Refuge in Buddhism

And somebody else in Ottawa asked me to talk a little bit about the three jewels or the three gems and the precepts.

So, as usual, I like to combine these things together, because if you just talk about things like the triple gem or precepts, it can be a bit too theoretical.

And actually, if you explain how these things are actually used in daily life, for example, someone like me who flies around, how can you actually use these things to make your job more peaceful and more tolerable and more enjoyable? because it's true i do fly a lot there's many people i get to know personally now in perth airport even our librarian abby if she's here there she is in the front i keep meeting your cousin at the immigration Let alone all the other people who stamp my passport, who say hello, and where are you going this time? And you do spend a lot of time up in the aircraft.

I know that sometimes people think that that's not environmentally good because of all the greenhouse gases which jet aircraft spew into the atmosphere.

Peace, wisdom and compassion.

Your refuge in life.

That's for me the triple gem.

That's why it's a gem.

You can definitely go and practice whatever religion you want to.

So as Buddhists, you take the Triple Gem.

You put your faith in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, and the goal is there when you do that, like, oh, you know, I believe in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha on my path towards awakening.

And when you leave that, Buddhism doesn't look at that as being, oh, you know, it's a punishment or whatever.

We could translate it as trust.

And in particular, it is the faith, conviction, confidence, trust in the triple gem, in the teaching of the Buddha, that the Buddha truly has realized supreme awakening, that the sangha of enlightened disciples of the Buddha is practicing the direct way, the way leading out of suffering.

That is meant by that faith.

And from there, it moves now in a positive direction because if we have faith, conviction, if we have affection and devotion to the Buddha, to the triple gem, what is that condition for? For gladness, for joy.

So it's a quite remarkable placement here of that first of the five faculties, saddha.

Conviction, faith, confidence is the first of the five spiritual faculties.

Even more so if you have seen any of those beings who are very advanced or even complete in their practice, and one can kind of sense that they have no suffering or at least very little suffering compared to me.

It's very hard to say whether from externally, without the deep psychic powers, now can I know externally whether someone has no suffering at all? But for all, uh, reasonable observation, it appears [laughs] that they are in a very, very good state, and this further confirms that.

Homage to the Triple Gem.

So when I was a young monk, the senior teachers would sometimes emphasize this concept of time and place, that there's a right time and a right place for everything.

And it's this concept of time and place that allows a person to unify what we might call opposites.

For without refuge in these three, there is no salvation, there is no freedom, there is no happiness.

It is our acknowledgement of this fact that we demonstrate through our seeking refuge in the Noble Triple Gem.

We will then observe the precepts which are our stepping stones of morality and virtue.

as we undertake upon ourselves this journey to purification.

Be there and then be there.

Let's do the merit transfer then and bring the servant to a close.

Let us take this moment then to transfer the merits that we have all acquired today by making offerings to the infinite virtues of the Noble Triple Gem.

And by inviting the swami and master to deliver the sermon as well as creating a conducive environment for all to practice the Dhamma, First and foremost, let us transfer this mess to the bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, upasikas and upasikas, who have since time immemorial protected and preserved the sublime teachings of the Buddha and passed it down through the generations of the noble lineage in the form of the Tripitaka, which is thankfully available to us today to study, understand and comprehend the Dhamma.

And the Sangha is the community of beings who have realized that.

So if we have faith in the Triple Gem, if we have faith in that, we can go beyond that, we can escape You need to have something to escape to, so to speak.

To just put an end to nothing, there wouldn't be really an escape.

So nibbana is not nothing.

But it's not in the gods or ghosts or demons or anything like that.

It's faith in him and the rest of the Triple Gem, the Dhamma and the Sangha, and faith in oneself and the qualities that one can develop.

And when we look at the texts, what I find really interesting is that what we see is that the texts themselves don't ever struggle with belief in that way.

Does this exist? Does that exist? In fact, the Buddha was against that very type of philosophizing, even about oneself.

Rather, this is our pledge of allegiance to the Buddha that represents the ultimate destination of happiness that is unconditional, the Dharma that represents the path to that destination, and the Sangha which represents our practice, our personal practice.

With this in mind, let us seek refuge in the Noble Triple Gem.

We will then observe the precepts.

And before we commence, we will invite the countless sentient beings to join us and be amongst us as we remind ourselves that we owe them a debt of gratitude.

Intention is what matters always, every day.

Okay? Let's leave it there.

Let us all take a moment then to transfer the merits that we have all acquired today by making offerings to the infinite virtues of the Noble Triple Gem, inviting the Swami Nuwans to deliver the sermon, as well as creating a conducive environment for all to practice the Dhamma.

First and foremost, let us transfer these merits to the Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis, Upasakas and Upasakas, who have since time immemorial protected and preserved the sublime teachings of the Buddha and passed it down through the generations of the noble lineage in the form of the Tripitaka, which is thankfully available to us today to study, understand, and comprehend the Dhamma.