Slide of the Dhamma talk by bro Bugs Tan at Persatuan Buddha Hilir Perak on the 12th May 2013

1. Of False and True Refuges
Bugs Tan
11th May 2013
Do you believe this man can turn into an insect?

2. True or False?
The indelible ink can last 7 days

3. True or false?
Placing a geomancy on the door brings good luck

4. True or false?
• Placing a frog facing North West will bring prosperity
• Knocking nails on the walls during pregnancy period
will cause miscarriage
• Friday the 13th is a mysterious day where murder
take place
• You must ask for permission when you urinate in the
bush
• You must pick a good date to get married
• Full moon eggs must be red color only

5. The Importance of Taking
the Three Refuges
Based on the Commentaries (‘Atthakatha“)
of Ven Buddhaghosa, 5th century C E
Lee Yu Ban, Sept 2010

6. Buddham saranam gacchami
I go for refuge to the Buddha;
Dhammam saranam gacchami
I go for refuge to the Dhamma;
Sangham saranam gacchami
I go for refuge to the Sangha.
Dutiyampi Buddham saranam gacchami
Dutiyampi Dhammam saranam gacchami
Dutiyampi Sangham saranam gacchami
Tatiyampi Buddham saranam gacchami
Tatiyampi Dhammam saranam gacchami
Tatiyampi Sangham saranam gacchami

7. What I’ll cover
1. Why Take Refuge
2. The Existence of a Refuge
3. The 3 Jewels as the Supreme Refuge
4. The Act of Going for Refuge
5. Corruptions and Breach of Refuge

8. Dhammapada verses 188-192
• 190-191. He who has gone for
refuge to the Buddha, the
Dhamma and his Sangha, and
penetrate with wisdom the Four
Noble Truths — suffering, the
cause of suffering, the cessation
of suffering, and the Noble
Eightfold Path leading to the
cessation of suffering.
• 192. This indeed is the safe
refuge, this the refuge supreme.
Having gone to such a refuge, one
is released from all suffering.
• 188. Driven by fear, men go for
refuge to many places — to hills,
woods, groves, trees and shrines.
• 189. Such, indeed, is no safe
refuge; such is not the refuge
supreme. Not by resorting to such
a refuge is one released from all
suffering.

9. 1. Why Take Refuge
• Buddhaghosa says that the 3 Refuges offers protection from
suffering arising from:
– The dangers in the present life
– The dangers in future lives
– The dangers in our general course of existence in Samsara

10. Dangers pertaining to the present life
• The uncertainty of life
– we are subject to disease,
accident, and injury
– disasters such as earthquakes and
floods
– Society problems like business
failure, loss of job, crime, social
unrest, war
– Ultimately, death
• Even when they are unrealised
we live in constant, stress,
anxiety, fear
• When our fears are realised, we
experience depression, grief,
despair
We all want happiness,
but this is threatened by:

11. The First Reason for Going For Refuge
• How then do we rid ourselves of this fear, stress, suffering?
• Since we cannot alter the nature of the world to make it harmonize with
our will, we must change ourselves, by putting away attachment and
aversion towards the world. We have to stop our clinging, to stop wanting
things to go our way, learn to view events with a detached equanimity.
• We cannot change the realities of this world but we can change our
attitude towards it. Pain is inevitable, Suffering is optional.
This is the first reason for going for refuge — the need for
protection from reaction to the dangers in this life.

12. The Dangers Pertaining to Future Lives
• Our liability to harm and danger does not end with death.
• With death comes another birth and a new round of suffering.
• can take place in any of the 31 planes of existence
– Hell, animals, petas, asuras, humans, devas and above

13. You are here,…..……for now
• Devas - live in splendor and
happiness. Yet even the Devas grow
old, die and are reborn
• Asura - marked by their fierce envy.
The karma of hate and jealousy
causes rebirth as Asuras.
• Petas- A hungry ghost always looking
outside himself for things that will
satisfy the craving within. Hungry
ghosts are characterized by insatiable
hunger.
• Hell Realm - the most terrible of the
Six Realms. Everything makes them
angry.
• Animal Realm - conditioned by
ignorance and dullness.
• Human Realm - the only realm of the
six from which beings may escape
samsara. Enlightenment is at hand in
the Human Realm, yet only a few
open their eyes and see it.
The Six Realms of Rebirth

14. What determines our rebirth?
“Beings are owners of their kamma, heirs of kamma,
they have kamma as their seed, kamma as their relatives,
kamma as their home. …………..
It is kamma that differentiate beings according to inferiority
and superiority.“
~ Cula-kammavibhanga Sutta

15. We need to protect ourselves from the
danger of low rebirths
• Protection from a falling into the plane of
misery cannot be obtained from others.
• It can only be prevented by avoiding the
causes leading to an unfortunate rebirth.
• The cause for rebirth into any specific
plane of existence lies in our kamma
• Thus we need instruction on doing
wholesome kamma and avoiding
unwholesome kamma
– By purifying our actions of our body,
our speech and mind

16. Daily practice of a Buddhist
Kusala deeds
• Generosity
• Morality
• Meditation
• Reverence
• Service
• Transference of merits
• Rejoice in other’s merits
• Hearing the doctrine
• Expounding the doctrine
• Straightening one’s view
Akusala deeds
• Killing
• Stealing
• Sexual misconduct
• Lying
• Slandering
• Harsh speech
• Vain talking
• Grapsing
• Ill belief
• False belief

17. The second reason for going for refuge
• To avoid committing unwholesome
kamma we need help, for two main
reasons.
- To choose correctly, we require
guidance —Clear teachings from
one who knows the results of all
actions, and the causes leading
to rebirth in the different planes
of existence.
- even when we can discriminate
right from wrong, our
weaknesses often drive us to
pursue the wrong.
The second reason for going for refuge — the need to master our
actions so as to avoid falling into the lower rebirths in future lives.

18. Dangers pertaining to the general
course of existence in samsara
• More dangerous than the
dukkha that is experienced in
this life and in the next life is the
unending round of rebirth in
samsara.
• Samsara is the cycle of
becoming, the round of birth,
aging and death, which has
been revolving through
beginningless time.

19. The third reason for going for refuge
• The causes for birth in samsara are within
ourselves
• To put an end to our existence in samsara,
we must put an end to the craving for
existence (bhava-tanha).
• Bhava-tanha has its roots in our minds - the
so called 3 poisons ( greed, hatred and
delusion )
• The Buddha, in the 4 Noble Truths describes
the way how we can uproot Delusion and
put an end to Rebirth
This is the third reason for going for refuge — the need for
deliverance from Samsara.

20. "Why do we need a refuge?"
• Protection from:
– Dangers pertaining to the present
life
– Dangers pertaining to future lives
– Dangers pertaining to existence in
samsara.
• Benefits
– Happiness in the present life
– Secure future lives
– Eventual Liberation from samsara

21. 2. The Existence of a Refuge
• A refuge must be secure, beyond
danger and distress
• The refuge must be accessible to
us.
• “When people have gone for
refuge, then by that very going
for refuge it crushes, dispels,
removes, and stops their fear,
anguish, suffering, risk of
unhappy rebirth and defilement.”
~ Khuddakapatha-Atthakatha

22. 3. Identification of the Objects of Refuge
The Supremacy of the 3 Refuges
Salutation To The Buddha
Such indeed is the Blessed One, Exalted, Fully
Enlightened, Endowed with knowledge and virtue,
Well-gone, Knower of the worlds, a Guide
incomparable for the training of individuals,
Teacher of gods and men, Enlightened and Holy.
Salutation To The Dhamma
Well-expounded is the Dhamma by the Blessed
One to be self-realized; with immediate fruit;
inviting to come and see; capable of being entered
upon; to be realised by the wise each for himself.
Salutation To The Sangha
Of good conduct is the Order of the Disciples of
the Blessed One. Of upright conduct is the Order
of the Blessed One. Of wise conduct is the Order
of the Blessed One. Of dutiful conduct is the Order
of the Blessed One.
Itipiso Bhagava Araham
Sammasambuddho vijjacarana-
sampanno
Sugato Lokavidu
Anuttaro purisadamma-sarathi sattha
Devamanussanam
Buddha Bhagavati
Svakkhato Bhagavata Dhammo
Sanditthiko, Akaliko, Ehipassiko
Opanayiko, Paccattam veditabbo
vinnuhiti
Supatipanno Bhagavato savakasangho
Ujupatipanno Bhagavato savakasangho
Nayapatipanno Bhagavato
savakasangho
Samicipatipanno Bhagavato
savakasangho

23. 4. The Act of Going for Refuge
“ Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent!
Just as if he were to place upright what had
been overturned, were to reveal what was
hidden, were to show the way to one who was
lost, or were to hold up a lamp in the dark so
that those with eyes could see forms, in the
same way Master Gotama has -- through many
lines of reasoning -- made the Dhamma clear.
I go to Master Gotama for refuge, to the
Dhamma, and to the Sangha. May Master
Gotama remember me as a lay follower who
has gone to him for refuge, from this day
forward, for life. "
~ Abhaya Sutta, (Discourse to Prince Abhaya).

24. Requirements in Taking Refuge
effectively
• The formal commitment to the Triple Gem is expressed by reciting the
formula of fully embracing the Buddha's teaching.
• To be effective, it must be accompanied by faith, devotion and a firm
intention.
• Taking the Refuge in the 3 Jewels then provides access to the whole body
of teachings that gives us safety
Buddham saranam gacchami
I go for refuge to the Buddha;
Dhammam saranam gacchami
I go for refuge to the Dhamma;
Sangham saranam gacchami
I go for refuge to the Sangha.

25. 5. Corruptions and Breach of the
Refuge
• According to the commentaries there are three factors that
defile the going for refuge:
– ignorance
– doubt
– wrong views
• Even though the refuge act is defiled by these corruptions, as
long as a person regards the Three Jewels as his supreme
reliance his going for refuge is intact and he remains a
Buddhist follower.
• But though the refuge is intact, his attitude of taking refuge is
defective and has to be purified.

26. Breach of Refuge
• If he comes to regard another spiritual teacher as superior to
the Buddha, or as possessing greater spiritual authority than
the Buddha.
• If he comes to regard another religious teaching as superior to
the Dhamma, or resorts to some other system of practice as
his means to deliverance.
• If he comes to regard some spiritual community other than
the ariyan Sangha as occupying a higher spiritual level than
the ariyan Sangha.
– then his going for refuge is broken.

27. The beneficial teachings of others
• Are there spiritual truths in other religions?- This
question was answered by Ven Sariputta.
• "Friends, just as the footprints of all legged
animals are encompassed by the footprint of the
elephant, and the elephant's footprint is reckoned
the foremost among them in terms of size; in the
same way, all skillful qualities are gathered under
the Four Noble Truths.”
~ Ven. Sariputta in the Maha- hatthipadopama
Sutta:
The Great Elephant Footprint Simile

28. Natthi me saranam aññam
Buddho (Dhammo, Sangho) me saranam varam
"For me there is no other refuge, the Buddha,
(Dhamma, Sangha) is my supreme refuge.“
— traditional devotional stanza
If you can say this with firm
conviction,
then only can you count yourself as
a disciple of the Buddha.