The Meaning of Taking Refuge

Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche speaks in English to people who have just taken the refuge vows for the first time. She says refuge is taken in the outer Buddha, Dharma and Sangha as well as in the inner essence, and that the Dharma should not be made convenient to one’s tastes or culture. The Buddha is an example to emulate, the Dharma is the three pitakas, and the Sangha is the realised bodhisattvas.

She then goes through the disciplines that follow refuge, which she says the buddhas and bodhisattvas gave, with further points from Atisha: not taking ultimate refuge in worldly deities, not harming beings, not keeping company that weakens a fragile mind, and respecting images, scriptures and the Sangha as reminders.