Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A young child who bolts toward a parent at the first sign of danger provides Geshe Pema Tsering’s central image for the faith taking refuge requires, in this 44-minute commentary. He maps out the full structure of refuge: temporal versus ultimate, causal versus resultant, and three motivational scopes — small (seeking higher rebirth), middling (freedom from cyclic existence), and Mahāyāna (enlightenment for all beings). A counterintuitive point runs through the middle: samsaric enjoyments — wealth, comfort, a prosperous life — are themselves suffering, so asking the Three Jewels for prosperity is, paradoxically, asking for more. Unlike parents who eventually give up on an unreachable child, the Three Jewels never withdraw compassion — the failing is always ours. The session closes with a Q&A distinguishing the five lay vows from the refuge precepts that follow taking refuge.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 UTR 2002 07 11.mp3
UUID: 1c064482-6fab-45e2-b5c3-4344a0a50b76
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Understanding Taking Refuge (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2002-07-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.9 minutes
Words: ~3,370
So therefore, when we take refuge, always take Buddhadharma and Sangha, and then keep taking refuge in one’s teacher. And one should not think that they’re just ordinary person like oneself, see them as a real Buddha. And by doing so, then one receives the the the the the the protections from the the the Buddhas. And then and then and and see those the teachings of the spiritual teachers are the deeds of the Buddha itself and and practice them and their help practice. And for the spiritual friends, see them as a real supreme actual Sangha community or spiritual friends.
And and and by doing so, one yep. assist in the supreme beings and should not see as the outer living beings as and by doing so, one receives the blessings or or protections from the actual refuge. So now now in terms of taking refuge, which is protections, and and yeah, protect refuge and coming from the the teachings, yeah. Coming through going through the the monastic philosophical studies, then there comes the two two refuge, which is the refuge. Refuge or we say seek protection, actually, and there are two types.
It’s called the temporal refuge or protection and ultimate refuge and protection or protection So there are two two ways and different school texts or philosophical texts. Some says the temporal protection or refuge and the the ultimate refuge or the protection, and some says the conventional refuge and ultimate refuge. So whatever it is, the temporal refuge and the conventional refuge are the synonyms are same, and ultimate refuge is the ultimate refuge. So when we say the ultimate refuge, and ultimate refuge are on the actual Buddha’s actual refuge that that it has to be the Buddha itself, Buddha itself and the teachings of the Buddha, and and the spiritual community itself is the the person who have realized the emptiness directly, so that becomes only Buddhas. And the the temporal refuge or conventional refuge are are are are those bodhisattvas of the ten ground who have not attained enlightenment and and and those practitioners of the the the of the five paths of the solitary realizers’ hearer schools and even for the ordinary persons, that those are called the temporal refuge.
Right? And as we said earlier, there’s also called the causal refuge and the the resultant refuge. And the the causal refuge And the and the causal refuge are those the the the persons who give teachings and their qualities or their teachings, the person itself, their teachings, those are called the causal refuge, and it can be an ordinary person as well. But ultimate refuge ultimate ultimate causal refuge should be the the Buddha itself. And for the resultant refuge, it’s has two as well, the the temporal resultant refuge and the ultimate resultant refuge.
So the temp temporal resultant refuge are like the practices of three trainings of one’s practices and so forth are the the the temporal refuge. And at the very final stage when one actually attain enlightenment or become Buddha, and that is becomes the ultimate resultant refuge. So and and likewise same for the the spiritual community, the Sangha refuge. And the present spiritual community are the temporal refuge of Sangha. And at the end, at the end when they become a Buddha and they become the actual or ultimate Sangha refuge.
So those are the objects of refuge. So now we should we we take refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha, and how one take refuge, how one goes into refuge. And they they they should should should take refuge in Buddha as seeing Buddha as the spiritual teacher who shows us the path, and the teachings they’ve given are are taught by the Buddhists or the actual refuge with the Sangha and Dharma refuge. And that spiritual community who undertakes or company want to undertake the teachings or practices taught by the the the teachers or the Buddhas or or the the third refuge, the Sangha refuge. And now we take refuge in in Buddhadharma and Sangha, and which means taking refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha means seeking protections or help.
And and where we need to be protected is is from the sufferings of the lower rebirth, sufferings of the cyclic existence, and the the the the and and protection from so called the obscuration towards omniscient, which means the the the practitioners of the Mahāyāna practitioners who who are entered the Mahāyāna path, they have a fear or or the sufferings of the which is suffering, which is called obscuration towards omniscient. So in order to take help or seek protection from need to yeah, to from those sufferings of of lower lower rebirth’s cyclic existence and the sufferings of the obscuration towards omniscient, So in order to in order to seek help to free from those sufferings, first one needs to recognize those sufferings beforehand. And for the suffering of lower rebirth, it’s quite easy for us to see or recognize because we can actually see that they’re going through the sufferings of suffering. And the it the most difficult is to see the sufferings of Sarkhi existence. And before seeking refuge from Buddhadharma and Sangha to protect oneself from the suffering of cyclic existence, it’s very important one to recognize or acknowledge the sufferings of the cyclic existence.
And if one is not careful enough, then prop one, there is a danger of oneself asking for Buddhas or or the refuge to give the suffering to oneself, which means is, for example, some some people might seek refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha to protect oneself and have the prosperous life and so forth and all the wealth and so forth. By saying this, then one’s actually asking the sufferings or saying, may I have the enjoyments and good wealth and so forth in this present life? So actually all those wealth and self enjoyments of this life in which you are seeking is also the suffering. Do you get the point? Because all these enjoyments of this cycle of this cyclic existence or the this present life in reality, but they are the nature of suffering.
But what happens is we because of our lack of understanding, we can’t recognize or see them as a suffering. And sometimes what happens, we know that they are by nature, those enjoyments of the samsaric existence are suffering. And we know that we read text or we receive teaching so forth, they understand they are suffering, they are suffering, but but but we still cultivate those. And so so it is very hard to see those enjoyments or happiness of the samsaric existence as a suffering and that that’s this difficult point where we people can’t see them as a suffering. So when we say attain attain arhat or liberation, so the actual the arhat or the liberation, which means where one one one is seeking a wishing to be liberated from those happiness of the samsaric existence.
So so by seeking refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha, by saying that that that as far as one is in the samsaric existence, one only undergoes through the sufferings. Therefore, the seeking protection from a refuge from the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha in order to in order to free oneself from the cyclic existence, and such refuge will become the refuge of middling scope. And as for the refuge, they are called the three ways of refuge. So for the refuge of body, speech, mind. And saying that seeking protections from Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha from the cyclic suffering of cyclic existence through rebirth and so forth, and with such refuge one does the prostrations and so forth.
Those are the the refuge, the the from body body body, body refuge, prostrations and so forth. And then with such protection and reciting prayers and reading texts and so forth are the the speech refuge. And and then the the mind is inside oneself and actually take refuge single pointedly, you know, ultimately good refuge in the Buddhism and Sangha is the mind’s refuge. And in terms of this, the mind is the most important because because the speech and the actions so the body, those actions are influenced by the mind. So if one has a proper refuge in mind, mentally one has huge refuge, then the second the first two, the speech and the body, will automatically come.
So and then in terms of the practices, they are also called the the the three refuge, another another three refuge, which are the refuge of the person, the middling scope small scope, middling scope, and the great scope. And the the ref mid refuge of the small scope is that one one develops the fear towards the sufferings of the lower rebirth and to going into refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha seek asking or seeking help to protect one from the sufferings of the lower rebirth and have the attainment of high rebirths like gods and the the humans and so forth. Such refuge is called the refuge of small scope. It. The the the the small scope refuge is become like like one is cultivating a seeking saṃsāra, a cyclic existence because one is only seeking a refuge or help to free one only from the sufferings of the lower rebirth.
That means wishing to have higher rebirth. That means that one is still wanting to be in a cyclic existence or in saṃsāra. And and then and the middling scope refuge, which is which we have set forth earlier that one develops a fear towards the sufferings of the cyclic existence and seeking protection from the suffering yeah, to to be help one from seeking help from the refuge object to help one from from the sufferings of the cyclic existence that is the middling refuge of middling scope. And and speaking of all this refuge, some it there could be a danger that our refuge may not even become a refuge of small scope itself. So and for the best, it is one should try to develop a refuge of this great scope, which is the Mahāyāna refuge.
And in terms of Mahāyāna refuge, there are many levels that for the best, it is good to seek refuge on Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha in order to help yeah. Seeking help from Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha to help both oneself and other to reach the enlightenment or become Buddha. So even if one fails to do, asking them protection from entire sufferings and bring them let them to to the Buddha Buddhahood. And even if one fails then, it is and this and for next to that, one can seek that refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha to to let oneself attain enlightenment in order to help sentient beings. And and for the least, should see that they’re seeking protection from Buddhadharma and Sangha to at least free oneself and sentient beings from the suffering of the cyclic existence and bring them to let them have the the happiness of nirvana or, yeah, nirvana or arhathood.
So briefly speaking, then the Mahāyāna refuge or the the refuge of the great scope is that that seeking protections, help from Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha and and yeah, their help their help to free both oneself and entire sentient beings free from entire sufferings. That is the attaining enlightenment. So the the the the the definition of the refuge is that having fully have the the the faith and devotion in Buddhadharma and Sangha, the refuge, and and and and yeah. And and and asking seeking help from them to to Yeah. Seeking help from Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha to be free from any of the sufferings is called is the refuge, the definition of refuge.
So having trust or or devotion and the faith in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and that and and and seeking help from them. When we say, what sort of the the trust or faith which we need, require is for example, like a kid who is about, say, four, five, or six, who can walk and so yeah. Four, five, or six, and happened to be an entire parents there, and then they’re playing in in the ground. And and and it’s some the other boy is going to, you know, dare or come to fight or so forth. The kid will no matter what happens, the kid will first scream the names of the parent and run towards the parent, which they have a full trust or faith that they will help.
So this this sort of refuge with faith, which we need to have in the the refuge of Buddhadharma and Sangha. Because it is so true because at the very the little kid when they’re playing and they have they have a fear like somebody the bigger is going to beat him or her or some fear coming and they have a fear towards whatever is coming and want they do not wish that suffering and need a help to to be free from those suffering, and all they have a faith in parent that they have been looking after the kid for a long time and they will be nice and so forth. This is how they have fully trust and run towards the parent. And then and then And then the kids will grow up and up, and they have more and more thoughts coming in their brain, and and then then keeping distance from the parent. And for the worst, you know, they don’t listen at all, and they don’t even bother.
And then at this stage, you know, we are sort of like in a forties or age twenty four, twenty five, and there’s a song in Tibetan, you know, I’m twenty five, so cool, blah blah blah. And and thinking, like, growing up, you know, I don’t need to depend on my parents and so forth. I’m capable. I can look after myself and so forth. So we are sort of like this at this stage saying, well, I’m perfectly alright.
I don’t need help from Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. I can handle myself and so forth. This is how it happens because kids kids grown grown up, and then they think they’re alright and so forth, and they don’t listen, and I can look after myself and so forth. And then because they have that such thought and so forth, and then and they don’t really trust parents and so forth. And then it have the distance forms, and the parent will also not keep distance from their kids or their child, and then they go out and look far, far, far.
And at the worst, at the end, they won’t it happens. There’s no communication or no connection at all between the parent and the child. And then at the end, the parents will seem started just don’t bother about the child at all, and they don’t listen and so forth, and they don’t care, and then they just at the end, they will just give up with their kid child, you know, who is not not listening on anything. So you give up from parent side as well. Well, the refuge, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are not like that.
No matter how far distance you do, don’t listen, do opposite things, Buddha says so forth, But they never feel distance for you. They have a great compassion and love for entire sentient beings. They care for you. They’re always watching and thinking which is the best way to help. And they are just looking for a moment regardless of whatever you’re doing.
The fall is on your side because you’re not converting or going through the direction and going through doing opposite all the time. But this is how we go through the sufferings because it’s our fault and we don’t do what they said. They always have love and compassion, great compassion, and want to help all the time no matter what you do. But it’s entirely our fault. So therefore therefore, it is one should take refuge with the with the hundred percent the faith and trust in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
And and and and due to this, then they have come great compassion in all the time. And by such such devotion, faith, and conviction, and wouldn’t take refuge, and one receives the the blessings of the the refuge. Got it. So just taking refuge and fully trust in Buddhism and Sangha by willingly accepting. So whatever it happens, either happiness or good or so forth, and all the time, I seek help and refuge in Buddhism and Sangha.
And the motive is to attain enlightenment for the sake of motherly sentient beings, so to help them and going and leaving everything up to them. Got it. So doing such refuge, then we we we our practice of refuge become a proper or pure refuge. And as a result of those, we will receive the benefits of the refuge. And we by taking refuge, and we receive the pure refuge, we receive the benefits of the taking refuge.
And as stated in the sutras or in the text, say that if the the the merit one can earn or cultivate from taking refuge is a form, then the entire three thousand universes is small for that matter. It is like that it is impossible to measure the the the water of the ocean. The it is impossible to to measure the ocean water with one’s hand, you know, like scooping with the hand.
It’s impossible to measure the water of the ocean, and and that is the benefit of of taking refuge once. So we’ll stop here. That concludes the refuge part. Take a couple of questions if you have. Yeah?
Yeah. It’s true because they are the five vows for lay vows. And they’re saying that the lay practitioner with the one or two or three or four or fully lay practitioners, there is a version like that, which is out of the five some make the pledge of taking one vow out of five, some take two, and some take it depends on numbers, how much it takes. It’s entirely up to them. And there are five vows, which are the killing, stealing, lying, the intoxicants, and the sexual misconduct.
So those are the five vows. And what was your question? And so, yeah, those are the five vows. And and and to taking entire five vows is yep. I just repeat, killing, stealing, lying, intoxicants, and sexual misconduct.
Partaking these are called the fully what’s this called? Upāsaka. Upāsaka, so yeah. Late practitioner. Upāsaka means late lay practitioner, and on additional to that, and and there is also one additional one this actually completely or like fully lay practitioner taking a vow, which means instead of sexual misconduct, if one takes the sexual then it becomes the like, almost the lay monk vows.
Celibacy vows. Yeah. It’s kind of like these instead of sexual misconduct, celibacy. And what was you saying? I thought there were actually more vows in that.
Similar to not not befriending nonvirtuous people and things like that, sort of more of the virtuous side of life. And I was And that’s coming from the refuge part, not from the lay vow part. Yeah. It actually comes during the actual ceremony. So those are the so the refuge precept or refuge advice which we said.
It’s nothing to do with the lay vows. So so now what happens is in terms of those refuge advice, after taking the refuge, then it comes goes on the text and the explanation will come after what is to be done, what is to be avoided after taking refuge will come. These are the advice of the refuge. Comes on Sunday. So by so the vows, the the difference The difference between is those are by taking refuge, and then those are the refuge precepts or refuge advice.
And by