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Refuge is what we turn to when we have problems. When we have problems, or are in danger, all of us seek refuge in someone or something. We can talk about two types of refuge, temporary and ultimate. When we are hungry, we seek refuge in food; when we are sick, we go to the doctor; when we are lonely, we call our friends; and when we are bored, we turn on the T.V. or seek refuge in other distractions. Daily life often seems like one long turning to one thing in order to get over something else! People seek refuge in drugs and alcohol, in food, in sport, in material possessions, in sex, in weapons, in families, and in work. However, most of these external things are just palliatives - they may address the symptoms, but they never address the causes of our problems. The traditional analogy is that of scratching an itch - how much better not to have the itch in the first place! The way to get rid of itches once and for all is to find out their actual cause and then work on that. Temporary objects of refuge may therefore solve some of our problems for a short time, but they are not capable of solving our problems for good. We'll still get hungry again, and sick, and lonely, and bored. Moreover, just as scratching an itch turns painful, (even if it started off giving us some measure of relief), so temporary objects of refuge also have a tendency to bring new problems in their wake. If we check where a lot of our problems are coming from, we can see that it is our food, our medicines, our friends, and so forth! It seems that for something to function as an ultimate source of refuge, it must possess four characteristics: (1) It must address itself to the
actual causes, not just the symptoms, of our problems. Any religion or philosophy worth its salt must be able to provide satisfactory answers to the problem of suffering and how we can get rid of it. Within Buddhism, we look inwards for the solution to our problems. "Buddhism" is a Western expression for the original term "nang pa cho", or "path of an inner being". There can be inner beings in any tradition, but I think that I can safely say that what they have in common is an interest in ultimate, rather than temporary, refuge. Within Buddhism, we say that all Buddha's teachings and the spiritual experience and insights we gain in dependence upon meditating on them are called "Dharma". "Dharma" is a Sanskrit word that literally means "that which holds us back from suffering." How does Dharma protect us directly? If we gain any spiritual experiences, these will definitely solve some of our inner problems, therefore it is these inner experiences that can directly protect us from suffering. Since the source of our problems is our distorted, negative minds, the solution must be in the opposite realistic, pure and positive minds. Thus the solution to all the problems that come from hatred is love; the solution to all the problems that come from attachment is non-attachment; and the solution to all the problems that come from ignorance is wisdom. If we gain a deep experience of patience, for example, this will protect us from all the sufferings caused by anger, and if we have a realization of pure compassion, this will protect us from all the sufferings caused by hatred and jealousy. Finally, if we gain a direct realization of emptiness, the ultimate nature of all phenomena, this will eliminate our suffering and problems once and for all. To conclude, ultimate refuge is about seeking happiness from a different source, making a definite decision to rely upon true causes of happiness and to overcome the actual causes of suffering. We take refuge whenever we try to change our mind for the better, either in meditation or in our daily lives. |
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