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Are the three jewels the best available spiritual bling?
lobster
Crusty Veteran
The word 'refuge', when we take refuge in the three jewels is not quite right in my mistranslation process.
Is it more like 'sanctuary', or 'I give confidence and trust'?
To me it is like I know these three things are precious ideals or archetypes . . . however I feel them less of a resource and more of something to be served than to have serve us . . .
What does 'refuge' mean for us?
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My relationship & understanding of taking "refuge" in the 3 jewels seems entirely dependent on where on the "self" to "selflessnss" scale I find myself.
You will notice how some of us cling to certain forms of emptiness.
'This is what is meant'. 'This is how it is' . . . that sort of thing. We all do it.
We might call that the exoteric form of the three jewels.
However just as in the diagram, we find the Buddha is us,
the dharma is our way of connecting to us.
The sangha too is us reflected in our internal processes or reflected in virtual or actual sangha . . .
. . . anyway that is my form of emptiness . . . any more?
A gold Jesus on a cross made of diamonds with rubies for the blood, dripping from his crown of thorns. This is the best spiritual bling, Get you right into heaven without any questions. Go an buy one.
Maybe we evoke or invoke the three jewels? Maybe we just need a flower like the zennists or the guru 3+ of the dorjeyanists?
http://www.kagyu.org/kagyulineage/buddhism/bec/bec00.php
Taking refuge in the Buddha -
Awakening without delusion;
Taking refuge in the Dharma -
Proper understanding without deviation;
Taking refuge in the Sangha -
Purity without pollution.
http://www.dharmaweb.org/index.php/Taking_Refuge_In_The_Three_Jewels_By_Master_Chin_Kung
No really...this was a real thread for me....made me think
my thoughts, And it was for the chewing after
an internet purge/break.....Gratitude for the insight
I got from this thread....
What does refuge mean for me?
Giving it my all dammit! Don't get me wrong...
I know there is no 'single me'....I'm empty of
that, but let's talk in terms....It takes a form to
take care of the garden. I need a me to do the
work, for now....yes, I'm still using the raft....so sue
me....hahaha. I have to put the effort up. Thats
where I'm at....anyway.....take it or leave it. The Temple
and @riverflow and the others there have my support,
metta, time, and love every minute I'm there and beyond. I am
practicing to the best of my understanding and
wisdom right now(which is forever changing)...and well...
May I continue to learn and
find wonderful experiences
with this religion. Yes, religion....I have faith in this....If i
didn't...I wouldn't take refuge....right? Formal refuge or
not.
What does refuge mean for us?
Seems to depend. On who I 'align' with.
different strokes for different folks....u know?
Like Sangha refuge, yes? Refuge in whatever
methods/practices/teachings, and their enforcement
that you are doing.
*reaches inside a pretend coat pocket and
pulls out a jewel*
refuge is
the abandoning of self
before Buddha, Dharma & Sangha.
It is important at the start of our mountain scaling, to work within the conventions of the three jewels. To give them our best intentions, to 'give it our all' as @Vastmind reminds us. This outer refuge remains our stabilising, just as some meditation returns to the breath . . .
We too must fulfil our Buddhist lay duty, to support and empower the three jewels. In a sense we do not 'take refuge', we give refuge/placement to the three jewels.
We are the light that makes them sparkle . . . or in my case, the windowlene . . .
"No Bling and All Bling is Spiritual.....and NOT!" "Now drink your tea!" A Rinzai master might say this while possibly whacking you up-alongside your head.
Having said this I prefer my S-Class Mercedes and Falcon 900EX.........
Bling... hmmm... my spiritual bling is my new Buddha statue, my incense burner, and my iPhone on which I am listening to a series of Ajahn Amaro dhamma talks.
The refuge for me is something that's still in front of me. Back in the Osho communes in 1985 we used to do the gacchami's, which is the refuge chant in Pali, so I have some history with it, perhaps it makes me formally a Buddhist. But I was young. To truly take refuge is something of the heart, it has to come at the right time.
At the moment my thing is self exploration, finding the places where I cling onto existence, or where I have built up repositories of the three poisons. I keep exploring the Buddhist lore, and things still reveal themselves, slowly, and I'm finding levers to move things deep within. To let go of old attitudes for a new, less certain future. I find it a tremendously liberating process.
Hopefully our refuge is always "in front" of us.
And on that note.....