The
first step one takes in becoming a Buddhist is the taking of refuge. The
act of taking refuge goes back to the very earliest period of the Buddhist
community. The first record of this in fact comes from the weeks
following the Buddha’s Enlightenment when we are told that two merchants who
were passing through the place where he attained Enlightenment took refuge in
the Buddha and Dharma. At that stage it was a two-fold refuge as at that
time the Sangha was not yet formed. Following upon this we find
references to the taking of the three-fold refuge. This was shortly
after the Buddha began his teaching career at Sarnath. We have the
conversion of Yasha, the son of a wealthy family of Benares. After Yasa’s
conversion, we have the conversion of Yasha’s family, and according to
tradition, Yasa’s family were the first lay followers to take the three-fold
refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

MEDITATION, DHAMMA, AND YOGA WORKSHOP
Wat Mongkolratanaram 5308 PALM RIVER ROAD TAMPA, FL 33619-3746
20-21-22 JAN., 2012

The Buddha himself put into practice both these extremes before his Enlightenment, the first when he was a prince in his father’s house before he gave up and left the world, the second as an ascetic in the forest before his Enlightenment.