The following notes have been excerpted from the book, The Essential Nectar: Meditations on the Buddhist Path, by Geshe Rabten.

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Overcoming the Causes of Unfortunate Rebirth

Since we are carrying on our mind the imprints of past unwholesome actions, which will in future lives lead us into the realms of woe, we must now engage in the practice of Dharma to remove them.

The first step in eliminating these karmic traces is to recognize very clearly that the past actions were mistaken.

Secondly, based on this recognition, we must resolve not to be seduced by habit into repeating these actions. This is what we can do for ourselves.

Then, by going for Refuge to the Three Jewels, we can unite their liberating power with our own effort and become able to overcome the causes of unfortunate rebirth.

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Developing the Genuine Attitude of Seeking Refuge

Just as a person does not feel he must go to a doctor unless he is aware of having some sickness even if others advise him to, so we cannot take Refuge effectively unless we are aware that the ill destinies at least are of the nature of suffering. Thinking about the actions one has done in the past and the possibility of being reborn in ill destinies, one can develop the genuine attitude of seeking Refuge.

A mere verbal Refuge, just reciting the words, is not sufficient. One takes real Refuge when one’s mind is turned completely towards the Three Jewels of Refuge with perfect confidence.

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The Three Jewels of Refuge

(1) The Buddha Refuge is a being in whom all faults have been eliminated and all good qualities perfected. Such a being, with his unobstructed Wisdom-knowledge, his impartial Compassion, and his effortless Power, is concerned only to benefit others. His very purpose is to serve as a Refuge, and he is perfectly adapted to it.

We may wonder how it is that so many Buddhas have arisen, all perfect Refuges, and yet we are still suffering. Why have they not liberated us? In fact, the Buddhas always wish to help sentient beings, but the sentient beings have to make this possible by establishing a connection. It is like the way the sun shines everywhere it is allowed in, but cannot shine into a house whose doors are all closed and windows all shuttered. There is no failure on the sun’s part in not shining there.

We should think of ourself in relation to the Buddha as a sick person who is seeking treatment from a doctor.

(2) The Dharma Refuge is the realizations in the mind of an Enlightened Being, and his abandonments, the Truth of Cessation. These are the actual liberating Refuge because when we can generate them in our own mind, they liberate us.

The Dharma corresponds to the medicine or treatment prescribed by the doctor: by developing within oneself the Dharma that the Buddha has taught, one is liberated from the sickness of samsaric suffering. This requires effort from us: we have to practise. Just as the patient will not be cured merely by sleeping in a room full of medicines but must actually take the medicine prescribed, so we cannot be liberated just by wishing and sleeping in a room full of Buddhist texts. Practising the Dharma does not involve any external show but is a slow, internal process of changing one’s mental orientation.

(3) The Sangha Refuge is the Ultimate Sangha, all the beings who by practising the Buddhist Path have become Āryas.

An Ārya being, besides having direct understanding of the ultimate nature of persons and dharmas, is able to abandon in succession layer after layer of faults and obscurations of the mind, with their causes; he may be said to be “in close contact with”, or inseparable from, these qualities of realization and abandonment.

Such Ārya Sangha are our undeceptive friends or helpers in the practice of the Dharma. Other beings are of unstable, constantly changing mind, and liable to degenerate; if we take refuge in such people we are likely to degenerate with them. Therefore, we must instead take as our companions the Ārya Sangha.

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The Need to Develop Faith in the Power of the Three Jewels

The Three Jewels are capable of acting as our Refuge, but from our own side we must develop faith in their power and turn our mind completely towards them. Then the thought of Refuge will arise in our mind.

We need be in no doubt that through this thought of Refuge we shall be able to accumulate a vast amount of merit and eliminate all possibility of being reborn in realms of woe. If the merit of taking Refuge had form, the whole world could not contain it. It could not easily be exhausted – one might as well try to empty the ocean by taking one spoonful of water each day.

Once a god of the heaven of the Thirty-three perceived that he was about to die and be reborn as a pig. Generating regret for the action which was to cause this rebirth, he took Refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and was able to avert it.

Faith in the Three Jewels is the basis of all Dharma practice. Without faith, our practice cannot succeed, therefore we must develop it. 

Aware that samsaric existence in general is suffering and that the three ill destinies in particular are extremely terrifying, we must take Refuge now in the Three Jewels, which will guarantee our avoiding these destinies. 

So, to prevent our entering the realms of woe, we take Refuge:

(1) In the Buddha as the Teacher.

(2) In the Dharma as that which we must develop in our mind.

(3) In the Sangha as our helpers.

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Six Practices that Relate to all the Three Jewels

There are six practices that relate to all the Three Jewels:

(1) We should go for Refuge again and again, recollecting the differences and the qualities of the Three Jewels.

(2) Remembering the kindness of the Three Jewels – whatever good situation we are in is due to them – we should offer them the first part of whatever we eat and drink. Some people claim that there is a major difference between Christianity and Buddhism in that the Christian is helped by the grace of God, but the Buddhist is left to his own resources. In fact, the Buddhist practitioner receives from his Refuges an inspiration very similar to the Christian “grace”, except that it comes not from God but from the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

(3) Living among friends and relatives who do not practise the Buddhist Path, we should be very compassionate towards them, recognizing how unfortunate they are to be spending their lives without the precious teaching. Without being too much of a missionary, we should try skilfully, especially by our own example, to lead them towards the Buddhist Refuge.

(4) When in difficulty, we should turn to the Three Jewels, praying to them with confidence that their power will enable us to solve our problems. If instead we ignore these Objects of Refuge and try to overcome the difficulty by other, worldly means, such as other people or material things, we shall not succeed.

(5) As the benefits of taking Refuge are limitless, we should try to generate the thought of Refuge every day, and recite the formula six times, three times each day and three times each night.

(6) We should be careful not to make jokes involving the Three Jewels. Also, we should not swear by them, to try and convince someone that what we are saying is true (even if it is).

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Eight Benefits that Accrue from Taking Refuge

According to the oral tradition, eight benefits accrue from taking Refuge and should be remembered when carrying out practice.

(1) To have generated the thought of Refuge is the measure of being a Buddhist. Whatever one says, one is not Buddhist if one has not generated this thought. Thus, Refuge is called the door of the Doctrine.

(2) Taking Refuge is the basis for taking the three kinds of vows – Prātimoksha, Bodhisattva, and Tantric vows. Having Refuge in one’s mind, if one takes these vows, they will be firm and steady.

(3) Even if we do not undertake such practices as prostrating and reciting mantras, taking Refuge has very great power to eliminate negative imprints.

(4) Taking Refuge also has very great power to accumulate a vast amount of merit.

(5) Taking Refuge thus closes the door to the realms of woe, by removing the causes for being reborn in them.

(6) Many people complain of being afflicted by spirits, unable to sleep and so forth, but if we take Refuge sincerely then the power of the merits it generates will make it impossible for spirits to harm us.

(7) Through sincerely taking Refuge, whatever one wishes is realized.

(8) Finally, through sincerely taking Refuge, we quickly approach Buddhahood.

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It is important to meditate on these teachings on the practices of Refuge, as even if one has already produced the true thought of Refuge, living with people hostile to Buddhist practice can cause one to lose all enthusiasm. We should remember the kindness of the Three Jewels and the benefits of taking Refuge in them – and encouraged by understanding the benefits, try to follow the practices taught here, aware of what we should and should not do.

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Source: Based on Rabten, Geshe. The Essential Nectar: Meditations on the Buddhist Path. Edited by Martin Willson. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2014.

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