Taking Refuge in the Three Treasures
The
Precious Three are the three basic elements that Shakyamuni Buddha taught his
disciples as the spiritual foundation of Buddhism soon after he began his
missionary work; The Buddha, the Law, and the Sangha . Because of their supreme
value, they are also called the Three Treasures.
We
must remember the Buddha' s teaching “Make the self your light, make the Law
your light.” These are the words
Shakyamuni spoke to Ananda, one of his ten great disciples, before dying. Ananda
felt anxious, reflecting, “When the World-honored One, who is an unparalleled
leader and teacher, dies, who on earth should we depend upon in our practice
and life?” In response to Ananda' s anxiety, the Buddha said: “Ananda! In the
future, you should make yourself your light and depend upon your own self. You
must not depend upon other people. You should also make the Law your light and
depend upon the Law.”
There
is no better teaching than this to sum up the essence of a right religion in a
few words. The Buddha first taught,
“You can depend upon your own self.”
When we depend upon other people, we do not know what to do if we are
forsaken by them or if they disappear. Therefore, the Buddha admonished us to
depend upon ourselves and walk the Way through our own efforts. But what should
we depend upon in living our lives? The Buddha taught that this is nothing
other than “The Law,” namely, the truth, and that we must not depend absolutely
upon others. Here the word “others” means “gods”, beings who are considered to
exist outside ourselves and to be our masters. The Buddha taught emphatically
that we must not depend upon such gods but only upon “The Law”, the truth.
The
Law is the truth, or universal law, whose true state is very hard for ordinary people
to grasp. Therefore they feel insecure in depending upon it for their mental
attitude and actions in their daily lives.
For this reason Shakyamuni Buddha explained “The Law” in terms of the
following three principles: First is the Buddha, Second is “The Law”, meaning
the universal truth. The third is the Sangha, whose meaning has been greatly
misunderstood since ancient times. The Sangha is usually interpreted as meaning
the community of Buddhist monks and nuns. But, as in the case of the words “I with
all the Sangha”, this term often indicates the idea of a believers in a broad
sense, although originally it meant a religious order or community of
believers. The Sanskrit word Sangha means “A close and faithful group
consisting of many believers.” Shakyamuni Buddha gave the name of Sangha to the
community of fellow believers who seek the same teachings as his disciples.
People
find it difficult to seek the Law and to practice it in complete isolation.
They are apt to become lazy and fall into evil ways. But they can steadily
advance by teaching, admonishing, and encouraging each other. So Shakyamuni
Buddha taught us to regard the Sangha as one of our mental foundations.
The
things on which we must depend spiritually are the Three Treasures: the Buddha,
the Law, and the Sangha. If we depend spiritually upon the Buddha, his
teachings and the community' of believers, we can faithfully practice the
Righteous Law in our daily lives. Therefore Buddhists always take refuge in the
Three Treasures.
These
words mean that “ We depend on the Buddha, the teaching of the Truth preached
by him and the community which is closely unified for the purpose of believing
in and practicing his teachings”, and we devote ourselves to these Three
Treasures.
Shakyamuni
taught these three principles to his believers because they could not believe
in a true faith and practice it unless they kept this mental attitude in their
devotion and purity.