Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A thief who corners a hermit for his new robe ends up spending the night under a bridge, accidentally protected from wandering spirits by muttering the refuge prayers the hermit had struck into him — this story anchors Khensur Rinpoche’s 91-minute Lamrim session on taking refuge. He first establishes why each of the Three Jewels qualifies as a genuine refuge object, grounding each point in the logic of what it actually means to be protected from saṃsāra. He then works through eight of the ten traditional advantages of going for refuge: becoming a Buddhist, grounding all future vows, purifying past negativities, avoiding lower rebirths, and accumulating vast merit. The session closes by addressing why the Guru Puja places Namo Gurubhya before the Three Refuges, presenting the lama as Buddha’s visible emanation — the teacher through whom the path becomes accessible to us now. Suited to practitioners following the Lamrim gradual path.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 15 LR 1999 06 22.mp3
UUID: 951bdcef-a027-473b-9fac-6e24804af3d0
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lam Rim (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1999-06-22
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 90.8 minutes
Words: ~4,689
The purpose of doing this is because those texts or verses which we recite are composed or written by great yogis and they have written those verses through the experience they gained through the meditation. And so by giving a commentary or explaining the meaning of the verses of those masters, the purpose of explaining or giving the commentary on the verses of those yogis is because they are perfect and are authentic sources. By listening or explaining on these perfect or unmistaken verses are very effective and by learning on each will give you good results. If you give a teaching without relying or taking the authentic sources as a basis, if we talk or give teaching simply just without relying on those verses, what we give is there is a danger of the mistakes creeping through one’s or coming across through ones teaching as well as then the person who takes your words and does meditate will not be may not become effective or beneficial. So, the verses here, it says that, it says, that we are suffering in this cyclic existence, which comes from our disturbing emotions.
Due to that, we we seek, so we need to free ourselves from the free from those sufferings of saṃsāra. And to free ones from the suffering of cyclic existence or saṃsāra, we need an object of refuge which protects us from the suffering of the saṃsāra. So about the refuge, now here it will describe the qualities that object of refuge requires or needed. So the object of refuge here is mentioned that the refuge should be free from all negativities and acquired the good qualities or had gained all the good qualities through mediteachings. So what sort of object, which object has these qualities been free from all the negativities and acquired the all called good qualities through familiarization or through meditation.
So here the Buddha is the perfect object of refuge because he had perfected or has acquired all those two qualities, free from suffering and acquired good qualities through the perfected, these two qualities through cultivating in the wisdom and method of Mahāyāna teachings. So Buddha, Śākyamūni, or has perfected himself from or freed himself from all the negative views or all the faults and acquired good qualities. And how he acquired those two qualities is by relying upon or by training in the teachings or the Dharma. So it’s also been said as the doctrine. Doctrine is the one by learning or in the parts of doctrine he neglected all the faults and acquired good qualities.
Because of Dharma he’s been able to do this. So, for that reason, the Dharma is the doctrine is supreme or is very holy. So, for that reason, the Dharma or the doctrine is the suitable object for refuge. So, Buddha and Dharma, the doctrine, are suitable object of refuge. And also, third refuge object, which is Sangha, is the suitable object of refuge because Sangha is the one who follows, who practices the Dharma and goes through meditation and through this.
So there are great yogis and masters who also are the, who cultivate or who meditate upon the paths or the Dharma. So due to that, the Sangha are also the perfect or suitable object of refuge because they train in they do meditate and train in the doctrines. So, here comes the object of refuge are three, the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. So there is no other refuge or refuge object other than these three? So, for the object of refuge, there are three.
These are called the object of refuge, or usually in Tibetan the word is called kyab, actually, means the protection or safe. They’re called protection or protect because we have unwanted sufferings. We undergo through lots of unwanted sufferings due to the disturbing emotions. So those three protect us from, they help us to eliminate those unwanted sufferings and free ourselves from those suffering. So due to that, these are called the protection or protective.
So, this Buddhadharma and Sangha are called the object of refuge. So, that is why this is the protector. But it is said that Buddhadharma and Sangha are the protector or the refuge of the one who seeks liberation. So it means they protect or they are the protector of one who wants to free oneself from the suffering of cyclic existence or saṃsāra. And so this Dharma, the refuge of protectors, will protect one who wishes to free or who seeks liberation.
One who seeks liberation, particular person, if that particular Excuse So those three refuge objects are the protector for the one who seeks liberation. So if that particular person goes refuge to the Buddhadharma and Sangha, there are many benefits or the advantages for that person of taking refuge in those refuge objects. So about the advantages of going or taking refuge, there are ten. So among the ten advantages, the first one is that by going taking refuge, by developing a fear towards the suffering of cyclic existence, the person will first become a Buddhist, so that so one will become a Buddhist, which is the first advantage. So, what makes difference or what makes the person to become a Buddhist or non-Buddhist is that, or what distinguish es, is that one who develops a fear toward the suffering of saṃsāra or cyclic existence, and through the power of that fearfulness, one seeks protection from the Buddhadharma and Sangha, by seeing that Buddhadharma and Sangha are the only objects and the only hope to free oneself from the suffering of the cyclic existence.
Through this, going refuge and by going through this fearfulness and wanting to free oneself from the cyclic existence, seeking protection from the Buddhadharma and Sangha, and by going refuge through this, when one develops such a mind of going refuge within the one’s mind stream, then the person becomes the Buddhist or, yeah. So, seeing the, and having a conviction or faith towards the refuge object that they can, they are the only hope or they can help you free yourself from the suffering of cyclic existence. So it is same for all the religious practitioners, like whether he is a Muslim or a Christian and so forth. The person who follows particular religion has a conviction and faith towards their particular god, and so forth. So likewise, it’s same in Buddhism as well that we have the conviction, one needs to have conviction towards the Buddhadharma and Sangha, the conviction that they can protect you from these old sufferings.
So, taking refuge, there are many ways of taking refuge. Going refuge through the three doors: body, speech and mind. Doing prostrations and so forth, the physical action activities are like taking refuge through the body and by reciting the refuge prayers or like going through or it’s also called the word refuge. And the main, the actual or the main refuge is that having the conviction and have full confidence towards Buddhism and Sangha that they are the only hope and only one to whom you can rely upon and to whom you can rely. Yep.
So, if one has such a conviction or such a thought that by fear have a fear and is towards this suffering of cyclic existence and going refuge toward Buddhadharma and Sangha by full confidence that they can protect you from suffering from cyclic existence. So, whenever one generates such a thought or a mind within one’s mind stream and person, that person becomes Buddhist. And the second benefit is that it acts as a foundation for all the vows. And there are many vows we can receive or we can take, and like the lay vows and monks’ vows and bodhisattva vows, tantric vows and so forth. And so before taking any of those vows, first one has to take refuge in the refuge objects.
Without going a refuge towards taking refuge, one will not develop or one will not receive any of those vows. So that the refuge act as a basis for those vows to take those vows, and also helps to stabilize one’s vow. And without having a refuge, one will never receive any of those vows. So, the great master Vasubandhu has clearly stated that one who does not take refuge will not receive any of the vows. So, that is the second point, which it acts as a foundation for all the vows, or which helps to stabilize the vows.
And third benefit is that by taking refuge in the Buddhadharma and Sangha one will purify many demerits or negativities, which means that from the beginningless of time we have accumulated numbers of non virtuous or unwholesome actions. So by taking refuge, by going refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, one abandons or eliminates the negativities which one has previously committed. And the fourth point is that you will not fall into the bad state of rebirth because what brings you to take or makes you to take rebirth in the lower state is the negative action or negativities. So by taking refuge it cleans one’s previously committed negativities. And by purifying that, one will not have to, has to born, or will take birth in the lower states.
Due to that, the means is the fourth one is that one will not, by taking refuge, will not be born in the lower states or bad states. And the fifth one is that one will not be affected by, one will be unaffected by the harms from humans and non humans. So, it means there are usually different types of I mean, affections which we inflictions or harms comes from the outer part, from other sides like humans and non humans. So by taking refuge, one free. So, it says harms from human and non humans.
One will not be harmed or unaffected by the harm from humans and non humans. So, there are many analogies we can say, but among the many, I will tell one here. So, once, there was one hill or forest where one meditator or hermit lived. He hardly opens the door, and there is a hole at the bottom of his door that people can pass their food through that hole. So once one of that meditator’s sponsor brought him a very nice material or a cloth and offered it to that meditator.
And while he was making that offering, a thief saw that. And then, so that sponsor made the offering and left. Just after that, the thief came to the hermit place and he shouted to the meditator that, Bring me or give me that cloth that’s been offered to you. And the meditator answered that this material, this cloth, is being offered to me with due respect from my sponsor. So if you really need this, then just send your both hands along with this posture and then send them through the hole.
So the meditator just made a trap off from the rope and then just take it at the hole. And then, so as soon as that hand caught into this thread or the rope, and the meditator tied the rope to something, I mean, I think, excuse me, it’s a stone in the corner of the cave, so he tied it there. So after after that, I mean, he tied the rope to that particular stone. And then he got up from his cushion and then and took a one stick from his corner from another corner of the cave. And then he hit three times, saying along with each strike, Namo Buddhaya, and he hit once.
And then Namo Dharmayaya, second. And Namo Sanghaya, so he hit three times. And then the meditator released the rope and said, alright, go. And then the person, the thief, ran away, and he reached a bridge with water and he sat under that bridge. And recalling the words the meditator had recited, counting that he hit me saying Namo Buddhaya and Namo Dharmayaya and Namo Sanghaya.
And he is just thinking on those words and saying that there are only three refuges, and I am lucky, if there were four, then it’s a pity, he would have hit me four times. So by recalling that word, he spent all night under that bridge. So, normally on that bridge, it’s been said that there are many spirits or like devils or non humans which causing harms crossing or passing through that normally every night. And on that particular day, as the thief was reciting or recalling all those, the refuge prayers, due to that, it’s been said that all harms, the spirits or the devils, the nonhuman harmful beings, are not able to travel or pass through that bridge. Likewise, are many similar analogies or stories.
I don’t think I can go through all Many, many. And then, the sixth advantage or benefit is that all your wishes will be fulfilled. So it will fulfill all your wishes, when the wishes, what you have in the whether it’s religious things or the worldly things, the Dharma, the the the three refuge will fulfill your wishes for both this life and next. So for this, there are the sayings from the great masters saying that don’t hope for the beings, just hope for the tree or refuge or hope for the refuge means if you hope for some people or like beings, they may able to help you but will not help you, will not help you ultimately. So, if you take hope or refuge in the Triple Gem or refuge object, then they will always fulfill or help you forever.
So, all those arhats, bodhisattvas, all those beings who have changed, they become, or beings become liberated beings or become bodhisattvas. They become bodhisattvas and arhats by having developing conviction and having full confidence in Buddhadharma Sangha and also the or attained by make through having conviction and confidence in Buddhadharma Buddhadharma and Sangha they make supplications and supplications towards the refuge prayers. And also the renunciations, bodhicitta and the correct rules also be gained all those realizations will gain, can also be gained by having conviction or faith in Buddhadharma and Sangha. And so, roughly speaking, all those, by having conviction, by taking refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha, one can eliminate all the unwanted sufferings and acquire all the wished-for happiness. The seventh one is that great store of merit is easily accumulated.
So by taking refuge one accumulates the great store of merit. It’s been said that if the merits of taking refuge are formed, then it will not fit or the world itself is very small to contain the merit. Just by taking, by developing, by having a fairness or fear in the suffering of cyclic existence and then have developed the conviction towards Buddhadharma and Sangha that they can protect you from those suffering. Through this, recite one’s refuge prayers or take refuge once, and that the merit of particular taking refuge, the single refuge, is very huge. And if it were conceivable or if it had form, it will not fit in this whole universe.
But, so, there are lots of proofs or reasons of saying this. It is not just said simply without any reasons. So there are reasons because the Buddhadharma and Sangha, they have a very vast quantity of good qualities as vast as like a space. Only for the qualities of Buddha, if you were to count the qualities of the of the Buddha, one will be not able to count all the qualities of the Buddhas because it is numerous. So likewise the Dharma and Sangha also have the same qualities, immeasurable qualities as the Buddhas.
So as they have the very vast quantity of good qualities, but taking refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha, as they have the very vast quantity of good qualities, we also gain or attain numbers as far as merit. Quantity of narratives. So what we need is we need to cultivate the great store of merit. And to cultivate the great store of merit, there are two objects. One is going taking refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha, we accumulate the great numbers or great store of merit.
And the second object is that by developing compassion, love and bodhicitta by focusing on the sentient beings, and the number of beings are numerous and countless. So by developing love, compassion and bodhicitta towards sentient beings, one also cultivates the great store of merit as vast as the number of sentient beings. So, we need to cultivate the great merit, which is the virtues. By cultivating that, eliminates the sufferings and brings or give happiness. So, there are many different types of beings which practices the teachings or Dharma.
And with, so among those beings, the beings of this world are the perfect beings because are considered as perfect beings and because they have the good intelligence or wisdom and have effort to do, perfect effort to do the Dharma or to practice. And if one tries to do, one have a wisdom, one can do practice. So by having proper wisdom and effort and still if one fail to practice, then it will be very sad. And it’s a different question for the beings who not, who hasn’t got sharp faculty, and some they do practice, but they still don’t understand. So this is, I mean, it’s a different case, but we have wisdom and intelligence and have effort.
And if we still fail to do it, it would be very sad. So if we practice and go refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha and develop the flow of compassion and renunciation towards the sentient beings, and by focusing on sentient beings and if we meditate for ten minutes, the merit of doing that practice will be as vast as space. So in this Buddhism or Buddhist teachings, there are practices which normally we can perform through three doors, which is body, speech and mind. Or to perform a good action, there are three types of actions done through the three doors. And also for the negative deeds, it can be performed through three doors, body, speech and mind.
So among the practice, although there are three doors to practice, but among these three, the main practice is to be done through the mind, which is the main door. So, to do the practice first one should able to identify what things to be, what are the teachings, what are the doctrines, what are the non doctrines, one should be able to distinguish between those two. And by studying on this and understanding, then having this understanding, then one should apply all one’s knowledge or implements all one’s understanding or knowledge into the practice. And so if one fails to put all this knowledge into the practice, then one’s knowledge would not become very helpful. And about the beings who understand the teachings, there are three types.
One who knows perfectly or huge, and then it’s been describing the greatest middling and the smallest who are being classified according to their knowledge or understanding of the teaching. And a person who has a vast knowledge of the teaching will practice very profoundly or very vastly and then the and it will have a greater or vast benefits from it. Likewise, a middling one will practice according to their knowledge or their understanding and will have the middling kind of merits or help for the smallest and will practice according to their knowledge and then gain the same amount of benefits or help now. So, but no matter, I mean, whether one has a greater knowledge or a middling or a small, I mean, less or smaller knowledge, but the main important thing is to, one should be able to put all one’s understanding or knowledge into the practice if one can do that, and it will be very helpful will be the perfect being. Very, very good.
So there is a saying in ancient time that giving teachings are as many as the bubble of the water, and the practice, or which means practice means, yeah, so practice is like, and the practice are as many as like the drop of the gold. It means very few people practice. Bubble of the water means because, I mean, the one is it’s too many bubbles, and second is there’s not much essence there, just makes it pops. So, and practice are like a drop of the gold. It means, so in Australia, are many gold mining, people mining.
So if you had a single drop of gold, it’s very helpful, few, but very helpful. So, and then the eighth benefit is, up to now the benefits we count one to seven, these are the benefits, temporary benefits which gains through taking refuge. The eighth one is that And the eighth one is the perfect ultimate advantage that one will attain. One will eliminate all the negativities and acquire perfect or all the good qualities and become enlightened. This is the ultimate advantage.
So at this stage, Buddha Śākyamūni has came and he gave a vast quantity, already performed teachings, so due to his kindness, and we have the Buddhas to teach, to show the path, and then we have actual Dharma to practice, and we also have the spiritual community to keep us company to practice. So it’s been said that Buddha’s teaching, there is a duration that Buddha’s teaching will remain. So, are nearly about, nearly or just above two thousand years left for Buddha’s teaching to remain. So within this place, during this time, we will have within this just about two thousand years, we will have the Buddhadharma and Sangha to help us to practice. And after that, then we will not find the refuge, Buddhadharma and Sanghas to practice.
And so, after that, I mean, just about two thousand years, then the teachings of Buddha will cease, and just from after that onwards, we will not find any trace or sign of the refuge and Buddhadharma and Sangha, for millions and billions of years. So, at this stage, it’s a very fortunate time and we are very fortunate to have this opportunity. And so having this opportunity one should go take refuge in the Buddhadharma and Sangha to overcome all the sufferings and then attain the ultimate happiness. So we say the three refuges are Namo Buddhaya and Namo Dharmayaya and Namo Sanghaya. In the Guru Puja, the practice of Guru Puja, mentions the fourth one, which is Namo Gurubhya. So if I ask, because there are only three refuges, why does the fourth one, the Namo Gurubhya, come first? So why should we need to say Namo Gurubhya in the beginning?
Because there are three refuges and it should be okay by saying Namo Buddhaya and Namo Dharmayaya and Namo Sanghaya. If one says certain things, which is not right. So, before the refuge, we say Namo Gurubhya, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmayaya, Namo Sanghaya. And so the first one is Namo, or like giving homage or prostration. So in Sanskrit the word is guru, which we recite first. In Tibetan, the first guru is called the lama in Tibetan word.
So, we first go refuge by, I prostrate to the guru or lama. And we also go refuge in Namo Buddhaya, take refuge in Buddha. And why we go refuge in Buddha is because we undergo through many sufferings and it is being caused by not having a proper understanding that what things to be done and what things to be avoided. So, and with so without having with not having so with not having such a knowledge and what we do is we always do our opposite. We are cultivating which which is not supposed to be cultivated, and we are not cultivating which are supposed to cultivate it, and due to that we undergo huge suffering.
So, we to refuge in Buddha because Buddha who, through his teachings, he instructed us or showing us the things which are to be practiced and things to be avoided or abandoned. So as he shows or instructs the practices of abandonment and taking, but through this we go refuge in Buddha. So Buddha is the one who instructed who instructs the what things to be practiced and what to be avoided through his teaching. So in order to receive his teaching or listen to his instructions, we need to see Buddha first and then listen to his teaching. And so, just without seeing his without seeing him, we cannot hear any words from him about showing the instructions, what things to be practiced and what to be what.
So, so we need to hear it by seeing him. And so, so, but without seeing him, we cannot hear. And his, his sounds will not be like the radio sound, which just comes in the air. So without seeing Buddha, there is danger that we find it difficult to have conviction or develop the faith in Buddha. But we need an instructor who instructs us, who teaches us.
So as we cannot see Buddha and we can’t receive teachings from Buddha, so what Buddha does is then, so as we are not able to see Buddha, so what Buddha does is he emanates into a form similar to our, similar to us, and which we can see, Yeah. So to whom we can see. So, Buddha, he emanates into beings who are similar to us and to which we can see and receive the teaching. And if our who is that being, so that being is one’s lama, which Buddha emanates as one’s lama. And the lamas are the emanation of Buddha, and we receive the teachings.
So lama is the one who teaches you the teachings. And so even if you see Buddha and receive the teachings, but Buddha hasn’t got any different teachings other than one’s lama’s teaching. So we say the lama are the Buddhas, the enlightened beings. Because the Buddha emanates into our lama, so as they are the emanation of Buddha, we call the lama the Buddhas. So here comes that Buddha, he or the Buddha, indirectly teaches us through the lama. And so the lama is the one who directly teaches you.
So in this case, this, we first take refuge or prostration in one’s lama. So in the earlier teachings the In earlier teachings, we have taught the teaching of seeking relation between the students and the spiritual teacher and for the spiritual students to see the spiritual teacher or the lama as a Buddha. Is the point why one should see Lama as the Buddha. So, we are we actually passed beyond the time, actual time, and means we exceed, but still, if you have any questions, we’ll keep about four or five minutes. The way the Is it repeated?
We have a saying I mean, like, Buddha’s helping us. Yeah. Yeah. So there’s a saying that says, you can’t always get what you want. Yeah.
But sometimes you get what you So, in terms of saying that the Buddhas, they help sentient beings, in what way or which way they help sentient beings is that because the sentient beings, they do not wish suffering and they want happiness. So, he shows the methods of how to abandon or eliminate all the sufferings, and shows you the path to attain one’s wishes, which is happiness. So, this is how we say Buddhas help sentient beings because they show you the methods of how to abandon the sufferings and cultivate happiness. And if you follow these instructions, then you will be able to overcome all the unwanted which is suffering and attain happiness.
And this is how we describe the Buddhas’ help to sentient beings. Okay. Okay. That’s that one. That’s nice.
Okay. It’s the dedication, prayers, page five, verses eight and nine.