Taking Refuge

by 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje

There are four major reasons why we should take refuge in the Three Jewels:

1. We can free ourselves form fear ─ In the Jataka Stories, an ill-willed person was trying to harm the Buddha by releasing a mad elephant, but the animal was tamed and subdued by Buddha's fearlessness. Even animals show great respect for the Buddha. This shows that Buddha had vanquished all fears from his mind.

2. To gain Wisdom and help others to eliminate their Fears ─ Why do we say that with wisdom one can help others eliminate their fears? If we have liberated ourselves from fear but do not know how to help others, then it is like a mother without arms, who can do nothing but watch her beloved son being washed away by the flood. The Buddha possesses tremendous skilful means in helping and taming sentient beings. In ancient India, Buddha Sakyamuni once tamed and transformed an evil person called Angulimalya with just a few words of wisdom.

3. To generate Great Compassion with equanimity The Buddha not only applied skillful means to his family members or relatives but also to all sentient beings without discrimination. Regardless of the far or the near, the close or the remote, the Buddha's compassion extended to all of them equally. The Buddha had a cousin called Devadatta. Due to jealousy, he always wanted to compete with the Buddha. One day Devadatta was seriously sick due to medicine indigestion. Upon knowing this, Buddha exclaimed, "If I love Devadatta as dearly as my own beloved son Rahula, then may Devadatta be cured immediately." Due to the true sincerity of the Buddha's words, Devadatta was healed instantly. This attests to the Buddha's Great Compassion is unbiased and equal.

4. To be able to help all beings ─ regardless of whether they are helpful to us or not. The Buddha's Great Compassion is not limited to his loved ones or to his enemies, but also extended to complete strangers and to many others regardless of whether they are helpful to Him or not. In many stories of the Buddha, the Buddha was said to be friend with great kings and had spent time as well with low-caste beggars in order to help them. These activities truly deserve our praise and veneration.