Considering
that all vajrayana or diamond vehicle lineages
are intended and designed to help those
who
really want to discover the truth
of the Buddha's teachings
by the way of
experiencing their essence in this very lifetime,
it becomes obvious that there
needs to be
a common ground on which the work can proceed.
Refuge is that common ground.
The Buddha’s enlightened motivation was and, through the ongoing activities of
his lineage holders to the present day still is, to point out a workable path,
which leads from suffering to the liberation from suffering. It is a radical path that can guide us
where all concepts cease to matter, way beyond any clinging to a stagnant peace
– way beyond some kind of imaginary Buddhist Heaven, or misunderstood nirvana:
it can lead us to wakefulness in every instant, even in and through every
physical appearance.
If we wholeheartedly
want to enter and apply our energies to it, this path of wakefulness is
available to us all. For this, we need to agree with its overall purpose of
leading us from a sloppy, unskillful, and overall unwholesome to a decidedly
more orderly, more skillful, and more wholesome mode of being. Simply speaking, the Buddha’s intent,
if we can call it that is to make life a whole lot easier. Which is not the same as ‘comfortable’. Merely ’being comfortable’ is not
really the idea here, either. And
it cannot be. If the Buddha’s is a
path of emancipation from self- or mind-created suffering, ‘easy’ cannot
possibly figure in the equation. Sometimes the going on the path will get rough
and comfort only comes when we feel our way and go through unpleasant patches,
without sidestepping them.
If we want to
venture out on this path we need to say so before we start. We need to state our intention. We need to make it clear to self and
others that freedom from suffering for self and others is what we want to
pursue; wish to embody and share with all beings in all worlds. – Yes: the
outlook has to be impartial, all-encompassing. Otherwise the path will fall short of the goal of complete
wakefulness.
According to the Mahayana and Vajrayana discourses and instructions, we state this our
intention by taking refuge in the guru, the Buddha, the dharma and the
sangha. Thus, through mahayana
refuge, the guru (or Lama, in Tibetan) starts to play a pivotal
role in our life. Taking refuge is
the first step. It provides the energy link with a more enlightened kind of
family and friends whose help and support we need.
Now, there exist a
great many misconceptions about ‘gurus’ and no less about the idea of ‘taking
refuge’.
First of all, the
guru is not a god. Neither is he
or she a tyrant. He or she simply
plays out the role of an outer manifestation of our own inborn, yet hidden
sanity. Thus, the ‘guru’,
represents the mirror of the student’s, or any human being’s natural
wakefulness. Every human, and deep
down every other kind of being, too, has the seed of this awareness, this
wakefulness. But only few can
access it, live from it. Only in a
few it becomes a ripe, luscious, delightful fruit.
Similarly, as most
of us cannot wake up in the middle of the night or at 5AM without the support
of an alarm, most of us likewise cannot awaken from the deep slumber of our
mental projections and karmic hallucinations, without the help of fully
trained, authentic guru, or lama, who possesses an unbroken lineage.
Yet, the guru is
not who he or she is because of his or her status, or because of superior
birth. The guru’s ‘power’ is
solely based on the fact that he or she has submitted to and fully gone through
the same kind of training that we are requesting to undergo. From other areas of life we all know
that submitting to any kind of discipline will increase our command over this
particular area, and indirectly over all other areas of our own life – how much
more enlightened discipline!
Therefore, the secret of the guru’s ‘power’ lies in nothing else but the
fact that he or she has disciplined his or her mind with the help of the
Buddha’s teachings, by following his or her guru’s instructions and
example. By doing this, the guru
received all the necessary tools of time tested mind training, now at his or
her disposal, for helping us with the taming of our own minds.
Contrary to what is
written in some charmingly convincing books, if we are serious about our desire
for waking up from our mind’s confusion, we cannot do so without a guru. We cannot succeed by relying on our own
confused minds limited by the same kind of concepts, which allegedly we wish to
overcome. Undoubtedly, we need to first understand such concepts, and by
understanding, overcome them. For this, the input of someone who has gone
through the process before and knows the territory from experience is
absolutely required. Without him
or her, we’ll inevitably get lost. A confused mind cannot transcend
confusion. It is only good at
pretending. The ordinary confused
mind is a consummate liar.
In other words, we
need the guru because he or she embodies the hidden best in us, which through
the guru’s pointing-out instructions of the teachings and practices of the
Buddha, we will gradually rediscover.
If the ‘guru’ is
for real and not a fraudster or trickster, he or she will refuse to play god,
or slothfully content himself/herself with sitting on a pedestal, receiving
devotions and pat heads. It will
not occur to a genuine guru even in moments when he or she rightfully assumes
his or her seat on a throne for the practical purpose of offering a formal
teaching or of presiding over a ceremony to exhibit such pretense to
enlightened energy when there is none.
Again, being a
‘guru’ is a job, not about status.
Any real guru just wants to work with you and show you how you can work
with yourself, with your mind – and with the bodies and minds of countless
other beings that populate this universe, from your mother-in-law to some
troubled entity trapped in the bardo,
or some frightened and therefore angry nature spirit – or your cat, even your
car. The realm of enlightened
intent and activity is vast. The
guru pushes you into this vastness, propels you into selfless action.
From this logically
follows that taking refuge involves a lot more than seeking and clinging to a
safe haven from all of the world’s troubles that you ordinarily would rather
wish to avoid. When properly
understood and applied, taking Buddhist refuge is anything but an act of avoidance. In the words of the Vidyadhara Chogyam
Trungpa,
“Taking refuge is a leap. It is not so much leaping out as it is
leaping in. You are letting
yourself become as decent a person as possible. You are renouncing the samsaric ugliness that surrounds us,
and the pain that goes with it…. You begin to realize that things could be
orderly, peaceful, and right on the dot; and at the same time you see how
sloppy and confused the world is.
Therefore, you take refuge.
You vow to yourself that you’ll never give into that sloppiness.”
Likewise Lama Dawa
points out, in the teaching session before giving refuge that,
“When taking refuge in the guru, you are
actually taking refuge in your own awareness; when taking refuge in the Buddha
you are actually taking refuge in your own mind, inseparable from awareness;
when taking refuge in the dharma you are actually taking refuge in your own
word; and when taking refuge in the sangha you are actually taking refuge in
your own actions.”
The two short
quotes should suffice to clarify that taking Buddhist refuge, as the Buddha
himself would like it to be understood, does not have anything in common with
becoming someone’s, even the Buddha’s, blind follower. Sheep don’t have it in them to become
successful Buddhist practitioners.
Just pause and
think about the ramifications of these explanations for a moment: If you want, actually even can, take
complete refuge in your guru then you automatically understand how inseparable
his/her and your awareness are. If
this is the case, where does this inseparability leave the concept of ‘you’ vs.
‘him/her’? Where does the ‘guru’
end, and ‘you’ begin?
Likewise, if you
can take refuge in your own mind, you then can fully trust it, without a shred
of a doubt. But what kind of a
mind would it be, which you feel comfortable with, unreservedly, trusting? Can it be that mind that you know for
its fickleness, its ceaseless shifting viewpoints and positions? Can it really be the same mind that you
only know too well? And which
tires you to no end, with its lack of stability?
Or, if you can
trust, take refuge in your own word, your own speech, what kind of a speech
would it be? Can you take refuge
in mindless chatter, in lies and conceit?
What quality do your words need to have so that you can take refuge in
them?
How would it feel,
and what quality would your actions be made of, that you can seek refuge in
them, knowing that they will leave absolutely no negative traces, and no
positive ones either, to cling to – much like drawings in water, or clouds in
the sky, perfect gestures of reality itself.
What kind of being
in the world does such refuge reflect?
Ultimately, who is taking such refuge, and in what?
Of course, there
are many more aspects to and teachings on refuge that can open new horizons,
yet remain closer to what people would normally understand when first hearing
the word ‘refuge’. But even these
more common explanations all encourage taking action while simultaneously they
discourage the attitude of waiting for things to happen.
As was stated in
the beginning, no one can really enter the path of the Buddha without taking it
as his or her refuge. If we want to cross the river, we have to choose our raft
– and better make sure that it is solidly built. It may even need to be strong enough to withstand a
hurricane.
