taking refuge is not joining a religion
you got it wrong from the very first step
a lot of people think
taking refuge just means finding a temple
kneeling down and bowing three times
the master gives you a dharma name
and from then on you count as a Buddhist
some people even pick an auspicious day for it
put on the practice robe
the ceremony maxed out
and afterwards post it on WeChat Moments
with a photo of the temple
and a caption saying
took refuge today
dharma name so and so
grateful to my master
and a pile of friends liking it below
congratulations congratulations
boundless merit
the whole process
is pretty much like joining a club
you get a membership card
and from then on you have a new identity label
this understanding is not entirely wrong
but it misses the most essential thing about refuge
if you actually read the earliest records of refuge in the Pali canon
you will find something very unexpected
the act of taking refuge
and whether or not you believe in Buddhism
have almost nothing to do with each other
hello
everyone
I am Leo Wang
in today's episode
I want to take apart this heavily ritualized concept of refuge
and see what its bones actually look like
let us start with the two characters
gui
written in traditional form it means
to come back
yi
means to lean on
to depend on
so the literal meaning of taking refuge
is not joining
not submitting
and certainly not converting to a religion
its original sense is
come back
and then rely on
these two characters reveal something crucial
coming back
means you are not going to a new place
you are returning to a place you were always in but left at some point
this direction
is not outward
it is inward
so here is the question
come back to where
rely on what
that is what taking refuge in the Three Jewels answers
refuge in the Buddha
refuge in the Dharma
refuge in the Sangha
three sentences
they sound extremely simple
but behind each one
hides a meaning completely against most people's intuition
let us take them apart one by one
first refuge in the Buddha
most people think this means worshipping the Buddha
believing in the Buddha
worshipping Shakyamuni as a supernatural being
look at the Buddha statues in a lot of temples
glowing with gold
sitting high above you
wrapped in incense smoke
it really does make worship feel natural
but if you take refuge in the Buddha to mean believing in that statue
then you went off course from the very start
the word Buddha is not a name
it is the description of a state
fotuo is a transliteration of the Sanskrit buddha
meaning the awakened one
a person who woke up out of deep sleep
notice
it is not talking about a god
not a creator
not a supernatural power that governs your fate
it is talking about a human being
a flesh and blood person just like you and me
he accomplished one thing
he woke up completely
and that thing is not his exclusive patent
within the framework of Buddhist thought
anyone
who walks this path all the way through
can be called a buddha
buddha is not a one of a kind position
it is a state everyone has the potential to reach
so what does refuge in the Buddha really mean
it is me acknowledging
that awakening is possible
human beings can wake up from that autopilot
from that chaotic state where thoughts and emotions push you around
someone has done it
so this road goes through
and I intend to walk it too
you see
this is nothing like worshipping a god
worshipping a god hands yourself over outward
I cannot handle this
I am too small
let some being stronger than me help me
protect me and decide for me
refuge in the Buddha is an inward confirmation
someone walked this path all the way
it is not a myth
not a legend
it is a cognitive event that really happened
and I am capable of going through the same thing
one gives up sovereignty
the other claims sovereignty
the directions are exactly opposite
this is why what the Buddha said before he died matters so much
he said
be a lamp unto yourself
let the Dharma be your lamp
take nothing external as your lamp
the Pali original actually says
be an island unto yourself
let the Dharma be your island
a truly awakened person
in the last moment of his life
did not say you must remember me forever
did not say you must worship me
what he said was
go back to yourself
refuge in the Buddha
is not taking refuge in that man
it is taking refuge in the possibility he proved
next refuge in the Dharma
dharma
Sanskrit dharma
this word carries very rich meaning in Buddhist thought
but in the context of the threefold refuge
at its core it means the methodology the Buddha taught
notice
methodology
not dogma
not commandments
not facts you have to memorize for an exam
the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths dependent origination the Eightfold Path
we took those apart in the last two episodes on the Agamas
but refuge in the Dharma is not about memorizing those terms
it is about a simpler and much harder question
are you willing to use these tools to observe yourself
let me give you an analogy
imagine two operating systems for understanding the world
the first one
is the default system you have run since birth
its core assumption is
that there is a self
and this self is real fixed and needs to be satisfied
it needs to be protected recognized and loved
satisfy it and you are happy
threaten it and you suffer
ignore it and you get anxious
your entire life
revolves around the needs of this self
you know this system too well
so well that you cannot even notice it running
like a fish that does not know about water
the second system tells you
hold on
this self is itself something constructed
it is not an entity
it is a feeling produced by a chain of mental processes
you can go and observe it
you can see how inside every single thought
it gets created over and over again
and all of your suffering
does not come from bad things happening outside
it comes from this system running frantically on a false premise
refuge in the Dharma
is you making a decision
I am willing to try switching to the second system
I may not use it well right away
it may even crash a lot
and keep switching back to the old system
but I am willing to try
this and believing a set of doctrines
are two completely different things
the Buddha himself gave a very famous analogy
recorded in the Pali simile of the snake
he said
the Dharma I teach is like a raft for crossing a river
you are on this side of the river
the far shore is safe
there is no bridge
no boat
you can only tie a raft together yourself
and paddle across
once you reach the other shore
do you carry that raft on your back and keep walking
or do you leave it at the shore
obviously you put it down
someone who teaches you to put down even the tool itself
is he after your faith
or your practice
the answer is too obvious
the Dharma is not there to be believed
the Dharma is there to be used
and once you are done
the Dharma itself can be put down
that is the deepest meaning of refuge in the Dharma
it means
that even your attachment to the Dharma
must eventually be let go
finally refuge in the Sangha
this is the one that gets misunderstood the most
many people think it means taking on a master
picking a temple to belong to
and doing whatever that master says from then on
or a bit more loosely
respecting monks supporting temples bowing to them
these readings are not unreasonable
but none of them touch the core
sangha
in Sanskrit sangha
the Chinese seng is its short form
and it means the harmonious assembly
what is a harmonious assembly
it is a group of people gathered around the same goal
following shared rules
forming a community that actually functions
one episode of my history series covered the Buddha's monastic order
that institutional design was way ahead of its time 2500 years ago
it had democratic deliberation procedures
an economic equality system
and collective decision making
but all of those institutions are just the shell
the core function of the sangha
is not institutions
it is a mirror
when you practice alone
what is the biggest trap
it is that you have no mirror
you think you have figured it out
but you just switched to a more refined self deception
you think you have let go
but you are just tired of fighting
you think you are enlightened
but you just built a prettier mansion of concepts in your head
and you live inside it feeling good about yourself
this is not because you are stupid
or because you are not trying
this is a structural flaw in human cognition
everyone has cognitive blind spots
and a blind spot is called a blind spot
precisely because you cannot see it yourself
you can see other people's blind spots
you cannot see your own
just as your eyes can see almost everything in the world
except themselves
you need another pair of eyes
or rather
you need a living mirror
that is what the sangha is for
not to teach you control you or judge you
but in real shared living and practice
to let you see what you cannot see yourself
you might feel extremely calm sitting in meditation
but five minutes with fellow practitioners
and your envy your competitiveness your need for control
all come rushing out
that mirror is not hanging on a wall
it is alive
it will collide with you
and in that collision show you what you least want to see
refuge in the Sangha
is you admitting
I cannot walk this path alone
not because I am not strong enough
but because human cognition has a built in structural hole
you cannot see what you cannot see
you need fellow travelers to reflect it back
alright
the threefold refuge is taken apart
let us step back
and look at what this whole thing is really doing
refuge in the Buddha
I confirm the direction works
refuge in the Dharma
I accept a methodology
refuge in the Sangha
I join a community of practice
direction
method
community
does it strike you
that this structure looks a lot like something we moderns know well
Thomas Kuhn wrote a hugely influential book in 1962
called The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
in it he describes how scientists complete
the shift from an old paradigm to a new one
step one
he confirms the new paradigm explains more than the old one
this is refuge in the Buddha
step two
he learns the new paradigm's core framework and research methods
this is refuge in the Dharma
step three
he joins the scientific community that accepts the new paradigm
and does research with them using it
this is refuge in the Sangha
Kuhn especially stressed how important step three is
he said a scientist truly completes a paradigm shift
largely not because logic convinced him thinking alone
but because he joined a new community
and worked with the new paradigm there day after day
only then did it turn from a theory into how he sees the world
an isolated individual
has a very hard time completing a paradigm shift
the threefold refuge the Buddha designed 2500 years ago
and the pattern of scientific revolutions Kuhn saw in the last century
are almost exactly the same
that is unlikely to be a coincidence
the more likely explanation is
that in different eras and different fields
they touched the same underlying law about how human cognition
goes through a fundamental transformation
once you understand this layer
you can answer a question that puzzles a lot of people
why have some people taken refuge for ten or twenty years
bowed countless times
chanted countless sutras
burned countless sticks of incense
yet their thinking their emotional patterns how they treat people
seem not to have changed at all
they lose their temper just the same
they nitpick just the same
and not one of their attachments has dropped away
because they performed the ritual
but never started the reinstall
they think taking refuge is an event
an action completed on a certain day at a certain temple
done and finished
like getting a vaccine shot
but taking refuge is not an event
taking refuge is an ongoing process
just as buying a programming book will not make you a programmer
one ritual will not complete a fundamental shift in how you know things
the ritual is the entrance
but the entrance is not the destination
so real refuge
how do you test it
it is actually very simple
the way you see the world
has it started to change
when something makes you angry
is your first reaction to rush out and fight
or can you find half a second of gap
to look at the anger itself first
when you badly want something
can you find one moment
where the desire is not just dragging you along
and you actually see
I am wanting
as a thought in itself
if you can
even if only once in a while
then your refuge is already working
not because the ritual did anything mystical
but because you are really running on that new system
even if it only flickered for a second
if there is none of that at all
then that ritual was just a social event for you
the dharma name is still only a name
and you are still the same you
the statue is still only a statue
ten thousand bows will not awaken on your behalf
finally I want to talk about
refuge and faith
and what fundamentally separates them
in many religious traditions
belief is the first requirement
you believe first
and then grace descends
faith comes first
experience comes after
the direction runs from the top down
God Allah or some supreme being exists first
you believe in him
and he comes to receive you
the Buddhist refuge runs in exactly the opposite direction
in the Kalama Sutta the Buddha said something very famous
he told the Kalama people
do not believe it because tradition has always said so
do not believe it because scripture says so
do not believe it because a teacher is an authority
do not believe it because the reasoning seems to work
only after you have practiced it yourself
and confirmed it really lessens your suffering and grows your wisdom
only then should you accept it
sit with the weight of that statement
the founder of a religion
telling his own followers
do not blindly believe what he says
look at Christianity Islam and Hinduism
which founder or prophet ever told believers
do not believe what I say
go test it yourself
almost none
but the Buddha said exactly that
in the entire history of world religion
that is extremely rare
he is not asking for your faith
he is inviting you to run the experiment yourself
so the Buddhist refuge
is essentially not I believe
it is I have decided to verify this myself
it is not the finish line
it is the starting line
not a one time oath
but a choice remade every day and every moment
every time you choose awareness
instead of automatic reaction
you are taking refuge in the Buddha
every time observation replaces instinctive fighting and fleeing
you are taking refuge in the Dharma
every time friction with others shows you your own blind spot
instead of only other people's problems
you are taking refuge in the Sangha
refuge in the Three Jewels
is really refuge in three capacities
the possibility of awakening
this is the Buddha
the methodology for observing your own mind
this is the Dharma
the courage to face your blind spots among fellow travelers
this is the Sangha
these three things are not in any temple
not in any ritual
not in any dharma name
so where are they
the character gui in refuge already told you
gui
come back
come back to yourself
these three things
have been there all along
you are not going out to find something new
you are finally turning around and seeing what was always there
what does taking refuge mean to you
did you decide in one moment to walk this path
or did you only realize looking back
that you had been walking it all along
tell me in the comments
I am really curious about your experience
I am Leo Wang
see you next episode