..续本文上一页s of nothing better than one”s own petty self. When encountering something higher, animals and undeveloped men — "primitive" or "civilized" — will mostly react by distrust, fear, flight, attack, resentment, hostility, persecution, etc., because they can view that higher form of life only as something different, alien, and therefore suspect. It is the sign of a truly developed human mind that it meets the higher with due respect, with admiration, and the wish to emulate. Recognition and appreciation of something higher is therefore the preliminary condition of spiritual growth, and true respect, resulting from it, forms the basis of moral education too. Kungfutse names respect (li) as the first of qualities of "human heartedness" (jen).

　　Therefore in man”s relation to the Highest, i.e., the Triple Gem, true homage comes first. As a way of taking refuge, homage is the spontaneous expression of the deep emotion felt when becoming aware of the existence and significance of the supreme refuge. It is the emotional reaction in gratitude, veneration, and joy when feeling the full weight of the tremendous fact that there is actually a refuge from this universe of suffering. Therefore the commentator”s illustration of this mode of taking refuge is not the habitual act of worship by confirmed devotees, but the highly emotional conversion of an aged brahman who, deeply stirred, prostrates himself before the Exalted One, embracing and kissing his feet.

　　Homage represents the emotional side of taking refuge, being its aspect as a conscious act of faith. Through its single-heartedness and humility, the act of doing homage by body, speech, and mind, prepares the disciple emotionally for complete self-surrender. It is an indispensable step to it, but, being deficient with regard to understanding and determination, it requires the supplementation by the following two stages.

　　II.

　　While homage is still a distant and one-sided relationship to the Supreme, the devotee still being in the outer court of the sanctuary, the acceptance of discipleship is a direct approach to it. Through the process of learning, a mutual relationship is established, or we may even say, a gradual and partial identification of teacher, teaching, and pupil takes place. Here the mind of the disciple goes for refuge to supreme wisdom, and becomes gradually permeated by it.

　　Through respect and humility acquired by true homage, the disciple has earned for himself the right of entry into the sanctuary of wisdom. Only if approached in that attitude of respect and humility, the guru, the spiritual teacher of the East, will impart his knowledge, as these qualities are the first indication that the disciple is ready to receive.

　　If refuge is taken in the sense of discipleship, life becomes a constant act of learning, i.e., of adapting the mind to the standards set by the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. It is the character of the wise man that he is always willing and anxious to learn.

　　The acceptance of discipleship represents the rational side of taking refuge which is here a conscious act of understanding. It supplies the full and satisfying reasons for the act of homage, and adds, in that way, to the strength and loyalty of devotion.

　　But man is not always devotee or learner. There remains much in life that cannot be mastered easily by faith and understanding alone. It requires a strong will and determination, as well as the skill of long experience, to change the course of the manifold habitual activities of life into the direction of the refuge. This task of making the refuge gradually the center of one”s life is performed by the third mode of taking refuge.

　　III.

　　In accepting the Triple Gem as his guiding ideal the disciple pledges himself to subordinate gradually all the es…

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