Motivated by fear of the sufferings of rebirth and the lower realms of samsara, a Buddhist is one who takes refuge (takes refuge) in the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma (the teachings) ), and Sangha (spiritual community). A Buddhist, through practice and experience, knows that the Three Jewels have the power to protect them from falling into the lower samsara realms. The eleventh century teacher Po-to-wa, while visiting a monastery, noticed that even among the elderly teachers sitting in prayer there were a few who were not Buddhists. Many of them lack a proper understanding of the Three Jewels. It is the refuge that strengthens the wish to attain Nirvana. The Buddha is completely liberated from all delusions and defects, he is endowed with all good qualities and has attained wisdom that dispels the darkness of ignorance. Dharma is the result of His Enlightenment. After attaining Enlightenment, a Buddha teaches, and what he (be it male or female) teaches is called Dharma. The Sangha was founded by those who entered into the practice of the teachings given by the Buddha. These are the basic definitions of the Three Jewels. The activity of the Buddha was to give teachings and show the way. The activity or function of Dharma is to dispel sufferings and their causes, which are delusions. It is the duty of the Sangha to rejoice in doing this Dharma practice. You must look at the Buddha with respect. Your attitude towards the Dharma should be one of aspiration, an effort to create the experience of the Dharma in your mind, and you must see the Sangha as good intellectuals participating in the progress of the path. The Buddha is the Teacher who shows us the way to Enlightenment, The Dharma is the real refuge, where we seek protection from suffering, and the Sangha is composed of spiritual companions through the stages of the path. One of the benefits of taking refuge is that all the negative actions you have committed in the past can be purified, as taking refuge requires accepting the Buddha's guidance and following the path of good. happy. Most of the negative actions you have committed in the past can be mitigated or reduced and your store of merit increases. Having sought refuge in the Three Jewels, we will be protected not only from harm in the present, but also from the scourge of rebirth in samsara in the lower realms, and can quickly attain the Perfect Enlightenment of Buddhahood. We must never give up the Three Jewels, even at the cost of his life. There have been many cases of Tibetans being forced to renounce their beliefs. Many responded that they could not deny their faith and chose to give up their lives instead. This is the true commitment of refuge. Venerable Tsong-kha-pa said that if your fear and conviction are merely words, then refuge is just words, and if your fear and conviction in the capacity of the Three Jewels If you can protect yourself from such a deeply rooted fear, your refuge will also be very effective. It is the objects of refuge that achieve a state of complete freedom from fear and suffering. If the objects themselves do not achieve such a state, they will not be able to protect us, just as a fallen person cannot help you to get up. Those to whom we seek protection must be freed from suffering and fear; otherwise, although they may have the desire to do so, they will not be able to protect us. Buddha Shakyamuni not only freed himself from suffering and fear, he was also very skillful in leading sentient beings to the Right Path. We can understand this clearly by thinking about the different teachings that the Buddha gave to suit the different interests and dispositions of sentient beings. He left behind teachings that can affect us regardless of our level of spiritual development. When we realize the importance of this, we will also begin to respect all the religions of the world, for the very purpose of the teachings of all religions is to help others. Tsong-kha-pa said that if you reflect on the great qualities that make up an object of refuge and develop a deep, one-pointed conviction in the three objects of refuge, there is no way to you are not protected. What we need is a deep sense of fear about the sufferings of the lower realms and confidence in the ability of the Three Jewels to protect us from them. We develop this trust by meditating on the qualities of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. The Buddha's compassion is unbiased. He makes no distinction between those who help him and those who do not. His work for the benefit of all sentient beings is unbiased. These standards are sufficient only in the Buddha, and so that he and his many forms and incarnations, along with the teachings he gave, and the community following his example entered his practice path, becoming a refuge (taking refuge). The Buddha's speech is the ability when asked about any or many different issues at the same time, it is known that he can understand the nature of all of them and can respond in a timely manner. a statement. As a result, the answers are consistent with the understanding of the questioner. The Buddha's wisdom can understand the whole range of phenomena, relative or absolute, just as he is looking at something in the palm of his hand. Therefore, all objects of knowledge are understood and are in the grasp of His wisdom. The mind of the Buddha is also omniscient. The reason a Buddha's mind can understand the entire range of phenomena without exception is that he has attained a state of complete freedom from all obscurations to understanding. obstruction). Obstacles are imprints or biases left in the mind by delusions — ignorance (ignorance) about the nature of reality, attachment, and anger — from beginningless time. When these traces are removed, we attain the state called Perfect Enlightenment, because there are no more obscurations of perception. We attain the Perfectly Enlightened state of mind, which knows the entire range of phenomena without any obscurations. The Buddha's mind was naturally moved by his inexhaustible compassion when he saw the suffering of sentient beings. At the beginning of the path, the Buddha developed intense compassion towards all sentient beings and, Through the course of the path, he brought that compassion to the highest level. Great compassion, which is a virtuous state of mind and is based on the clear nature of mind, has the power of infinite growth. The body, speech, and mind of the Buddhas are always actively working for the benefit of sentient beings. They fulfill the wishes of sentient beings and guide them through the stages of the path in a skillful manner appropriate to the different needs, interests and inclinations of beings. Tsong-kha-pa said that if your faith in the Buddha is firm, it is because you remember the great kindness and other qualities of the Buddha that your faith in the other two objects, the Dharma His teachings, and the Sangha, the spiritual community, will come naturally, and the entire Buddhist scriptures will be like your own personal instruction. So, Once you have developed strong faith in the Buddha, you must also develop strong faith in his teachings. Never criticize images of a Buddha, whatever the material or shape. You must respect the images as you respect the Buddha himself. When you have taken refuge in the Buddha, you should not care about what material the image is made of, but should give it a lot of respect no matter what it is. You should never use Buddha statues as objects to buy or sell or use as collateral. Once Atisha was asked by one of his disciples to comment on a statue of Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, and said that if Atisha found it good he would buy the statue. Atisha said that one cannot criticize Manjushri's physical form, but in terms of sculpture it is only average, then he placed the statue on his head as a sign of respect. By saying the work must be average, Mr. Atisha seems to mean it doesn't look great, so the artist needs to be more careful. Artists have a great responsibility when it comes to painting or sculpting statues with a good shape. Otherwise, there is a serious danger of causing many people to accumulate negative actions, because sometimes, due to the disproportionate appearance of the image, we cannot help but laugh. The method leading to the state of Full Enlightenment is the path. The path and the cessation of suffering constitute the Dharma, the true refuge. Dharma is something we cannot absorb immediately; it must be realized by a gradual process. Within the practice of taking refuge, you must be very skillful to be virtuous in avoiding negative actions. That is what is called Dharma practice. If you are afraid of the sufferings of life in the lower realms then you should transform your mind and prevent it from being absorbed in negative actions that cause your downfall. This depends entirely on whether you practice seriously or not, whether you adhere to the accumulation of virtuous actions and avoid doing negative actions, and then on whether you have faith in yourself. into the law of journalism or not. There are two different kinds of experiences, desirable experiences and undesirable experiences, each with its own cause. Suffering, which is an undesirable experience, is called the cycle of birth and death (samsara), and it stems from the delusions and negative actions that compel us to commit. The ultimate form of happiness, the desirable experience, is Nirvana, and is the result of Dharma practice. The root of suffering and of the lower realms of samsara are the ten negative actions (described in chapter 7). The desirable success and rebirth in the favorable samsara realms is made possible by keeping the virtue pure, or the practice of the ten virtuous deeds. To prevent you from having to be reborn in the lower realms and suffering there, you must put an end to their causes by turning your body, speech, and mind into virtuous actions. Your degree of commitment to rigorous practice depends greatly on how convinced you are, on how deeply you are convinced of the law of cause and effect, how fully you believe that the Unpleasant suffering and unhappiness as a result of negative actions, and how convinced you are of desirable outcomes, such as happiness, joy, and success, are the consequences of positive actions. Therefore, it is very important first of all to develop a profound conviction in the infallibility of the law of karma. Having taken refuge in the Dharma, as a affirmative commitment, one must show respect for the Buddhist Suttas. You should not step on even a single page of the Sutra, and the texts should be kept in a clean place. You should not have a possessive attitude towards the Sutras; Do not sell them or use them as collateral to borrow money. Don't leave your glasses or pens on top of classics. When turning pages, do not lick your fingers. It is said that the Venerable Geshe Chen-nga-wa used to get up when he saw the Sutras being carried by, but later because of old age he could not stand up, he would often clasp his hands together. When Atisha was in western Tibet, there was a tantric practitioner who did not receive teachings from him. One day, Atisha saw another Tibetan marking a sutra reading with a piece of food in his mouth. Atisha told him not to do so, and as a result the tantric practitioner saw Atisha's adherence to the precepts of taking refuge, he was greatly impressed and asked to become his disciple. We must also trust in the Sangha, the spiritual community. When we talk about the Sangha, we are mainly referring to noble people who, through their diligent practice, have grasped the Dharma in their own minds, and penetrated the nature of reality. The true Sangha are those who are always engaged in Dharma practice, who maintain the correct precepts, who are perfect in their observance of the precepts, and who are always truthful, straightforward, and pure in heart. , and filled with compassion. Once you have taken refuge in the Sangha, you should never insult any monk or nun who is living a religious life. You have to respect them. In the Sangha community you should not sect or hold any rivalry. In places like Thailand, the Sangha is highly respected. Because people revere them, monks should not do anything shameful that causes lay people to lose faith. In general, I don't think it's necessarily good to have a large sangha like in Tibet, but it's best to have really pure monks, even if it's just a small community. Whether or not you become a monk is a matter of personal choice, but once you have chosen to live the life of a monk or a nun, it is of course not a good thing to do an insult to the Dharma. On the other hand, not only is it not good for you, it also causes others to lose faith and accumulate useless negative actions. It is said that Drom-ton-pa did not step on even a small piece of red or yellow robes, because it represented the robes of monks and nuns. Mr. Tsong-kha-pa said that taking refuge is really the entrance to the Buddhist community, and if our refuge were not merely words and really a profound feeling, we would not be able to take refuge. harmed by others and will easily progress in our practice. Realizing these benefits, we should strive to strengthen our fear of suffering and develop a strong faith and conviction in the power of the Three Jewels to protect us from such suffering. We must try to make our practice of refuge as powerful as possible and try never to go against the precepts we have received. So, With awareness of death and fear of the lower realms of samsara, we will realize that the Three Jewels have the power to protect us, and are a true source of refuge. The Buddha is the Guru manifesting the true refuge, and the Sangha is like the good friends on the path to Enlightenment. The real refuge is the Dharma, because through the realization of the Dharma we will become free and be liberated from suffering. Dharma includes the cessation of suffering and the path to cessation. The absence of ignorance or liberation from delusions is called cessation. If we do not apply the appropriate antidote to our shortcomings or delusions, they will continue to arise. But after using the antidote, once ignorance has been completely uprooted, it will never arise again. Such a state, liberation from delusions or defilements of the mind, is called cessation. In short, whatever we wish to eliminate, such as suffering and its causes, can be eliminated through the application of opposing forces. The final cessation, also called Nirvana, is a state of complete liberation. The Buddhas, who are completely liberated, are inconceivable, the Dharma, which is their teaching, is inconceivable, and neither is the Sangha. Therefore, if you develop inconceivable faith, the results will also be inconceivable. It is said in the scriptures that if the benefits of taking refuge in the Three Jewels could be demonstrated, the entire universe containing them would become too small, like immeasurable oceans in your hand. . Remembering these great benefits, you should be glad for the opportunity to make offerings to and take refuge in the Three Jewels. You will be able to minimize the effects of negative actions committed along with karmic obscurations. All of them will be eradicated, and you will be counted as a noble person, which will please the Three Jewels.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).BUDDHIST DHARMA WHEEL GOLDEN MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THE WOMEN OF SAKYA CLAN CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.20/7/2021.VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THE WOMEN OF THE SAKYA CLAN CHAN TANH.