Taking Refuge

Tonight I am taking refuge with Kilung Jigme Rinpoche. When I was first asked if I would be interested in doing so, I said I already had taken refuge. Meaning, I thought it was a one time event. Lo and behold, I can take refuge with any teacher I want a connection with. And wanting to become a student of Rinpoche, well, it just makes sense. Yet what does it mean?

Every morning we wake up and take refuge in something. The money we make, the things we have, the food or firewood or vehicle to get us to work, our charming good looks (for those of you that have them), charisma, sense of humor, or any other myriad of things. It also includes spiritual beliefs, be they dogmatic kinds or karmatic kinds. We all take refuge in something.

In taking refuge, we place our trust in the Three Jewels, which in Buddhism are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. What does that mean? Well, taking refuge in the Buddha means that I take refuge in the Buddha as a role model. We all have the potential for enlightenment, and so it means we take refuge in that aspect of ourselves as well, utilizing the Budhha and many other human beings who have become enlightened as role models. Taking refuge in the dharma means taking refuge in the teachings that have explained not only that nature, that vibrant, full emptiness which is reality, it also means the techniques and methods of learning that reality, mostly through meditation. And because there are people who are oriented certain ways, there are many forms of teachings. The end result is the same, the techniques just vary. And third, we take refuge in the sangha, the like-minded community. There is a saying of the monk Thogme, "When friendship with someone causes the three poisons (ignorance, passion, and anger) to increase, and degrades the activities of listening, reflecting, and meditating, and destroys lovingkindness and compassion, to dissociate from bad friends is the practice of a Bodhisattva." The sangha is that group of friends that keep you practicing is the best way to say it.

They also have fun with you. When I asked what was involved, they said I needed to cut my hair. Right now I have a bit of it. Did cut mean "cut," or did "cut" mean shave bald? They had some rather good poker faces. Rinpoche has fairly short hair, and I could go with that. Yea, my wife likes it longer, and I like her to like the way I look. And it keeps my head warmer during these rainy cool months. They actually let me hang on that for a couple days before telling me they were teasing me.  

All told, it sounds like I learn to trust in myself and my fellow humans. I can't think of anything more worthwhile. There are no false hopes to throw myself on, no false messiahs, just myself. My enlightenment doesn't count on anyone other than myself. It's called a practice for a reason. If you do it, you get results. No one can do it for me, no one can discover me for me, they can only offer tools that have helped them and I can see if it works for me. Which again reflects back to the many varied teachings of Buddhism: they are a whole bunch of different tools if you will. Some tools will work for me, and not others.

So when I wake up every morning, and when you wake up, whay will we put our trust in?