared by both traditions.
1) With direct, unmistaken perception the Tathāgata knows the tenable and the untenable, the relations between actions and their results as well as the implications of actions done by āryas and ordinary beings.
2) Only the Tathāgata fully and accurately knows the intricacies of past, present, and future karma and their results, including subtle causes leading to a particular experience in the beginningless lives of each sentient being.
3) The Tathāgata knows the various destinations of ordinary beings—the saṃsāric realms—and the paths leading to rebirth there. He also knows the destination of the āryas of the three vehicles—nirvāṇa—and the paths leading to that.
4) He fully understands the world and the various elements (dhātu) that compose it—the eighteen constituents (dhātu), six elements, external and internal sources (āyatana), twelve links (nidāna) of dependent arising, twenty-two faculties (indriya),3 and so on—with wisdom seeing them as impermanent, conditioned, and dependent processes.
Don Farber
DAIBUTSU, KAMAKURA, JAPAN
5) He knows the different inclinations of beings (adhimutti, adhimokṣa)—their spiritual aims and the vehicles they are attracted to. This enables him to teach them the Dharma according to their individual faculties, abilities, and aspirations.
6) He knows the strength of each being’s faculties (indriya) of faith (saddhā, śraddhā), effort (viriya, vīrya), mindfulness (sati, smṛti), concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (paññā, prajñā) and teaches each being accordingly.
7) Because the Buddha has mastered the jhānas, the eight meditative liberations (vimokkha, vimokṣa),4 and the nine meditative absorptions (samāpatti), he knows the defilements, cleansing, and emergence (Pāli: sankilesa, vodāna, vuṭṭhāna) regarding them. Defilements are impediments hindering a meditator from entering a meditative absorption or, having entered, make it deteriorate. Cleansing is the method for removing the impediment. Emergence is the way to come out of a state of meditative absorption after having entered it. He is able to guide others to attain these meditative states without their becoming attached to the bliss of concentration and urge them to continue practicing the path to nirvāṇa.
8) The Tathāgata recollects in detail his manifold past lives with their aspects and particulars. This and the next power are the last two of the five superknowledges (abhiññā, abhijñā). Thus he knows his previous relationships with each sentient being and what types of relationship would be most beneficial to have with them now and in the future.
9) With the divine eye, he sees beings dying and being born according to their karma. Knowing this, he does whatever is most beneficial to guide each being on the path to awakening.
10) Realizing with direct knowledge, the Tathāgata here and now enters upon and abides in the unpolluted liberation of mind (cetovimutti, cittavimukti) and liberation by wisdom (paññāvimutti, prajñāvimukti)5 and knows that all defilements have been eradicated. He also knows the level of realization and attainment of each being of the three vehicles. The last three powers are the three higher knowledges (tevijjā, trividyā) that the Buddha gained while meditating during the night prior to his awakening.
Both the Pāli tradition (in later commentaries) and the Sanskrit tradition (in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras) describe eighteen qualities of a buddha not shared by other arhats (aṭṭhārasāveṇikabuddhadhammā, aṣṭādaśāveṇikabuddhadharma):
Six unshared behaviors
1. Due to mindfulness and conscientiousness, a buddha has no mistaken physical actions, whether he is walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. He acts in accordance with what he says, and his speech satisfies what each sentient being who is listening needs to understand in that moment.
2. Always speaking appropriately, truthfully, and kindly, he is free from mistaken speech and idle chatter. A buddha does not dispute with the world, nor does he complain about what others have done.
3. He is free from any kind of forgetfulness interfering with the jhānas and exalted wisdom, or with viewing all sentient beings and teaching them appropriately.
4. His mind always abides in meditative equipoise on emptiness, and simultaneously he teaches sentient beings the Dharma.
5. He does not perceive any discordant appearances of a self and of inherent existence and thus recognizes all phenomena as sharing the one taste of emptiness. He also does not treat sentient beings with bias.
6. He abides in perfect equanimity, knowing the individual characteristics of each phenomenon.
Six unshared realizations
1. Due to his all-encompassing love and compassion, a buddha never experiences any decline of his aspiration and intention to benefit all sentient beings and to increase their virtuous qualities.
2. He never loses joyous effort to lead others to awakening. A buddha experiences no physical, verbal, or mental fatigue and continuously cares for the welfare of sentient beings without getting tired, lazy, or despondent.
3. A buddha’s mindfulness effortlessly remains constant and uninterrupted. He is mindful also of the situations each sentient being encounters in the past, present, and future and the methods to subdue and help them.
4. He continuously remains in samādhi, free from all obscurations and focused on the ultimate reality.
5. His wisdom is inexhaustible and never declines. He perfectly knows the 84,000 Dharma teachings and the doctrines of the three vehicles, as well as how and when to express them to sentient beings.
6. It is impossible for him to lose the state of full awakening free from all obscurations. He knows the mind to be naturally luminous, and he lacks any dualistic appearance or grasping at duality.
Three unshared awakening activities
1. Imbued with exalted wisdom, a buddha’s physical actions are always done for the benefit of others. He emanates many bodies that appear wherever sentient beings have the karma to be led on the path to awakening. Whatever a buddha does has a positive effect on sentient beings, subduing their minds.
2. Knowing the dispositions and interests of each sentient being, he teaches the Dharma in a manner appropriate for that person. His speech flows smoothly, is accurate and lovely to listen to. It does not deceive or lead others astray but is clear, knowledgeable, and kind.
3. Filled with undeclining love and compassion, his mind encompasses all beings with the intention to do only what is of the highest benefit. He is effortlessly and continuously cognizant of all phenomena.
Three unshared exalted wisdoms
A buddha’s exalted wisdom knows everything in the three times—past, present, and future—without any obscuration or error. His knowledge of the future does not mean that things are predetermined. Rather, a buddha knows that if a sentient being does a particular action, this particular result will follow, and if another course of action is taken, a different result will come. He knows all buddhafields and realms of sentient beings as well as all the beings and their activities there.
Reading such passages from the sūtras gives us an idea of a buddha’s exceptional qualities. Contemplating them brings joy and expands our mental horizons. These passages also give us an idea of the qualities we will attain if we practice the Dharma as the Buddha instructed.
While the descriptions of the four fearlessnesses and ten powers in the Pāli and Sanskrit traditions do not differ considerably, the Sanskrit tradition emphasizes how these abilities benefit sentient beings.
All Buddhists take refuge in the Three Jewels and not in a particular Buddhist tradition, lineage, or individual teacher. Our refuge is in general the Three Jewels. The Pāli tradition’s and the Sanskrit tradition’s descriptions of the Three Jewels contain many common points as well as points unique to each tradition. First we’ll examine the Pāli tradition.
The Buddha Jewel is the historical Buddha who lived approximately 2,600 years ago and turned the Dhamma wheel for the benefit of sentient beings. To refer to himself the Buddha frequently used the term Tathāgata, the “one thus gone,” because he has gone to nibbāna, the unconditioned state, by perfecting serenity and insight, the paths and the fruits. Tathāgata also means the “one thus come”: the Buddha has come to nibbāna in the same way all the previous buddhas have, by perfecting the thirty-seven aids to awakening, completing the ten perfections; giving away his body and possessions in charity to others, and acting for the welfare of the world.
A Tathāgata has fully awakened to the nature of this world, its origin, its cessation, and the way to its cessation. He has fully understood and can directly perceive all things that can be seen, heard, sensed, known, cognized, and thought about, knowing them just as they are. Everything a Tathāgata says is true and correct. His words and actions accord with each other; he is free from hypocrisy. He has conquered the foes of the afflictions and is not conquered by them. Thereby, he possesses great power to benefit the world.
The Tathāgata has realized two great principles: dependent arising and nibbāna. Dependent arising applies to the entirety of the conditioned world of saṃsāra of true dukkha and true origins. All worldly things arise dependent on their specific conditions (idappaccayatā, idampratyayatā) and are impermanent. Nibbāna is the unconditioned—true cessation—which is realized by true paths. Together dependent arising and nibbāna include all existents, so understanding them is understanding all existents.
The Buddha is praised as the one who actualized the Dhamma and taught it to others. A famous passage in the Pāli canon describes the relationship of the Dhamma and the Buddha. When speaking to the monk Vakkali, who was gravely ill and regretted not having been able to see the Buddha sooner, the Buddha replied (SN 22:87):
Enough, Vakkali! Why do you want to see this foul body? One who sees the Dhamma sees me; one who sees me sees the Dhamma.
Seeing and knowing the Buddha is not done physically but through mental development. Being close to the Buddha means actualizing the same true paths and true cessations he has. The extent to which our minds have been transformed into the Dhamma is the extent to which we see the Buddha. Regarding this quotation, in his commentary the Sāratthappakāsinī, Buddhaghosa explains:
Here the Blessed One shows [himself as] the Dhamma body (dhammakāya), as stated in the passage “The Tathāgata, great king, is the Dhamma body.” For the ninefold supramundane Dhamma [the four ariya paths, their fruits, and nibbāna] is called the Tathāgata’s body.
The Dhamma Jewel consists of true cessation and true path. True cessation is the ultimate aim of spiritual practice. It is the unconditioned, nibbāna, the deathless state. Nibbāna is not produced by causes and conditions; it is not impermanent and does not change in each moment. Four synonyms of nibbāna describe it from different angles: (1) It is destruction—of ignorance, attachment, anger, and especially of craving. (2) It is dispassion, the absence of attachment, desire, greed, and lust. (3) It is the deathless, free from saṃsāric birth, aging, sickness, and death. (4) It is excellence—supreme, never-ending, and inexhaustible.
True path refers to the supramundane noble eightfold path (ariya aṭṭhaṅgika magga, āryāṣṭāṅgamārga) that leads to nibbāna. To develop this, we first cultivate the ordinary eightfold path by practicing ethical conduct, the four establishments of mindfulness, and mundane right concentration. As our concentration increases and our understanding of the body, feelings, mind, and phenomena being impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not self deepens, we will reach a point where the breakthrough by wisdom (paññāya abhisamaya) arises and realizes nibbāna. While the mind dwells in concentration, wisdom penetrates the ultimate truth. Certain defilements are extinguished, and when one emerges from that concentration, one is an ariya and a stream-enterer. This concentration is praised beyond all other samādhis because it leads to lasting beneficial results, while worldly samādhis lead to rebirths in the material (form) and immaterial (formless) realms.
The Saṅgha Jewel is the community of ariyas—those who have realized nibbāna, thus becoming “noble”—which consists of eight types of persons subsumed in four pairs—those approaching and those abiding in the states of stream-enterer (sotāpanna, srotāpanna), once-returner (sakadagami, sakṛtāgāmi), nonreturner (anāgāmi), and arahant (arhat). During the approach phase of each pair, a practitioner is in the process of developing the path that will culminate in its corresponding fruit, or result. Each path is marked by a breakthrough in which one sees nibbāna ever more clearly and thus subdues or eradicates a certain portion of defilements. The four pairs of persons are called sāvakas (śrāvaka), literally “disciples” or “hearers,” and due to their spiritual realizations they are worthy of offerings. Those who make offerings to the ariya sāvakas accumulate great merit that brings them upper rebirths and circumstances conducive to practicing Dhamma.
Realization of the four truths is the essence of the ariya path. Until people are spiritually mature, the Buddha teaches them other Dhamma topics. Full penetration of the four truths comes about through practicing the thirty-seven aids to awakening and cultivating serenity and insight. The moment one becomes a stream-enterer, one experiences a breakthrough called the arising of the eye of the Dhamma, because for the first time one directly sees the Dhamma, the truth of the Buddha’s teaching, nibbāna. One now changes lineage from being an ordinary person to being an ariya.
Through directly realizing nibbāna, stream-enterers completely abandon three fetters (samyojana, saṃyojana): (1) They no longer have the view of a personal identity (sakkāyadiṭṭhi, satkāyadṛṣṭi) that grasps a real self existing in relation to the five aggregates. Such a self could be a self that is identical to one of the aggregates, possesses the aggregates, is possessed by the aggregates, is inside the aggregates (like a jewel in a box), or contains the aggregates (like a box containing five jewels). (2) Doubt (vicikicchā, vicikitsā) in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha being reliable sources of refuge vanishes due to having direct experience of the Dhamma taught by the Buddha. (3) They eliminate the view of rules and practices (sīlabbataparāmāsa, śīlavrataparāmarśa). Stream-enterers maintain precepts and perform various ceremonies but do not cling to rules or to the idea that correct performance of ceremonies has special power in and of itself to bring liberation.
Stream-enterers may be monastics or lay practitioners. The former keep their monastic precepts very well, and the latter keep the five precepts. While stream-enterers may still commit minor transgressions such as speaking harshly due to anger, they never conceal offenses and immediately confess them and make a strong determination to restrain themselves thereafter. Due to the power of their realization, it is impossible for stream-enterers to commit six great wrongs: the five heinous actions (killing one’s mother, father, or an arahant, causing schism in the Saṅgha, and maliciously injuring the Buddha) and regarding anyone other than the Buddha as the supreme spiritual master. Attaining the stage of stream-entry is highly praised for these reasons.
Stream-enterers will never again be born as hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, or asuras and will take at most seven more rebirths in saṃsāra before attaining arahantship. Stream-enterers with sharp faculties take only one more rebirth; those with middle faculties take two to six rebirths; and those with dull faculties take seven more rebirths.
While they have profound spiritual insight and are firmly on the path to liberation, stream-enterers have overcome only three of the ten fetters, and their minds are not immune to the eight worldly concerns—delight with material gain, praise, good reputation, and sensual pleasure and dejection with material loss, blame, notoriety, and unpleasant sensory experiences. They may still create destructive kamma, although it is not strong enough to bring unfortunate rebirths. In some cases, their external behavior may even resemble that of ordinary beings. They may be attached to their family, enjoy being praised, or compete with others. Sometimes they may even be heedless. Nevertheless, their faith in the Three Jewels is unshakable, and they will definitely continue on the path to arahantship.
Compared to stream-enterers, once-returners have significantly reduced their sensual desire and malice, although they have not yet fully eliminated them. They will be reborn in the desire realm only once more. Nonreturners have abandoned the fetters of sensual desire and malice and will never again take rebirth in the desire realm. If they don’t attain nibbāna in that life, they will be reborn in the material (form) realm, often in a pure land, a special group of realms inhabited only by nonreturners or arahants. They will attain nibbāna there.
In the path phase, approachers to arahantship practice the Buddha’s teachings with effort and diligence. In the fruit phase, they actualize their goal, become arahants, and are no longer bound by craving. All remaining fetters of desire for existence in the material and immaterial realms, conceit, restlessness, and ignorance are abandoned, and they attain the deathless—the state free from saṃsāra’s repeated birth and death—and enjoy the peace of genuine freedom.
Most of what appeared in the foregoing Pāli section is shared by the Sanskrit tradition. The Sanskrit tradition also relies on such treatises as the Ratnagotravibhāga (Uttaratantra Śāstra) as sources for understanding the excellent qualities of the Three Jewels and their ultimate and conventional aspects. Learning and contemplating these inspires our confidence in them and shows us the direction to take in our spiritual practice so that we can become the Three Jewels.
Each of the Three Jewels has ultimate and conventional aspects that encompass the four bodies (kāya)6 of a buddha:
The ultimate Buddha Jewel is the dharmakāya, having the nature of perfect abandonment and perfect realization. This is of two types:
1. The wisdom dharmakāya (jñāna dharmakāya) has three principal qualities: Due to their omniscient knowledge, buddhas effortlessly and perfectly understand the entire variety of phenomena, including the dispositions and capabilities of sentient beings. Due to their compassionate love and abilities, without any hesitation or self-doubt, they teach appropriate paths according to the different inclinations of sentient beings.
2. The nature dharmakāya (svabhāvika dharmakāya) is unconditioned and free from arising and disintegration. It is of two types:
• The natural stainless purity is the emptiness of inherent existence of a buddha’s mind.
• The purity from adventitious defilements refers to a buddha’s true cessation that is free from the afflictive obscurations (kilesāvaraṇa, kleśāvaraṇa) binding us in saṃsāra and the cognitive obscurations (ñeyyāvaraṇa, jñeyāvaraṇa) hindering knowledge of all phenomena and effortless work for the welfare of sentient beings.
The conventional Buddha Jewel is the form bodies (rūpakāya) of a buddha, which are of two types:
1. An enjoyment body (saṃbhogakāya) abides in a pure land and teaches ārya bodhisattvas.
2. Emanation bodies (nirmāṇakāya) are the appearances of a buddha in a form perceivable by ordinary beings.
Contemplating the four buddha bodies gives us a deeper understanding of Buddha Śākyamuni. The Buddha’s physical appearance as a human being such as Gautama Buddha is an emanation body, a form he assumed to suit the spiritual dispositions and needs of ordinary beings. An emanation body derives from a subtler body, an enjoyment body. An enjoyment body emerges from the omniscient mind of a buddha, the wisdom dharmakāya.
A wisdom dharmakāya arises within the underlying nature of reality, a buddha’s nature dharmakāya.
The ultimate Dharma Jewel is the true cessations and true paths in the mindstreams of āryas of all three vehicles—the Śrāvaka, Pratyekabuddha, and Bodhisattva vehicles.
1. True paths are consciousnesses informed by the wisdom directly and nonconceptually realizing the subtle selflessness of persons and phenomena. Among them, an uninterrupted path is a wisdom directly realizing emptiness that is in the process of eliminating some degree of defilements. When those particular defilements have been completely abandoned, that wisdom becomes a liberated path.
2. A true cessation is the purified aspect of the emptiness of a mind that has abandoned a particular degree of obscurations. True cessations have two factors: natural purity and the purity of adventitious defilements, as described above. True cessations are known by oneself in meditative equipoise on emptiness in which all dualistic appearances have vanished.
The conventional Dharma Jewel refers to the transmitted Dharma, the 84,000 teachings, the twelve branches of scripture—the Buddha’s word taught from his own experience with compassion and skill.
The ultimate Saṅgha Jewel is the knowledge (true paths) and liberation (true cessations) in the mindstream of an ārya. True cessations and true paths are both the ultimate Dharma Jewel and the ultimate Saṅgha Jewel.
The conventional Saṅgha Jewel is an individual ārya or an assembly of āryas of any of the three vehicles. It includes the eight śrāvaka āryas and bodhisattvas.
The Saṅgha Jewel has inner wisdom that correctly knows reality and knows some portion of the diversity of phenomena. The ārya saṅgha is free from some portion of afflictive obscurations—ignorance, afflictions, their seeds, and polluted karma. Some āryas are also free from some portion of the wish for only personal nirvāṇa that prevents generating bodhicitta. Some ārya bodhisattvas are free from a portion of the cognitive obscurations—the latencies of ignorance and the appearance of inherent existence.
The representation of the Saṅgha Jewel is a community of four or more fully ordained monastics.
Enumerating the excellent qualities of the Three Jewels illustrates why they are valuable and complete sources of refuge. Understanding this, we will repeatedly take refuge in them from the depth of our hearts and deepen our connection with them. In this way, we will always be able to call on their guidance no matter what situations we face in life or at the time of death.
This description of the Three Jewels emphasizes the inner experiential aspect of religion and spirituality. Our objects of refuge—those that we trust completely to lead us to liberation and full awakening—are distinct from religious institutions. While realized beings may be members of religious institutions, these institutions are often operated by ordinary beings. When taking refuge, being aware of the difference between our actual objects of refuge and religious institutions is important.
The Three Jewels are called “jewels” because they are rare and precious. Like the mythical wish-fulfilling jewel that grants all wishes and needs, they are continuously willing and capable of providing us refuge, protecting us from saṃsāra’s duḥkha, and showing us the way to attain lasting, pure, and blissful fulfillment. The Buddha Jewel is the source of sentient beings’ virtuous intentions, encouraging us to seek upper rebirth, liberation, and full awakening.
While followers of both the Pāli and Sanskrit traditions take refuge in the Buddha, they may have different perspectives on his awakening, parinirvāṇa, and omniscience. The Pāli tradition says he practiced as a bodhisatta for many previous lifetimes and attained full awakening under the bodhi tree in his life as Siddhattha Gotama. As a buddha, he had no mental pain but experienced physical pain due to having a body produced under the power of craving and kamma. Some say that when he passed away and attained mahāparinibbāna, all saṃsāric rebirth ceased, and his consciousness entered nibbāna, an everlasting, stable, unconditioned, peaceful reality that cannot be conceived in terms of time and space. Here parinibbāna is a reality that is the opposite of the polluted, impermanent aggregates. Others say that parinibbāna is the cessation of the defilements and the continuation of the aggregates. Here the complete cessation of the aggregates is considered peaceful.
In general, the Sanskrit tradition believes that Gautama Buddha practiced as a bodhisattva for many previous lifetimes and attained full awakening before his life as Siddhartha Gautama. However, by appearing as an unawakened being who attained full awakening in that lifetime, he illustrated the importance of exerting effort and working diligently to train the mind. Through his example, he gave others confidence that they could practice and attain the same awakening he did.
While the Sanskrit tradition agrees that the polluted aggregates do not continue after the causes for saṃsāric rebirth have been extinguished, it says there is no agent or antidote that can totally cease the continuum of the luminous and aware nature of the mind, which remains uninterrupted and endless. When some texts say that the psychophysical aggregates are abandoned at the time of parinirvāṇa, Nāgārjuna explains this refers to their not appearing to an arhat’s meditative equipoise on emptiness. At the time of parinirvāṇa, the aggregates in general continue; however they are now purified aggregates. Because the Buddha appeared from the enjoyment body and ultimately from the dharmakāya—both of which are endless—when he passed away, the continuity of his awakened mind remained. While Gautama Buddha no longer exists, the continuum of that omniscient mind continues to fulfill the purpose for which he practiced the Dharma so diligently for so long: to lead all sentient beings to full awakening. To do that, he effortlessly manifests emanation bodies to benefit sentient beings throughout the universe.
From the Buddha’s side, he is always ready and capable to help, but because of our lack of merit and spiritual experience, we cannot see him. Just as sunlight radiates everywhere equally, the buddhas’ emanations and awakening activities spread everywhere. However, just as an upside-down vessel cannot receive the sunlight, our karmic obscurations and lack of merit curtail the buddhas’ ability to help us. When the vessel is turned upright the sun naturally enters; when we purify our minds and accumulate merit, our mind’s receptivity to the buddhas’ awakening activities increases, and we will be able to perceive things such as the four buddha bodies that until then we may have found baffling.
I have heard of some Theravāda monks who are skilled meditators and who say the clear, bright, and aware citta (mind), while being superficially tangled up in afflictions, is not subject to complete destruction like saṃsāric phenomena. Afflictions are not inherent in the citta, although it needs to be cleansed of the defilements that obscure it. Deathless and independent of time and space, the citta continues to exist after wisdom has ceased all defilements. One of these monks, Ajahn Mun from the Thai forest tradition, lived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He had visions of Buddha Śākyamuni and the arhats, leading him to believe that the mental continua of these realized beings did not cease at the time of death. Such experiences are possible when our defilements have been purified.
Regarding a buddha’s omniscience, or all-knowing (sabbaññutañāṇa, sarvākārajñāna), the Sanskrit tradition says that all existents—past, present, and future—appear to a buddha’s mind in every moment. This is possible because the nature of the mind is clear and aware, and once all obscurations are removed, nothing can prevent the mind from knowing objects.
Some passages in the Pāli canon indicate that while the Buddha knows all existents, he does not simultaneously perceive all of them with one consciousness. When the wanderer Vacchagotta directly asks the Buddha if it is true that no matter what he is doing, knowledge of everything is always present in him, the Buddha replies that it is not. In general, Pāli commentators take the Buddha’s response to mean that while he knows all that is, it does not appear to his mind continuously at all times. Rather, while all knowledge is available to him, he must turn his mind to that topic before it effortlessly appears. Present-day followers of the Pāli tradition have varying thoughts on this.
Some people doubt that the Buddha can see the future, claiming the future would be predetermined. However, one does not entail the other. At any particular moment, the Buddha could see the constellation of causes and conditions that could possibly bring about a certain event in the future, and at the same time know that these causes and conditions change in the next moment. The commentary to the Visuddhimagga says that the Buddha knows past and future events by direct perception,7 and the Paṭisambhidāmagga confirms that all past, present, and future phenomena come within the Buddha’s faculty of knowledge.
The difference in how the Pāli and Sanskrit traditions describe the Buddha need not confuse us. We don’t have to choose one view over the other. Rather, we can see which view inspires us at a particular time. When we feel discouraged, thinking of Siddhartha Gautama as having been an ordinary being who faced the same difficulties on the path as we do is helpful. Just as he diligently practiced the path and attained awakening, so can we.
At other times, seeing Buddha Śākyamuni as one who attained awakening eons ago and appeared in our world as an emanation body is more helpful. This view gives us the feeling of being cared for by many buddhas who are present to guide us.
When I contemplate the Buddha’s qualities as depicted in the early Pāli suttas, it seems his abilities as portrayed in the Sanskrit sūtras are a natural extension of those. For example, the Buddha tells Ānanda (DN 16:3.22) that he remembers attending many hundreds of assemblies of khattiyas (the ruling caste), where he sat and spoke with them. To do this he adopted their appearance and speech and instructed, inspired, and delighted them with Dhamma discourses. Yet these people did not know who he was and wondered whether he were a deva (celestial being) or a man. Having instructed them, he disappeared. The Buddha says the same about his actions in assemblies of brahmans, householders, ascetics, and devas. This passage reminds me of the activities of a buddha’s emanation body.
Nowhere in either the Pāli or Sanskrit sūtras is the Buddha seen as either omnipotent or as a creator. He does not seek our worship, and we do not have to propitiate him to gain boons. He does not reward those who follow his teachings and punish those who don’t. The Buddha described the path to awakening from his own experience. His intention is only to benefit sentient beings according to their individual inclinations and temperament.
However we think of the Buddha—as already awakened or as attaining awakening during his life on Earth—his life is an example and his attainments an inspiration for us. He had the internal strength to follow his spiritual yearnings, and his confidence in the potential of the human mind was unassailable. With great perseverance he trained in serenity and insight.
When I reflect on the three higher knowledges mentioned in the Pāli suttas, I recognize a correspondence with what the Tibetan sage Tsongkhapa later called the three principal aspects of the path—renunciation, bodhicitta, and correct view. While these are generated before one becomes a buddha, they reach their fulfillment at buddhahood. With the first higher knowledge, the Buddha saw his previous lives—their duḥkha and transience. Knowing all that misery was caused by afflictions and karma, he responded with full renunciation of saṃsāra, making the determination to attain liberation. With the second higher knowledge, he saw the passing away and rebirth of sentient beings under the influence of afflictions and karma. His reaction to this horror was impartial love, compassion, and bodhicitta. To fulfill this altruistic commitment, he freed his mind of all pollutants and obscurations by realizing the correct view of the subtle selflessness of persons and phenomena. Through repeatedly using this wisdom to cleanse his mind, he gained the third knowledge and knew that his mind was totally purified and that he had attained nirvāṇa.
Both Pāli and Sanskrit traditions speak of ours being a fortunate eon in which Gautama Buddha is the fourth wheel-turning buddha to appear and Maitreya will be the fifth. Wheel-turning buddhas are those who give teachings when and where the Dhamma is not otherwise known. According to the Pāli tradition, these buddhas are the only buddhas in our world during this eon; other practitioners will become arhats. According to the Sanskrit tradition, every sentient being has the potential to become a buddha, and there are many buddhas in our eon.
Mike Nowak
ELLORA CAVES, INDIA
I believe there can be different levels of refuge in the Three Jewels, and people may take refuge at a level comfortable and appropriate for them. This helps them on their spiritual path and encourages them to continue learning and practicing the Buddha’s teachings. For some people, a comfortable level of refuge involves appreciating the teachings on love and compassion, for others it includes belief in rebirth. What is important is that they trust and respect the Three Jewels.
Within the context of the Buddhist worldview that accepts rebirth, there are several causes for taking refuge. (1) Alarm at the possibility of taking unfortunate rebirth is an immediate cause leading us to seek refuge in the Three Jewels. Alarm at the duḥkha of pervasive conditioning spurs us to seek refuge in them to guide us out of saṃsāra. (2) Understanding the qualities of the Three Jewels and their ability to guide us, we generate faith and confidence in them that is based on knowledge. (3) With compassion, those following the Bodhisattvayāna take refuge in the Three Jewels to attain full awakening so they will be able to alleviate the duḥkha of fellow sentient beings.
It is important to reflect on the qualities of the Three Jewels, the reasons for taking refuge in them, and the meaning of doing so. Having done that, when in our heart we entrust our spiritual guidance to the Three Jewels because we recognize them as reliable sources of refuge, we have found the real meaning of taking refuge and have become Buddhist. However, even without becoming Buddhists, people can practice the teachings that help them in their lives and leave the rest aside for the moment.
Some people wish to affirm their refuge in the Three Jewels by participating in a ceremony in which they recite the refuge formula after a spiritual mentor and take some or all of the five lay precepts (pañcasīla, pañcaśīla).
These five are to abandon killing, stealing, unwise and unkind sexual behavior, lying, and taking intoxicants.
After taking refuge, people follow guidelines to help them maintain and deepen their refuge. These guidelines include to avoid harming sentient beings, criticizing whatever we dislike, being rough and arrogant, running after desirable objects, engaging in the ten nonvirtues,8 taking refuge in worldly spirits or gods, and cultivating the friendship of people who criticize the Three Jewels or act in nonvirtuous ways. We also do our best to follow a qualified spiritual mentor, study and put the teachings into practice in our daily life, respect members of the Saṅgha and follow their good examples, be compassionate to other sentient beings, take the eight one-day precepts twice a month, make offerings to the Three Jewels, encourage others to take refuge in the Three Jewels, take refuge three times each morning and evening, offer our food before eating, and respect Buddhist images and Dharma books.
One guideline for maintaining pure refuge is not to turn to other objects of refuge that lack the ability and the qualities to guide us to awakening. Buddha Śākyamuni is our Teacher, and an image of Buddha Śākyamuni should be at the front center of our altar. We entrust our entire spiritual well-being to the Buddha. If we feel remorse for acting harmfully, we confess and purify in the Buddha’s presence. We generate virtuous aspirations to become like the Buddha and his Saṅgha in the Buddha’s presence.
Most Buddhist traditions speak of Dharma protectors—beings who help practitioners on the path. These Dharma protectors may be supramundane or worldly. Supramundane protectors have directly realized emptiness and are included in the Saṅgha refuge. In the Tibetan context, protectors such as the four great kings and Nechung are worldly beings who have made promises to great masters to protect the Dharma and practitioners. They are not included in the Three Jewels. We may rely on them for temporal help for virtuous purposes in the same way we rely on a powerful person to help us in a time of need. However, we do not seek spiritual refuge in them.
Spirits are saṃsāric beings. Like human beings, some spirits are helpful and others harmful. Some have clairvoyant powers, others do not. Some have virtuous qualities, while others are angry and spiteful. Due to ignorance some people turn to local spirits and spirits such as Dorje Shugden for refuge. Because these beings help only in temporal ways, practitioners’ motivations degenerate, and instead of seeking awakening, they seek wealth or power through pleasing the spirit. This corrupts their Dharma practice and runs counter to the Buddha’s teachings, in which he clearly stated we are responsible for creating the causes for happiness by abandoning destructive actions and creating constructive ones. Refuge in the Three Jewels and following the law of karma and its effects are the real protection from duḥkha.
Worldly people often look for external things such as amulets, blessed water, and protection strings to protect them from danger. If these things help them to remember the Buddha’s teachings and practice them, that is fine. But if they think that these objects possess some inherent power from their own side, they are mistaken. In fact, human beings need to protect the amulets, strings, and so forth because they are easily damaged!
We must always remember that Dharma practice occurs in our minds. True practice entails identifying our afflictions and applying antidotes to them.