Think about a person who is sick and waiting to get cured from the sickness. For that there should be a good doctor to prescribe medicines according to his disease. Having a doctor is not enough, there should be quality medicines. We also need the support of nurses and attendants.
They give medicines at the correct time and instruct us, support us and compassionately guide us what to do and what not to do to get cured. Finally, if there is a good doctor, the best medicines, good nurses and attendants are there, it’s our duty to behave properly and follow the instructions given by them and follow the healthy habits. Even though we are in the best hospital under the care of the best medical staff and high quality medicines, the greatest responsibility relies on us.
So, the great doctor, the Buddha who understood the suffering of this world, has given the best prescription. High class medicine of Dhamma that can cure the sickness of craving in this Samsara is also prevailing. We also have the support of the nurses and attendants, the Sangha who encourage us and guide us, but if we do not follow the path, we can never get out of this Samsara.
“This is an aspect that we pay less attention to in our path because we emphasize more about sila, samadhi and pagngna. Sometimes we accidentally or unintentionally ignore the vital role played by cetana in the path to liberation. Cetana can also be explained as kamma,” Vice President of the International Institute of Theravada Ven Watagoda Maggavihari Thera said.
When the Visuddhi Magga was first written, Ven Buddhagosa Thera explained the path to liberation in different ways. It is threefold as sila, samadhi and pagngna, and sometimes the path to liberation has been explained to be fivefold and sevenfold based on Indriya and Bojjhanga. Sometimes it is explained as fourfold, sila, samadhi, pagngna and kamma. Kamma means actions that we do. These actions are also a refuge.
Normally we talk about three refuges, Triple Gem, Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha. The Buddha is the fully enlightened person who discovered the truth and explained it in a way that we could understand. The Dhamma is the attainment that he had and teachings that he expounded. The Saṅgha are the disciples who follow his path and achieve the liberation under the Buddha’s instructions.
Cetana
These are the three refuges that we normally undergo saying the Pali terms, Buddhan Saranan Gacchami, Dhamman Saranan Gacchami and Sanghan Saranan Gacchami. But when we extensively study the doctrine with much insight, we get to know about another refuge which is called the kamma, in other words, cetana. A person who studies the Dhamma to a certain extent knows that the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha are the refuge of the disciples and, at the same time, there are discourses in which the Buddha has mentioned “You are your own refuge - Atta hi Attano Natho.”
Atta hi attano natho ko hi natho paro siyaattana hi sudantenanatha labhati dullabhan (Dhammapada verse 160)“One is one’s own refugehow can another be a refuge to one?by purifying one’s own mind one reaches the salvation (Nibbana) that is rare to be obtained”.
We have to have a clear understanding on how to match these two teachings, because both facts have been stated by the Buddha. In a Dhammapada verse, the Buddha once mentioned that ones who undergo the refuge of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha and consider them as their refuge could eventually be liberated from Saṃsara. And in another Dhammapada verse he mentioned that Atta hi Attano Natho - Kohi Natho Paro Siya – “One is one’s own refuge”. It seems like these two teachings are contradicting. But when we analyse them deeply we get to know that all four are applicable in our lives and we have to take different approaches to understand these four types of refuges.
According to the Thera, the Pali term for refuge is Sarana. Grammatically, sarana means that which destroys the suffering. There can be various interpretations for these Pali terms. One famous and prominent explanation for the word sarana is a thing or a person who eliminate suffering and gives us protection. Therefore, Sarana is the protector.
From what does sarana protect us? The answer is from suffering. There are two types of suffering. Suffering that we are bound to experience in this life and suffering that we would encounter if we are to be born again. Out of the two, we may face suffering in this life due to various reasons.
One can be our bad behaviour and negligence. We, sometimes, encounter suffering due to bad kammas done in our past samsara. Some of the inevitable sufferings in the present life are aging, sickness and death which no one can evade. Second types of afflictions are the hardships that we have to face if we will be born again.
For instance, if we are born again, eventually we will be facing death, aging, sickness, separations from the loved ones and many more sufferings. An immeasurable amount of suffering is waiting for us if we are to be born again and again in Samsara. The refuge that we are discussing would destroy some of these sufferings and liberate us from them.
The question is how these four types of refuges could make us liberated from suffering. First and foremost among the refuges is the Buddha. Beings are not aware that they are trapped in a samsara full of suffering. Samsara means the continuation of nama and rupa which are non-self and impermanent. Temporal, non-self nama and rupa beget lots of suffering. But this reality is not obvious to living beings.
Instead of realising nature, beings tend to hold on to the notion that Samsara is a place full of pleasures with a little amount of suffering. Knowing the reality is not an easy task. It is a daunting process, and may take lots of effort and time. To accomplish this, ordinary beings like us need guidance. For that at least one person has to understand the reality by himself.
Time to time there appears some great humans who penetrate into this reality by themselves without the help of others. Out of these great humans some do not possess the capacity to put their understanding into words and express others. We call them the Paccekabuddhas or Silent Buddhas, the ones who are enlightened by themselves but unable to enlighten others. Among the ones who liberated themselves, a very few come to the state of Sammasambuddha-hood. One who has reached that state is capable of expressing his findings to others. If someone does not attain the state of a Sammasambuddha, ordinary beings would not have a chance to understand the true nature of life and samsara. Therefore, the Sammasambuddha is a great refuge.
Buddha sasana, our practice in the path, efforts we make for salvation and many more related to our spirituality are solely based on the understanding of the Sammasambuddha. Without this great person, there would be no Dhamma or the Buddha Sasana where bhikkhus and lay devotees could practise and move towards liberation. The Buddha is the ultimate guide, ultimate teacher, and ultimate instructor and only based on his teachings, we are capable of getting rid of suffering. Therefore, inevitably, the Buddha becomes the first refuge.
The next refuge is the Dhamma. Even for the Buddha to get liberated, there should be liberation. There are realities that exist. But not all of them can become a refuge to beings. Among the realities in existence, the Buddha found out that there are few that would be the salvation and few realities that have the capacity to end our suffering and to make us liberated. These are the final attainments of magga, phala and the unconditioned Nirvana. If there is no Nirvāna, there is no possibility of salvation. If there is no path (magga), there is no way out from samsara.
The fruition (phala) calms down the mindstream of noble beings who have eradicated defilements.
Guidance
Without mundane (lokiya) practice, no one can attain these highest stages. Mundane practice means the day-to-day spiritual activities that we execute seeking liberation one day. It is threefold as sila, samadhi and pagngna. The Buddha’s instructions, the teachings of Dhamma, are also of great refuge, because without the teachings, one would not have the proper guidance. Therefore, teachings of the Buddha, our own practice and the attainments we attain are all great refuges.
The third refuge is the Sangha, the disciples. According to the Theravada, what is the real Sangha? It is open to debate. People may have different opinions on this. But if I strictly adhere to the commentaries, Sangha are the enlightened beings who have gone from household lives into homelesness. In other words, Sangha represents bhikkhus and bhikkhunis who have attained the supra-mundane paths and fruitions and become noble beings.
According to the Theravada tradition, lay persons who have attained nobility and bhikkhus and bhikkhunis who have not attained magga pala would not be counted as the Sangha in the ultimate sense. But bhikkhus and bhikkhunis who are striving to attain salvation are also considered as Sangha in another way of consideration (pariyiyena) within the tradition.
The Noble Sangha shares a penetration through direct experience of the innermost essence of the Dhamma. These persons have followed the Buddha’s path to the height of wisdom and seen for themselves the ultimate truth, the truth of the unconditioned. According to the Theravada teachings, the person who becomes a true disciple gains absolute confidence in the Triple Gem — in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. He has been spiritually reborn, born with a noble birth.
Those who become Sangha have entered the definite path to final liberation. They have stepped beyond the ranks of the multitude caught up in craving and ignorance revolving in birth and death. They can never fall back to the level of a worldling because they have realised the truth by direct experience. They are now bound to reach full enlightenment and final liberation.
The highest of the noble disciples is the arahant. He is the one who has reached enlightenment and cut off all craving and extinguished all defilements. He lives out his day in the bliss of liberation until the breakup of the body. With the breakup of the body, he attains the final goal, the Nibbana element without residue.
Dhamma is preserved by the Sangha.
Without Sangha, this doctrine would not have survived this long. Bhikkhus and bhikkhunees are fully dedicated to this practice. Sangha are the mediators of Buddhist teachings. Even when the Buddha was alive, he couldn’t be present in every place. He also had limitations. But his teachings were spread all over the country by his disciples. For example, after the first Vassa, the Buddha sent bhikkhus to various directions and asked them not to walk on the same path to spread the Dhamma as much as possible.
Confidence
Another point worth considering is that the true disciples of the Buddha are the reason for us to gain confidence on the path. Therefore, the Sangha has become a great refuge to the followers of the teachings. The support of the bhikkhus and bhikkhunis who have walked in this noble path is essential for a person to follow the path to liberation. But finally without our dedication and intention to follow this path, we can never achieve magga pala or Nirvana.
If we do not follow the instructions of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, we would not be able to get out from the Samsara. We have to restrain ourselves from immoral deeds. We have to maintain mindfulness all the time. We have to cultivate good qualities, Sila, Samadhi and Pagna. To do that, we have to have the intention (cetana). It is quite similar to desire (chanda).
Chanda means the desire to do a certain act. Cetana means the force that makes the mind do the action. It is necessary for every physical, verbal and mental activity. Only if we have the intention to follow this noble path, we can achieve this supra-mundane state of Nirvana. So, how to strengthen this intention? It is true that there are certain factors associated to strengthen the intention. But the final responsibility is on us. The fourth refuge is the intention to follow the path and end this suffering. That’s why the Buddha said, Atta hi attano natho, ko hi natho paro siya.
If we really want to end suffering, we nees to have the intention to restrain from immoral deeds bodily and verbally. We have to maintain mindfulness all the time and cultivate good qualities such as sila, Samadhi and Pagngna. Wholesome intention to end this suffering is also an imperative factor in this path. That is why in the Dasa Dhamma Sutta, the Buddha has stated that Kamma is a refuge for beings. Intention is the cetana, cetana is the kamma and Kamma is the action. When the Buddha said the Kamma is a refuge, it’s not only the past Kamma that we have done in our Samsara, but our own action in this life is also our refuge. So, all the four refuges are equally important to liberate from this Samsara.