Awakening the Buddha Within _ Eight Steps to Enlightenment - Lama Surya Das [26]
Just as a child in the West grows up believing that it’s possible to become president or an actor or sports figure, children in Tibet grow up believing in the possibility of enlightenment. The secret wisdom of Tibet pronounces that any one of us is capable of purifying our negativities and obscurations, perfecting our understanding, and practicing universal compassion. Actualize your Buddha-nature, your innate perfection, and you too will achieve enlightenment.
MAKE A COMMITMENT TO AWAKENING
The Buddha cannot, and would not, force you to walk the way of truth and liberation. The Buddha cannot, and would not, force you to walk the path of compassion and self-purification. The Buddha cannot, and would not, force you to follow the liberating heart-opening lessons of the Dharma. Buddhism teaches that no one else controls your destiny. It’s all in your hands—the Buddha in the palm of your hands. The potential for self-perfection is yours right now. Innate Buddha-nature expresses itself through human nature. Make a commitment to awakening and enlightenment, and the Dharma gate and the path to enlightenment will open for you, just as it has opened for countless others. In Buddhism, when you make a commitment to awakening, it is known as “taking refuge” or “going for refuge.”
GOING FOR REFUGE
In Tibetan Buddhism, one of the first things a new Dharma student does is to make a commitment to wakefulness by taking part in a rite known as the Refuge Ceremony. Taking refuge imples finding a reliable spiritual sanctuary, a place to safely rest your heart and mind. The Refuge Ceremony and the recitation of the Refuge Prayer formalizes one’s commitment to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha or spiritual community. The Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are known as the Three Jewels of Buddhism, or the triple-faceted gem.
THE REFUGE PRAYER
I go for refuge in the Buddha, the enlightened teacher; I commit myself to enlightenment;
I go for refuge in the Dharma, the spiritual teachings; I commit myself to the truth as it is.
I go for refuge in the Sangha, the spiritual community; I commit myself to living the enlightened life.
In Tibetan Buddhism, when you take refuge with a teacher or lama for the first time, you are given a new Dharma name, symbolizing spiritual rebirth, as your teacher cuts a small lock of your hair. The hair is a reminder that when the Buddha left his palace to became a monk and give up the life he had known, he exchanged his regal clothes for his charioteer’s humble garments, cut off his elegant princely hair with a sword, and walked alone and unencumbered into the forest and onto the path toward enlightenment.
I first made a formal commitment to Buddhism by taking part in a Refuge Ceremony with Kalu Rinpoche in his Sonada Monastery in Darjeeling in 1972. At that time, he clipped a tiny piece of my hair and gave me my Dharma name. Kalu Rinpoche guided many, many people through the Refuge Ceremony. He gave us all names beginning with Karma as part of the Karmapa’s Kagyu lineage. The refuge name he gave me is Karma Dondrub Chopel (which means Accomplishing and Spreading the Highest Dharma Purpose). He said that would be the name that he, my guru, would call me when he would guide me through the bardo, or after-death experience, and beckon me toward the light. Our spiritual bond was one extending beyond death.
I was very fortunate: It was a privilege to make such a connection with an enlightened elder who was deeply embedded in sacred spiritual tradition. The ceremony took place in Darjeeling, a Himalayan province, with a lama who was wearing traditional Buddhist robes, and it represented an important decision on my part. But you can make the same kind of decision on your own without such a ceremony; even today in the Western Hemisphere, you can forge