Monster Media 1994 #2/Monster Media No. 2 (Monster Media)(1994).ISO/text/bbessays.zip/ESSAY_21.TXT

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              BPS Newsletter Cover Essay #21 (Spring 1992)


                          REFUGE IN THE BUDDHA

                            by Bhikkhu Bodhi



   The first step in entering the Buddhist path is going for refuge to
   the Triple Gem, and the first of the three gems that we approach as
   refuge is the Buddha, the Enlightened One. Because the act of going
   for refuge to the Buddha marks the beginning of a new chapter in our
   life, it is worth our while to repeatedly pause and reflect upon the
   significance of this momentous step. Too often we are prone to take
   our first steps for granted. Yet it is only if we review these steps
   from time to time in a deepening awareness of their implications
   that we can be sure the following steps we take will bring us closer
   to our desired destination.

   The going for refuge to the Buddha is not a single action which
   occurs only once and is then completed with absolute finality. It
   is, or should be, a continually evolving process which matures in
   tandem with our practice and understanding of the Dhamma. To go for
   refuge does not imply that at the outset we already possess a clear
   grasp of the dangers that make a refuge necessary or of the goal
   towards which we aspire. Comprehension of these matters grows
   gradually over time. But to the extent that we have actually gone
   for refuge with sincere intent, we should make an earnest effort to
   sharpen and deepen our understanding of the objects to which we have
   turned as the basis for our deliverance.

   In going for refuge to the Buddha it is most essential at the outset
   to clarify our conception of what a Buddha is and how he functions
   as a refuge. If such clarification is lacking, our sense of refuge
   can easily become tainted by erroneous views. We may ascribe to the
   Buddha a status he never claimed for himself, as when we regard him
   as the incarnation of a god, as the emanation of the Absolute, or as
   a personal savior. On the other hand, we may detract from the
   exalted status to which the Buddha is properly entitled, as when we
   regard him simply as a benevolent sage, as an unusually astute
   Asiatic philosopher, or as a genius of meditative technology.

   A correct view of the Buddha's nature would see him in terms of the
   title he assigned to himself: as a Fully Self-Enlightened One
   (//samma sambuddha//). He is self-enlightened because he has
   awakened to the essential truths of existence entirely on his own,
   without a teacher or guide. He is fully enlightened because he has
   comprehended these truths completely, in all their ramifications and
   implications. And as a Buddha he has not only fathomed these truths
   himself, but has also taught them to the world so that others may
   awaken from the long sleep of ignorance and attain the fruits of
   liberation.

   Taking refuge in the Buddha is an act anchored in a particular
   historical individual: the recluse Gotama, the scion of the Sakyan
   clan, who lived and taught in the Ganges valley in the fifth century
   B.C. When we take refuge in the Buddha, we rely upon this historical
   individual and the body of instruction that stems from him. It is
   important to stress this point in view of the fashionable notion
   that taking refuge in the Buddha means that we take refuge in "the
   Buddha-mind within ourselves" or in "the universal principle of
   enlightenment." Such ideas, allowed to go unchecked, can lead to the
   belief that anything we contrive in the flights of our imagination
   can qualify as true Dhamma. To the contrary, the Buddhist tradition
   insists that when we go for refuge to the Buddha, we place ourselves
   under the guidance of one who is distinctly different from
   ourselves, one who has scaled heights that we have barely begun to
   glimpse.

   But when we rely upon the recluse Gotama as our refuge, we do not
   apprehend him merely as a particular individual, a wise and sensible
   sage. We apprehend him rather as a Buddha. It is his Buddhahood --
   his possession of the full range of excellent qualities that come
   with perfect enlightenment -- that makes the recluse Gotama a
   refuge. In any cosmic epoch, a Buddha is that being who first breaks
   through the dark mass of ignorance encompassing the world and
   rediscovers the lost path to Nibbana, the cessation of suffering. He
   is the pioneer, the trailblazer, who discovers the path and
   proclaims the path so that others, by following his tracks, may
   extinguish their ignorance, arrive at true wisdom, and break the
   fetters that tie them to the round of repeated birth and death.

   For the refuge in the Buddha to be genuine, it must be accompanied
   by a commitment to the Buddha as an incomparable teacher, as
   unexcelled and unsurpassed. Strictly speaking, the historical Buddha
   is not unique since there have been earlier Fully Enlightened Ones
   who have arisen in past epochs and there will be others who will
   arise in future epochs as well. But in any one world system it is
   impossible for a second Buddha to arise while the teaching of
   another Buddha is still extant, and thus in terms of human history
   we are justified in regarding the Buddha as a unique teacher,
   unequalled by any other spiritual teacher known to humanity. It is
   this readiness to recognize the Buddha as "the unsurpassed trainer
   of persons to be tamed, the teacher of gods and humans" that is the
   hallmark of an authentic act of taking refuge in the Buddha.

   The Buddha serves as a refuge by teaching the Dhamma. The actual and
   final refuge, embedded within the Dhamma as refuge, is Nibbana, "the
   deathless element free from clinging, the sorrowless state that is
   void of stain" (Itiv. 51). The Dhamma as refuge comprises the final
   goal, the path that leads to that goal, and the body of teachings
   that explain the practice of the path. The Buddha as refuge has no
   capacity to grant us liberation by an act of will. He proclaims the
   path to be traveled and the principles to be understood. The actual
   work of walking the path is then left to us, his disciples.

   The proper response to the Buddha as refuge is trust and confidence.
   Trust is required because the doctrine taught by the Buddha runs
   counter to our innate understanding of ourselves and our natural
   orientation towards the world. To accept this teaching thus tends to
   arouse an inner resistance, even to provoke a rebellion against the
   changes it requires us to make in the way we lead our lives. But
   when we place trust in the Buddha we open ourselves to his guidance.
   By going to him for refuge we show that we are prepared to recognize
   that our inherent tendencies to self-affirmation and grasping are in
   truth the cause of our suffering. And we are ready to accept his
   counsel that to become free from suffering, these tendencies must be
   controlled and eliminated.

   Confidence in the Buddha as our refuge is initially awakened when we
   contemplate his sublime virtues and his excellent teaching. It grows
   through our undertaking of the training. At first our confidence in
   the Buddha may be hesitant, punctured by doubts and perplexity. But
   as we apply ourselves to the practice of his path, we find that our
   defilements gradually lessen, that wholesome qualities increase, and
   with this comes a growing sense of freedom, peace and joy. This
   experience confirms our initial trust, disposing us to advance a few
   steps further. When at last we see the truth of the Dhamma for
   ourselves, the refuge in the Buddha becomes inviolable. Confidence
   then becomes conviction, the conviction that the Blessed One is "the
   speaker, the proclaimer, the bringer of the good, the giver of the
   Deathless, the lord of the Dhamma, the Tathagata."

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