Awareness as refuge?

[Ngawang Drolma.]

Please pardon my rudeness in advance for slapping a Mahayana thingie in here.

But mindfulness as a form of refuge? What say you, my Theravadan friends?
I've never quite gone this far with stressing the importance of mindfulness.

Awareness is your refuge:

Awareness of the changingness of feelings,
of attitudes, of moods, of material change
and emotional change:

Stay with that, because it's a refuge that is
indestructible.
It's not something that changes.
It's a refuge you can trust in.

This refuge is not something that you create.
It's not a creation. It's not an ideal.
It's very practical and very simple, but
easily overlooked or not noticed.

When you're mindful,
you're beginning to notice,
it's like this.

Ajahn Sumedho

(Source: From "Intuitive Awareness", 2004 )

[tiltbillings]

But mindfulness as a form of refuge? What say you, my Theravadan friends?
I've never quite gone this far with stressing the importance of mindfulness.

Every other practice is subservient to mindfulness.

[clw_uk]

Greetings


Ajahn Sumedho has a good talk on it here


http://www.dhammatalks.org.uk/sumed.php


The Dhamma talk is named "awareness is your refuge" if you would like to listen to it


Metta

[Ben]

Hi Drolma

Nice topic!
Ledi Sayadaw, a teacher within my own tradition, says something similar in his work Manual of the Excellent Man:

Taking refuge is of two kinds: by hearsay and by direct knowledge. Taking refuge through blind faith in the noble attributes of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha, but without right view, is by hearsay. It is so called because the act of taking refuge is not complete in so far as the worshipper has not actually “seen” the Buddha, the Dhamma, or the Saṅgha; he has not perceived the teaching; he has not been in contact with the teaching. In common parlance, he has not got the message.

Consider the Buddha’s admonition to Vakkali, the devoted bhikkhu who spent all his time in worshipful admiration of the Buddha, “Vakkali, he who does not see the Dhamma does not see me.” That is why taking refuge in the Three Gems without empirical knowledge of the Dhamma, i.e. insight into the arising and passing away of phenomena, relies on hearsay only. It is not taking refuge with direct knowledge.

Taking refuge with direct knowledge means imbibing the Buddha’s teaching with right view by perceiving the aggregates, the sense bases, and the elements, and their arising and cessation, which alone will destroy the delusion about a “self” and doubts about the Four Noble Truths. This kind of going for refuge is the real refuge, for the worshipper is actually in contact with the Three Gems.

“One understands suffering, its origin, its cessation and the Noble Eightfold Path leading to the end of suffering. This, indeed, is a secure refuge, this is the supreme refuge. Taking refuge in this, one gains release from the cycle of existences.” (Dhp. vv.191-192.)

For more: http://www.aimwell.org/Books/Ledi/Uttam ... efuge.html

Kind regards

Ben

[floating_abu]

Greetings


Ajahn Sumedho has a good talk on it here


http://www.dhammatalks.org.uk/sumed.php


The Dhamma talk is named "awareness is your refuge" if you would like to listen to it


Metta

Love that guy. Thanks clw_uk.

[floating_abu]

Please pardon my rudeness in advance for slapping a Mahayana thingie in here.

But mindfulness as a form of refuge? What say you, my Theravadan friends?
I've never quite gone this far with stressing the importance of mindfulness.

Awareness is your refuge:

Awareness of the changingness of feelings,
of attitudes, of moods, of material change
and emotional change:

Stay with that, because it's a refuge that is
indestructible.
It's not something that changes.
It's a refuge you can trust in.

This refuge is not something that you create.
It's not a creation. It's not an ideal.
It's very practical and very simple, but
easily overlooked or not noticed.

When you're mindful,
you're beginning to notice,
it's like this.

Ajahn Sumedho

(Source: From "Intuitive Awareness", 2004 )

Luang Por is spot on.

[rowyourboat]

we take refuge in the dhamma- ie the practice of it, along with the other 2- the buddha and the sangha - so i see nothing wrong with this

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Drolma,

But mindfulness as a form of refuge? What say you, my Theravadan friends?

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's "refuge" of the status provided to the Triple Gem, however, mindfulness is an integral component of Dhamma... so when taking refuge in mindfulness, you're taking refuge in the Dhamma, and when you're taking refuge in the Dhamma, you're also taking refuge in the Buddha and the Sangha.

Metta,
Retro.

[pink_trike]

Hi Drolma

Nice topic!
Ledi Sayadaw, a teacher within my own tradition, says something similar in his work Manual of the Excellent Man:

Taking refuge is of two kinds: by hearsay and by direct knowledge. Taking refuge through blind faith in the noble attributes of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha, but without right view, is by hearsay. It is so called because the act of taking refuge is not complete in so far as the worshipper has not actually “seen” the Buddha, the Dhamma, or the Saṅgha; he has not perceived the teaching; he has not been in contact with the teaching. In common parlance, he has not got the message.

Consider the Buddha’s admonition to Vakkali, the devoted bhikkhu who spent all his time in worshipful admiration of the Buddha, “Vakkali, he who does not see the Dhamma does not see me.” That is why taking refuge in the Three Gems without empirical knowledge of the Dhamma, i.e. insight into the arising and passing away of phenomena, relies on hearsay only. It is not taking refuge with direct knowledge.

Taking refuge with direct knowledge means imbibing the Buddha’s teaching with right view by perceiving the aggregates, the sense bases, and the elements, and their arising and cessation, which alone will destroy the delusion about a “self” and doubts about the Four Noble Truths. This kind of going for refuge is the real refuge, for the worshipper is actually in contact with the Three Gems.

“One understands suffering, its origin, its cessation and the Noble Eightfold Path leading to the end of suffering. This, indeed, is a secure refuge, this is the supreme refuge. Taking refuge in this, one gains release from the cycle of existences.” (Dhp. vv.191-192.)

For more: http://www.aimwell.org/Books/Ledi/Uttam ... efuge.html

Kind regards

Ben

Great quote.