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taking refuge is not joining a religion

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you got it wrong from the very first step

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a lot of people think

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taking refuge just means finding a temple

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kneeling down and bowing three times

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the master gives you a dharma name

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and from then on you count as a Buddhist

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some people even pick an auspicious day for it

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put on the practice robe

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the ceremony maxed out

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and afterwards post it on WeChat Moments

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with a photo of the temple

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and a caption saying

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took refuge today

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dharma name so and so

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grateful to my master

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and a pile of friends liking it below

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congratulations congratulations

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boundless merit

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the whole process

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is pretty much like joining a club

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you get a membership card

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and from then on you have a new identity label

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this understanding is not entirely wrong

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but it misses the most essential thing about refuge

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if you actually read the earliest records of refuge in the Pali canon

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you will find something very unexpected

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the act of taking refuge

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and whether or not you believe in Buddhism

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have almost nothing to do with each other

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hello

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everyone

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I am Leo Wang

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in today's episode

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I want to take apart this heavily ritualized concept of refuge

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and see what its bones actually look like

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let us start with the two characters

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gui

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written in traditional form it means

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to come back

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yi

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means to lean on

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to depend on

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so the literal meaning of taking refuge

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is not joining

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not submitting

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and certainly not converting to a religion

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its original sense is

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come back

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and then rely on

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these two characters reveal something crucial

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coming back

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means you are not going to a new place

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you are returning to a place you were always in but left at some point

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this direction

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is not outward

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it is inward

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so here is the question

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come back to where

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rely on what

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that is what taking refuge in the Three Jewels answers

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refuge in the Buddha

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refuge in the Dharma

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refuge in the Sangha

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three sentences

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they sound extremely simple

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but behind each one

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hides a meaning completely against most people's intuition

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let us take them apart one by one

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first refuge in the Buddha

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most people think this means worshipping the Buddha

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believing in the Buddha

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worshipping Shakyamuni as a supernatural being

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look at the Buddha statues in a lot of temples

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glowing with gold

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sitting high above you

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wrapped in incense smoke

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it really does make worship feel natural

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but if you take refuge in the Buddha to mean believing in that statue

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then you went off course from the very start

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the word Buddha is not a name

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it is the description of a state

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fotuo is a transliteration of the Sanskrit buddha

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meaning the awakened one

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a person who woke up out of deep sleep

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notice

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it is not talking about a god

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not a creator

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not a supernatural power that governs your fate

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it is talking about a human being

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a flesh and blood person just like you and me

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he accomplished one thing

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he woke up completely

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and that thing is not his exclusive patent

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within the framework of Buddhist thought

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anyone

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who walks this path all the way through

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can be called a buddha

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buddha is not a one of a kind position

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it is a state everyone has the potential to reach

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so what does refuge in the Buddha really mean

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it is me acknowledging

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that awakening is possible

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human beings can wake up from that autopilot

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from that chaotic state where thoughts and emotions push you around

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someone has done it

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so this road goes through

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and I intend to walk it too

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you see

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this is nothing like worshipping a god

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worshipping a god hands yourself over outward

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I cannot handle this

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I am too small

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let some being stronger than me help me

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protect me and decide for me

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refuge in the Buddha is an inward confirmation

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someone walked this path all the way

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it is not a myth

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not a legend

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it is a cognitive event that really happened

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and I am capable of going through the same thing

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one gives up sovereignty

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the other claims sovereignty

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the directions are exactly opposite

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this is why what the Buddha said before he died matters so much

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he said

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be a lamp unto yourself

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let the Dharma be your lamp

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take nothing external as your lamp

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the Pali original actually says

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be an island unto yourself

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let the Dharma be your island

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a truly awakened person

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in the last moment of his life

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did not say you must remember me forever

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did not say you must worship me

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what he said was

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go back to yourself

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refuge in the Buddha

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is not taking refuge in that man

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it is taking refuge in the possibility he proved

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next refuge in the Dharma

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dharma

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Sanskrit dharma

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this word carries very rich meaning in Buddhist thought

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but in the context of the threefold refuge

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at its core it means the methodology the Buddha taught

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notice

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methodology

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not dogma

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not commandments

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not facts you have to memorize for an exam

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the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths dependent origination the Eightfold Path

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we took those apart in the last two episodes on the Agamas

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but refuge in the Dharma is not about memorizing those terms

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it is about a simpler and much harder question

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are you willing to use these tools to observe yourself

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let me give you an analogy

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imagine two operating systems for understanding the world

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the first one

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is the default system you have run since birth

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its core assumption is

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that there is a self

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and this self is real fixed and needs to be satisfied

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it needs to be protected recognized and loved

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satisfy it and you are happy

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threaten it and you suffer

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ignore it and you get anxious

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your entire life

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revolves around the needs of this self

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you know this system too well

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so well that you cannot even notice it running

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like a fish that does not know about water

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the second system tells you

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hold on

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this self is itself something constructed

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it is not an entity

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it is a feeling produced by a chain of mental processes

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you can go and observe it

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you can see how inside every single thought

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it gets created over and over again

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and all of your suffering

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does not come from bad things happening outside

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it comes from this system running frantically on a false premise

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refuge in the Dharma

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is you making a decision

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I am willing to try switching to the second system

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I may not use it well right away

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it may even crash a lot

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and keep switching back to the old system

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but I am willing to try

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this and believing a set of doctrines

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are two completely different things

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the Buddha himself gave a very famous analogy

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recorded in the Pali simile of the snake

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he said

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the Dharma I teach is like a raft for crossing a river

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you are on this side of the river

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the far shore is safe

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there is no bridge

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no boat

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you can only tie a raft together yourself

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and paddle across

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once you reach the other shore

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do you carry that raft on your back and keep walking

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or do you leave it at the shore

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obviously you put it down

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someone who teaches you to put down even the tool itself

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is he after your faith

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or your practice

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the answer is too obvious

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the Dharma is not there to be believed

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the Dharma is there to be used

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and once you are done

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the Dharma itself can be put down

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that is the deepest meaning of refuge in the Dharma

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it means

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that even your attachment to the Dharma

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must eventually be let go

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finally refuge in the Sangha

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this is the one that gets misunderstood the most

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many people think it means taking on a master

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picking a temple to belong to

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and doing whatever that master says from then on

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or a bit more loosely

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respecting monks supporting temples bowing to them

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these readings are not unreasonable

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but none of them touch the core

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sangha

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in Sanskrit sangha

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the Chinese seng is its short form

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and it means the harmonious assembly

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what is a harmonious assembly

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it is a group of people gathered around the same goal

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following shared rules

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forming a community that actually functions

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one episode of my history series covered the Buddha's monastic order

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that institutional design was way ahead of its time 2500 years ago

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it had democratic deliberation procedures

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an economic equality system

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and collective decision making

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but all of those institutions are just the shell

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the core function of the sangha

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is not institutions

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it is a mirror

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when you practice alone

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what is the biggest trap

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it is that you have no mirror

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you think you have figured it out

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but you just switched to a more refined self deception

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you think you have let go

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but you are just tired of fighting

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you think you are enlightened

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but you just built a prettier mansion of concepts in your head

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and you live inside it feeling good about yourself

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this is not because you are stupid

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or because you are not trying

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this is a structural flaw in human cognition

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everyone has cognitive blind spots

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and a blind spot is called a blind spot

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precisely because you cannot see it yourself

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you can see other people's blind spots

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you cannot see your own

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just as your eyes can see almost everything in the world

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except themselves

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you need another pair of eyes

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or rather

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you need a living mirror

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that is what the sangha is for

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not to teach you control you or judge you

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but in real shared living and practice

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to let you see what you cannot see yourself

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you might feel extremely calm sitting in meditation

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but five minutes with fellow practitioners

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and your envy your competitiveness your need for control

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all come rushing out

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that mirror is not hanging on a wall

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it is alive

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it will collide with you

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and in that collision show you what you least want to see

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refuge in the Sangha

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is you admitting

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I cannot walk this path alone

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not because I am not strong enough

285
00:09:37,399 --> 00:09:41,333
but because human cognition has a built in structural hole

286
00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:43,853
you cannot see what you cannot see

287
00:09:44,318 --> 00:09:46,613
you need fellow travelers to reflect it back

288
00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:47,994
alright

289
00:09:47,994 --> 00:09:49,028
the threefold refuge is taken apart

290
00:09:49,153 --> 00:09:50,312
let us step back

291
00:09:50,314 --> 00:09:52,888
and look at what this whole thing is really doing

292
00:09:52,954 --> 00:09:53,508
refuge in the Buddha

293
00:09:53,793 --> 00:09:55,569
I confirm the direction works

294
00:09:55,673 --> 00:09:56,189
refuge in the Dharma

295
00:09:56,474 --> 00:09:58,168
I accept a methodology

296
00:09:58,393 --> 00:09:58,908
refuge in the Sangha

297
00:09:59,234 --> 00:10:01,609
I join a community of practice

298
00:10:01,954 --> 00:10:02,388
direction

299
00:10:02,714 --> 00:10:03,148
method

300
00:10:03,393 --> 00:10:04,288
community

301
00:10:04,474 --> 00:10:05,473
does it strike you

302
00:10:05,474 --> 00:10:09,388
that this structure looks a lot like something we moderns know well

303
00:10:10,221 --> 00:10:13,860
Thomas Kuhn wrote a hugely influential book in 1962

304
00:10:13,861 --> 00:10:15,336
called The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

305
00:10:15,861 --> 00:10:18,716
in it he describes how scientists complete

306
00:10:18,782 --> 00:10:21,356
the shift from an old paradigm to a new one

307
00:10:21,629 --> 00:10:22,428
step one

308
00:10:22,461 --> 00:10:25,956
he confirms the new paradigm explains more than the old one

309
00:10:26,262 --> 00:10:27,517
this is refuge in the Buddha

310
00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:28,621
step two

311
00:10:28,621 --> 00:10:31,757
he learns the new paradigm's core framework and research methods

312
00:10:31,941 --> 00:10:33,116
this is refuge in the Dharma

313
00:10:33,620 --> 00:10:34,382
step three

314
00:10:34,382 --> 00:10:37,196
he joins the scientific community that accepts the new paradigm

315
00:10:37,262 --> 00:10:40,076
and does research with them using it

316
00:10:40,302 --> 00:10:41,476
this is refuge in the Sangha

317
00:10:42,511 --> 00:10:45,006
Kuhn especially stressed how important step three is

318
00:10:45,230 --> 00:10:48,046
he said a scientist truly completes a paradigm shift

319
00:10:48,151 --> 00:10:52,085
largely not because logic convinced him thinking alone

320
00:10:52,151 --> 00:10:54,685
but because he joined a new community

321
00:10:54,791 --> 00:10:58,406
and worked with the new paradigm there day after day

322
00:10:58,511 --> 00:11:02,605
only then did it turn from a theory into how he sees the world

323
00:11:02,830 --> 00:11:03,666
an isolated individual

324
00:11:04,031 --> 00:11:06,205
has a very hard time completing a paradigm shift

325
00:11:06,791 --> 00:11:09,805
the threefold refuge the Buddha designed 2500 years ago

326
00:11:09,871 --> 00:11:13,150
and the pattern of scientific revolutions Kuhn saw in the last century

327
00:11:13,151 --> 00:11:14,485
are almost exactly the same

328
00:11:14,671 --> 00:11:16,286
that is unlikely to be a coincidence

329
00:11:17,190 --> 00:11:18,589
the more likely explanation is

330
00:11:18,590 --> 00:11:21,349
that in different eras and different fields

331
00:11:21,350 --> 00:11:24,085
they touched the same underlying law about how human cognition

332
00:11:24,110 --> 00:11:27,046
goes through a fundamental transformation

333
00:11:27,952 --> 00:11:29,086
once you understand this layer

334
00:11:29,111 --> 00:11:31,527
you can answer a question that puzzles a lot of people

335
00:11:31,871 --> 00:11:34,711
why have some people taken refuge for ten or twenty years

336
00:11:34,711 --> 00:11:35,831
bowed countless times

337
00:11:35,831 --> 00:11:36,746
chanted countless sutras

338
00:11:37,072 --> 00:11:38,246
burned countless sticks of incense

339
00:11:38,312 --> 00:11:42,311
yet their thinking their emotional patterns how they treat people

340
00:11:42,312 --> 00:11:43,427
seem not to have changed at all

341
00:11:43,991 --> 00:11:45,750
they lose their temper just the same

342
00:11:45,751 --> 00:11:47,230
they nitpick just the same

343
00:11:47,231 --> 00:11:49,246
and not one of their attachments has dropped away

344
00:11:49,552 --> 00:11:50,947
because they performed the ritual

345
00:11:51,231 --> 00:11:52,886
but never started the reinstall

346
00:11:53,192 --> 00:11:55,270
they think taking refuge is an event

347
00:11:55,272 --> 00:11:58,687
an action completed on a certain day at a certain temple

348
00:11:58,751 --> 00:11:59,907
done and finished

349
00:12:00,152 --> 00:12:01,647
like getting a vaccine shot

350
00:12:01,912 --> 00:12:03,966
but taking refuge is not an event

351
00:12:04,631 --> 00:12:06,726
taking refuge is an ongoing process

352
00:12:07,072 --> 00:12:10,527
just as buying a programming book will not make you a programmer

353
00:12:10,631 --> 00:12:14,647
one ritual will not complete a fundamental shift in how you know things

354
00:12:14,952 --> 00:12:16,027
the ritual is the entrance

355
00:12:16,312 --> 00:12:18,047
but the entrance is not the destination

356
00:12:18,461 --> 00:12:19,655
so real refuge

357
00:12:19,981 --> 00:12:20,696
how do you test it

358
00:12:21,500 --> 00:12:22,915
it is actually very simple

359
00:12:23,341 --> 00:12:24,915
the way you see the world

360
00:12:24,981 --> 00:12:26,655
has it started to change

361
00:12:27,660 --> 00:12:29,956
when something makes you angry

362
00:12:30,140 --> 00:12:32,596
is your first reaction to rush out and fight

363
00:12:32,740 --> 00:12:35,275
or can you find half a second of gap

364
00:12:35,300 --> 00:12:37,295
to look at the anger itself first

365
00:12:38,101 --> 00:12:40,356
when you badly want something

366
00:12:40,540 --> 00:12:42,716
can you find one moment

367
00:12:42,780 --> 00:12:45,356
where the desire is not just dragging you along

368
00:12:45,420 --> 00:12:46,635
and you actually see

369
00:12:46,660 --> 00:12:47,696
I am wanting

370
00:12:48,020 --> 00:12:49,096
as a thought in itself

371
00:12:49,842 --> 00:12:50,317
if you can

372
00:12:50,562 --> 00:12:52,201
even if only once in a while

373
00:12:52,202 --> 00:12:54,457
then your refuge is already working

374
00:12:54,521 --> 00:12:57,217
not because the ritual did anything mystical

375
00:12:57,241 --> 00:13:00,656
but because you are really running on that new system

376
00:13:00,682 --> 00:13:02,136
even if it only flickered for a second

377
00:13:02,481 --> 00:13:03,721
if there is none of that at all

378
00:13:03,721 --> 00:13:06,937
then that ritual was just a social event for you

379
00:13:07,281 --> 00:13:08,396
the dharma name is still only a name

380
00:13:08,601 --> 00:13:10,057
and you are still the same you

381
00:13:10,361 --> 00:13:11,736
the statue is still only a statue

382
00:13:11,842 --> 00:13:15,376
ten thousand bows will not awaken on your behalf

383
00:13:16,168 --> 00:13:17,203
finally I want to talk about

384
00:13:17,528 --> 00:13:18,727
refuge and faith

385
00:13:18,727 --> 00:13:20,423
and what fundamentally separates them

386
00:13:20,808 --> 00:13:22,362
in many religious traditions

387
00:13:22,767 --> 00:13:24,423
belief is the first requirement

388
00:13:24,648 --> 00:13:25,323
you believe first

389
00:13:25,648 --> 00:13:27,342
and then grace descends

390
00:13:27,648 --> 00:13:28,362
faith comes first

391
00:13:28,607 --> 00:13:29,622
experience comes after

392
00:13:30,127 --> 00:13:32,342
the direction runs from the top down

393
00:13:32,568 --> 00:13:36,622
God Allah or some supreme being exists first

394
00:13:36,688 --> 00:13:37,606
you believe in him

395
00:13:37,607 --> 00:13:38,622
and he comes to receive you

396
00:13:39,261 --> 00:13:42,516
the Buddhist refuge runs in exactly the opposite direction

397
00:13:42,861 --> 00:13:46,516
in the Kalama Sutta the Buddha said something very famous

398
00:13:46,820 --> 00:13:48,675
he told the Kalama people

399
00:13:48,861 --> 00:13:51,715
do not believe it because tradition has always said so

400
00:13:51,861 --> 00:13:54,396
do not believe it because scripture says so

401
00:13:54,501 --> 00:13:57,075
do not believe it because a teacher is an authority

402
00:13:57,220 --> 00:14:00,035
do not believe it because the reasoning seems to work

403
00:14:00,220 --> 00:14:02,715
only after you have practiced it yourself

404
00:14:02,820 --> 00:14:07,099
and confirmed it really lessens your suffering and grows your wisdom

405
00:14:07,101 --> 00:14:08,595
only then should you accept it

406
00:14:08,940 --> 00:14:10,675
sit with the weight of that statement

407
00:14:11,021 --> 00:14:12,415
the founder of a religion

408
00:14:12,781 --> 00:14:14,476
telling his own followers

409
00:14:14,580 --> 00:14:16,756
do not blindly believe what he says

410
00:14:17,229 --> 00:14:20,244
look at Christianity Islam and Hinduism

411
00:14:20,269 --> 00:14:23,244
which founder or prophet ever told believers

412
00:14:23,348 --> 00:14:24,264
do not believe what I say

413
00:14:24,428 --> 00:14:25,343
go test it yourself

414
00:14:25,828 --> 00:14:26,884
almost none

415
00:14:27,029 --> 00:14:28,963
but the Buddha said exactly that

416
00:14:29,029 --> 00:14:31,163
in the entire history of world religion

417
00:14:31,188 --> 00:14:32,963
that is extremely rare

418
00:14:33,188 --> 00:14:35,124
he is not asking for your faith

419
00:14:35,188 --> 00:14:37,843
he is inviting you to run the experiment yourself

420
00:14:38,517 --> 00:14:39,831
so the Buddhist refuge

421
00:14:40,156 --> 00:14:41,955
is essentially not I believe

422
00:14:41,956 --> 00:14:44,331
it is I have decided to verify this myself

423
00:14:44,877 --> 00:14:45,752
it is not the finish line

424
00:14:46,076 --> 00:14:47,012
it is the starting line

425
00:14:47,277 --> 00:14:49,355
not a one time oath

426
00:14:49,357 --> 00:14:54,012
but a choice remade every day and every moment

427
00:14:54,436 --> 00:14:55,872
every time you choose awareness

428
00:14:56,156 --> 00:14:57,636
instead of automatic reaction

429
00:14:57,637 --> 00:14:59,051
you are taking refuge in the Buddha

430
00:14:59,796 --> 00:15:03,531
every time observation replaces instinctive fighting and fleeing

431
00:15:03,597 --> 00:15:05,012
you are taking refuge in the Dharma

432
00:15:05,716 --> 00:15:09,555
every time friction with others shows you your own blind spot

433
00:15:09,556 --> 00:15:11,691
instead of only other people's problems

434
00:15:11,956 --> 00:15:13,411
you are taking refuge in the Sangha

435
00:15:13,864 --> 00:15:14,619
refuge in the Three Jewels

436
00:15:14,984 --> 00:15:16,1000
is really refuge in three capacities

437
00:15:17,224 --> 00:15:18,300
the possibility of awakening

438
00:15:18,625 --> 00:15:19,439
this is the Buddha

439
00:15:19,824 --> 00:15:21,420
the methodology for observing your own mind

440
00:15:21,704 --> 00:15:22,520
this is the Dharma

441
00:15:22,785 --> 00:15:25,664
the courage to face your blind spots among fellow travelers

442
00:15:25,665 --> 00:15:26,479
this is the Sangha

443
00:15:26,977 --> 00:15:29,216
these three things are not in any temple

444
00:15:29,217 --> 00:15:30,616
not in any ritual

445
00:15:30,618 --> 00:15:32,352
not in any dharma name

446
00:15:32,658 --> 00:15:33,572
so where are they

447
00:15:34,418 --> 00:15:36,393
the character gui in refuge already told you

448
00:15:36,737 --> 00:15:36,932
gui

449
00:15:37,418 --> 00:15:38,153
come back

450
00:15:38,577 --> 00:15:40,072
come back to yourself

451
00:15:40,498 --> 00:15:41,212
these three things

452
00:15:41,737 --> 00:15:42,793
have been there all along

453
00:15:43,378 --> 00:15:45,112
you are not going out to find something new

454
00:15:45,658 --> 00:15:48,793
you are finally turning around and seeing what was always there

455
00:15:49,713 --> 00:15:52,067
what does taking refuge mean to you

456
00:15:52,473 --> 00:15:55,471
did you decide in one moment to walk this path

457
00:15:55,473 --> 00:15:57,191
or did you only realize looking back

458
00:15:57,192 --> 00:15:59,348
that you had been walking it all along

459
00:15:59,792 --> 00:16:01,232
tell me in the comments

460
00:16:01,233 --> 00:16:03,008
I am really curious about your experience

461
00:16:03,192 --> 00:16:03,868
I am Leo Wang

462
00:16:04,192 --> 00:16:04,947
see you next episode