LIVING by VOW: The Verse of Three Refuges - pp 63 - 77 (All Chapter 3)

[Jundo]

We turn to the Three Treasures or Three Refuges ... Buddha Dharma Sangha.

Again, much packed in here. I will just ask some general themes, please highlight anything that might resonate.

To you, what do you feel about the word "Refuge" here? Another word that can carry some Judeo-Christian baggage for some folks.

How does "Buddha" resonate with you? Dharma? Sangha?

Do you see the connection to, and understand his presentation of the "Four Noble Truths"?

He discusses the "historical Three Treasures", but also Absolute Three Treasures. Do these aspects speak to you?

What do you feel about Dogen's Triple Treasure as "Teacher, Medicine and Friends"?

What strikes you about the last section, "Final Place of Return"? Some powerful ideas in those few pages.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Mp]

Thank you Jundo. =)

Gassho
Shingen

SatToday/LAH

[AlanLa]

Gary Snyder ends "Practice in the Wild" this way. Link to the full book is here:
https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/The-Practice-of-the-Wild-by-Gary-Snyder.pdf

At our house we say a Buddhist grace—

We venerate the Three Treasures [teachers, the wild, and friends]
And are thankful for this meal
The work of many people
And the sharing of other forms of life.

Anyone can use a grace from their own tradition (and really give it meaning)—or make up their own. Saying some sort of grace is never inappropriate, and speeches and announcements can be tacked onto it. It is a plain, ordinary, old-fashioned little thing to do that connects us with all our ancestors.

A monk asked Dong-shan: "Is there a practice for people to follow?" Dong-shan answered: "When you become a real person, there is such a practice."

Sarvamangalam, Good Luck to All.

[Meishin]

Gassho
Meishin
sat today LAH

[Tairin]

This chapter has been very enlightening. Taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha is not something I understood clearly.

We awaken the awakening mind in order to wake up. We usually think we are awake except when we are asleep at night or napping, but actually we are usually asleep and dreaming. We imagine this world, our lives, and ourselves. We create dream-worlds and then believe that they are reality. And yet, they are only constructs of our mind. We create a story in which we are the hero or heroine. We think we are the center of the world, and all other people and things are resources to make a happy ending for our story. This is how we live in a dream.

Phrases like this used to confound me. How can the reality I encounter not be the real reality? How can my reality be a dream? The problem is "I" and "my" and "me". The reality is the reality. It is my perceptions that make it unreal and detach me from reality.

The Buddha’s teaching is not something we can understand merely with our intellects; we have to practice it in our day-to-day lives.

Oh yeah. I spent so much time scratching my head trying to understand Buddhism intellectually (still do to some extent) but as Jundo says it has to be felt in the bones. This isn't an intellectual pursuit. This is experiential.

i am on my 3rd reading through this chapter and new insights keep arising.

Gassho
Warren
Sat & LAH today

[Onkai]

I also liked the first quote that Warren made. It is hard not to spin a story that puts me at the center of the world. It helps to keep in mind that we are all connected (and it helps to sit frequently).

Gassho,
Onkai
SatToday/LAH

[Entai]

"We live on this earth with everything we need as a gift from nature."

I love this line. It reminds me to be grateful that I have food, water, shelter and loving friends, family, Sangha. It also reminds me that I need to help others gain access to the same.

Gassho,
Entai
st/LAH

[Joyo]

I just got back from a vacation with my family in Canmore/Banff, Alberta. I have lots of catching up to do with this beautiful book.

This book is really deepening my practice into something more solid. Thank you so much Jundo for sharing this book with the book club.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today/lah

[AlanLa]

Refuge means shelter to me.
I take shelter in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
And shelters like these are what come to (no)mind.

This reminds me of the Grass Hut that we studied previously.
Tipis-shelter.jpg

This reminds me of a modified mudra that shelters a bodhi tree.
Refuge-for-web1.jpg

And I once camped on top of a mountain for a few days in a refuge like this.
shelter.jpg

[Meitou]

I loved this chapter. Taking refuge every day means a lot to me, it reminds me of something quite basic which is mentioned here

We do not and cannot live independently as limited and conditioned individuals. This is the meaning of taking refuge in the Buddha

I see refuge not as a running away or hiding behind, but more as a form of surrender and shelter, surrender as a form of release - from conditioned thinking, from slavery to the monkey mind, from me-centred everything. It's a relief. I loved the idea of Hikkyo Kisho, the Final Place of Return - this really speaks to me as 'home', again as liberation from everything that's not-home. Again I don't know how to put that feeling into words, as it's a sensation that comes before words and defies them. And not as old age, not as death but home where the hand of thought and the heart-mind are completely open and we are at one with everything. If refuge is that final place, then I can see the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha as the gate through which I enter that place.
My favourite quote in this chapter

The beginning of wisdom is to see that our view is limited

Something else worth reminding myself of every day.

Gassho
Frankie

Satwithyoualltoday, LAH.

[AlanLa]

As someone who has had extensive personal experience being extremely subjected to the field of medicine, I can very much relate to Okamura's writing about how "the Buddha is like a doctor, the Dharma is good medicine, and the people of our sangha are our nurses." To me, refuge also means support, and I am still here on this earth when so many of my friends who were seemingly so much healthier than me are not because of that support. I am grateful for the doctors, nurses, medicine, and Treeleaf that has helped to make this possible. While waiting for my doctor today, I sat for a few minutes in the examining room. According to my buddha MD, my health is good.