Refuge Is the Common Ground

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.