Refuge (Part IV) - Benefits of Taking Refuge

To speak of the benefits of taking refuge, there are two kinds of benefits:

1. Immediate benefits - Immediate benefits of taking refuge protects you from undesirable things like harm from humans and demons and minimizes physical pain and mental sufferings. In brief, by taking refuge, one can remove all unfavorable factors or circumstances.

It is said that even if one does not have great or wholehearted faith in the power of refuge, just by reciting the refuge formula alone, great benefits can arise. Not to mention the tremendous benefits of taking refuge if one truly and wholeheartedly believes in the powers of taking refuge.

As a result of taking refuge, you also gain excellent qualities. There are two types of excellent qualities resulting from the taking of refuge:

a) Changing of name: Having taken refuge, hereafter one can consider oneself a Buddhist. You are now included within the ranks of those who are called “very noble”

b) Substantial change: By taking refuge you become an object worthy of worship by the whole world including the Gods. In general you gain great protection and in particular, you gain the protection of the Gods who love the doctrine. Like a traveling merchant who has found a guide to escort him, you can gain peace of mind and you gain confidence that you will never be parted from the three jewels in all future lives.

2. Ultimate benefits: Some of the ultimate benefits of taking refuge are reaped by oneself and some benefits are reaped by others as a result of your taking refuge. By taking refuge in the Buddha, you yourself, will ultimately benefit because the correct conditions are thereby established for your attainment of Buddhahood. By taking refuge in the Dharma, the conditions are set ultimately for you to teach the Dharma continually. And by taking refuge in the Sangha, you establish the correct conditions for you to ultimately gather together a vast retinue consisting of the order of fully ordained monastics and the order of Bodhisattvas. The benefits that occur to others are that purely by virtue of your own accomplishments of those things, your disciples will gradually be introduced into the doctrine of the Buddha and ultimately achieve direct realization of the three jewels.

You may not be able to immediately appreciate these benefits just by taking refuge. You may not be able to easily understand or fully appreciate the depths of the benefits of taking refuge.

To give you an example of the great benefits of taking refuge, in the Kangyur (a collection of the Buddha's teachings translated in the Tibetan language) there is a sutra known as the “Refuge Sutra” and in there, it says that one day Shariputra (one of the foremost disciples of the Buddha Shakyamuni) thought to himself that if someone were to ask him about the benefits of taking refuge, how could he correctly answer such a question? To prepare himself to answer such a question, Shariputra approached the Buddha and asked the Buddha “What are the benefits of taking refuge?” The Buddha replied that if there was a person who was very faithful to the Dharma and if that person created a stupa solely made out of precious jewels and this great stupa were to reach up to the heavenly realm known as Akanishtha, such a person would be generating vast merit by building this hypothetical stupa. But, said the Buddha, even more meritorious than such an accomplishment, are the merits of taking refuge in the three jewels.

So therefore, hopefully by this example those who are not able to fully understand the benefits or appreciate them will get a glimpse of how beneficial it is to take refuge in the three jewels.

I have explained a little about the benefits of taking refuge based upon Sakya Pandita’s “Clarifying the Sage’s Intent” and also some other teachings by Buddhist scholars.

Of course taking refuge is the main Buddhist practice for beginners when one starts entering the Buddha’s path but the important thing to remember is that it is not just for beginners but also for those who are already set on the path of the Buddha and until one attains enlightenment.

The practice of taking refuge is most essential. Without it, attaining full enlightenment would be difficult if not impossible. Actually it is said that all Buddhist practices are included within the refuge.

There are many ways of speaking about refuge but what I have presented here is that according to the general Causal Vehicle of the Mahayana path. I hope that you will understand the importance of taking refuge in the three jewels and that you will receive immense benefits from the practice and swiftly attain full enlightenment.

–Khöndung Asanga Vajra, May 2018