..续本文上一页 make no claims to Buddha as being “me” or “mine”. We don”t say, “I am Buddha,” but rather, “I take refuge in Buddha.” It is a way of humbly submitting to that wisdom, being aware, being awake.

　　Although in one sense taking refuge is something we are doing all the time, the Pali formula we use is a reminder — because we forget, because we habitually take refuge in worry, doubt, fear, anger, greed and so on. The Buddha-image is similar; when we bow to it we don”t imagine that it is anything other than a bronze image, a symbol. It is a reflection and makes us a little more aware of Buddha, of our refuge in Buddha Dhamma Sangha. The Buddha image sits in great dignity and calm, not in a trance but fully alert, with a look of wakefulness and kindness, not being caught in the changing conditions around it. Though the image is made of brass and we have these flesh-and-blood bodies and it is much more difficult for us, still it is a reminder. Some people get very puritanical about Buddha-images, but here in the West I haven”t found them to be a danger. The real idols that we believe in and worship and that constantly delude us are our thoughts, views and opinions, our loves and hates, our self-conceit and pride.

　　The second refuge is in the Dhamma, in ultimate truth or ultimate reality. Dhamma is impersonal; we don”t in any way try to personify it to make it any kind of personal deity. When we chant in Pali the verse on Dhamma, we say it is “sanditthiko akaliko ehipassiko opanayiko paccattam veditabbo vinnuhi”. As Dhamma has no personal attributes, we can”t even say it is good or bad or anything that has any superlative or comparative quality; it is beyond the dualistic conceptions of mind.

　　So when we describe Dhamma or give an impression of it, we do it through words such as “sanditthiko”, which means immanent, here-and-now. That brings us back into the present; we feel a sense of immediacy, of now. You may think that Dhamma is some kind of thing that is “out there”, something you have to find elsewhere, but sanditthikodhamma means that it is immanent, here-and-now.

　　Akalikadhamma means that Dhamma is not bound by any time condition. The word akala means timeless. Our conceptual mind can”t conceive of anything that is timeless, because our conceptions and perceptions are time-based conditions, but what we can say is that Dhamma is akala, not bound by time.

　　Ehipassikadhamma means to come and see, to turn towards or go to the Dhamma. It means to look, to be aware. It is not that we pray to the Dhamma to come, or wait for it to tap us on the shoulder; we have to put forth effort. It is like Christ”s saying, “Knock on the door and it shall be opened.” Ehipassiko means that we have to put forward that effort, to turn towards that truth.

　　Opanayiko means leading inwards, towards the peace within the mind. Dhamma doesn”t take us into fascination, into excitement, romance and adventure, but leads to Nibbana, to calm, to silence.

　　Paccattam veditabbo vinnuhi means that we can only know Dhamma through direct experience. It is like the taste of honey — if someone else tastes it, we still don”t know its flavour. We may know the chemical formula or be able to recite all the great poetry ever written about honey, but only when we taste it for ourselves do we really know what it is like. It is the same with Dhamma: we have to taste it, we have to know it directly.

　　Taking refuge in Dhamma is taking another safe refuge. It is not taking refuge in philosophy or intellectual concepts, in theories, in ideas, in doctrines or beliefs of any sort. It is not taking refuge in a belief in Dhamma, or a belief in God or in some kind of force in outer space or something beyond or something separate, something that we have to find sometime later. The descriptions …

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