Theravada Buddhism: The View of the Elders

Chapter 2 The Triple Gem

ChapTEr 2 The Triple Gem To be a follower of the Buddha is to “take refuge” or “go for refuge” in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha—the Triple Gem, as Buddhists would usually refer to the objects of their religious veneration . It is said that those who engaged in this practice for the first time were two passing merchants who gave some food to the newly awakened Buddha.1 It is further said that they took refuge only in the Buddha and the Dhamma, for the third gem—the order of monks— had not yet come into existence. As we found in the account of the first sermon of the Buddha to his five erstwhile companions at the Deer Park in Benares, none of the initial five listeners took refuge formally. They do seem to have accepted, tentatively, that the Buddha was “awakened” (i.e., liberated from suffering by understanding the nature of reality). This acceptance was tantamount to accepting the validity of the method adopted by the Buddha in order to achieve awakening, which meant, according to the tradition, that they accepted the Dhamma. With their subsequent realization of the goal, these five former ascetics, now monastic followers of the Buddha, became the first representatives of the Sangha—the third gem. As the practice evolved, it was customary for attendees at the Buddha’s sermons to indicate their acceptance of what he taught 1. In the belief of the Southeast Asian Buddhists, it is these two merchants, Tapassu and Bhalluka, who first introduced the message of the Buddha to the region. 20 thERAvADA BuDDhI SM by seeking refuge in the Triple Gem. That marked the beginning of one’s life as a “Buddhist,” as either a monastic or a household follower . Apart from this simple religious act there was no elaborate initiation ceremony to mark one’s conversion to Buddhism. What was, at this early stage, a once-in-a-lifetime activity has now become a regular ritual practice among Theravada Buddhists. Most of them start their daily routine by thrice uttering Pali passages articulating the seeking of refuge, followed by the five basic rules of Buddhist life—panca-sila, or the five precepts. Initiates invariably start any public Buddhist function by uttering these passages together, usually guided by a member of the Sangha. The focus of this chapter is to clarify what the Triple Gem is, what it means to take refuge in it, and its significance in religious terms. The Triple Gem The Buddha, his teaching or the Dhamma, and the Sangha are identified as gems in the Theravada tradition. The overly reverential attitude exemplified by the word “gem” (or “jewel”) seems to be of late origin. Initially, it was simply the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha—the teacher, his teaching, and the community of followers who had achieved the final goal or were on the path toward it. The Buddha As we already know, “buddha” means one who is awakened. Originally the term was used to refer to the Buddha Sakyamuni (the Sage of the Sakyans, a way to refer to the historical Buddha) when the emphasis was on his attainment as a religious teacher. His contemporaries would usually call him by his family name Gotama, while the Buddha himself would use the term tathagata (thus-gone one) when referring to himself or to any other previous buddha. But the term “buddha” seems gradually to have become the established way to refer to him exclusively and continues to be so used. However, this usage of the term as a proper name is not the most important point. Speaking religiously, what is most important is its signification as indicating the one who has realized the four noble truths, one of the nine epithets that describe the virtues of the Buddha. The Theravada tradition holds that there are innumerable bud- The Triple Gem 21 dhas belonging to past, present, and future. Although there cannot be two buddhas simultaneously in any one world system, there can be many buddhas in differing world systems simultaneously. Including the Buddha Gotama, Theravada followers worship twenty-eight buddhas. It is said that the present buddha received “definitive pronouncement ” about his future buddha-hood from twenty-four buddhas starting from the buddha Dipankara. In addition to fully enlightened buddhas, Theravada also holds that there are individual buddhas (pacceka Buddha) who realize nirvana on their own but who would not...