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Commitments Of The Refuge Vow
The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
Excerpted from the transcript of "
Refuge" (Vermont 1996)
Originally published in Bodhi Issue 1
Part 5 of 5 | 1, 2
, 3, 4, 5
Commitments of Restriction The commitments associated with going for refuge are the following. Having gone for refuge to the Buddha, it is taught that you
should not seek the protection of or go for refuge to powerful, mundane beings, worldly deities, or lokapalas. The reason for this is that the ultimate refuge is your own innate Buddha Nature. No source of protection,
no source of refuge, can match that. You have within yourself all of the qualities complete. It is unnecessary to try to acquire these from beings external to yourself. The image that is used for this is of someone who
owns a vast treasury, a treasure house filled with jewels. It is unnecessary for such a person to go out and try to find jewels. Therefore, in recognition of this, there's no need to go for refuge to mundane beings.
Having gone for refuge to the Dharma, it is taught that you should abandon all that is harmful to other beings. Even in situations where you cannot benefit other beings, you should do your best to minimize, as much as
possible, whatever harm you do to them. At best, one should actively help but, failing that, one should try to refrain from getting engaged in any painful attitude or action that would produce pain in others. Having
gone for refuge to the Sangha, it is taught that when you find yourself in situations where your friends, your companions, or your entire environment are leading you away from the Dharma, you should exercise mindfulness
and vigilance. If you let go of your mindfulness and vigilance in such a situation, you will become unable to help others and you, yourself, will be at risk of being led astray. As long as one has no ability to actually
help others, then one is more likely to be influenced by others than to influence them. If you constantly accompany people who actively destroy your virtuous tendencies, then not only will your virtue be easily
destroyed but they will also further destroy their own. The situation will harm everyone involved. We can use the example of people who are involved in negative karmas like hunting, fishing, and so forth. If we
hang around with these friends too much at the beginning stage of our practice of Dharma, we might become influenced by them. We might start thinking, "Well, maybe it's interesting. Maybe it's nice to fish or
shoot." Something like that may occur in our minds. We may decide to try it once or twice. Then we get drawn into the situation and get involved in negative karma. But once our practice has been strengthened, then
it is important for us to be there and try to help in whatever way we can. So our commitment is to be more mindful and aware when we go out into our regular samsaric world. The whole world that we live in has a
lot of sharp edges. If we are not mindful and aware, we may get cut by these sharp edges instead of turning them into beautiful flowers. Until the time that we actually generate the qualities associated with the path,
our commitment is to exercise some caution in allowing ourselves to come under the influence of people or groups who are actively engaged in things that harm others. Is that clear? (Rinpoche laughs)
So these three are called the commitments of restriction. Commitments of Performance Next are the three supplementary commitments, or the commitments of performance. They're quite simple. They are to respect, especially in your attitude, symbols of the Buddha,
Dharma and Sangha. After taking refuge in the Buddha, we respect all forms of the Buddha, such as statues, pictures, paintings or any images of the Buddha. It is the same for the Dharma and the Sangha. We show respect
for the texts and for symbols of the communities of ordained men and women. For example, we should not walk over a statue of the Buddha or a text that we have left on our cushion. However, it's important to
understand that respect here does not mean adopting any particular cultural form. The point is the internal attitude of respect, not particularly how it is demonstrated externally. So this is not an injunction to
attempt to adopt a particular cultural form. You should demonstrate respect with body, speech and mind in a way that is in accordance with your cultural background. So that's about enough commitments. (Rinpoche laughs.)
Shall we dedicate the merit? Dedication of Merit
By whatever boundless merit we have attained
Through hearing this precious, genuine dharma of the supreme yana,
May all beings become a stainless vessel
Of the precious, genuine dharma of the supreme yana.
By this virtue, may all beings
Perfect the accumulations of merit and wisdom
And achieve the two genuine kayas
Arising from merit and wisdom. Student reads Rinpoche's poem three times:
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