---
ai_generation_date: '2026-08-27'
ai_model: gemini-3-pro-preview
audiodharma:
  talks:
    - date: '2020-10-26'
      mp3_url: https://audiodharma.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/talks/12320/20201026-Diana_Clark-IMC-refuge_in_the_buddha.mp3
      speakers:
        - speaker_name: Diana Clark
          speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/240
      talk_start_time_seconds: 0
      title: Refuge in the Buddha
      url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12320
      video_unavailable: false
location_city: Redwood City, CA
video_unavailable: false
youtube:
  id: nJh8sFaFWV8
  imprecise_upload_date: '2021-05-04'
  title: 'Dharma Talk: Refuge in the Buddha'
  upload_date: null
  uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center
  uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter
youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJh8sFaFWV8
---

# Refuge in the Buddha - [Diana Clark](https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/240)

_This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers._

## [Refuge in the Buddha](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12320)

Good evening. Again, for those of you who were here for the guided meditation, this is a second good evening. For the next few weeks, I am going to do a series on going for refuge. I have been reflecting that things are a little bit unsettled here in the United States. What can be a support? What can be a way that can bring some stability in whatever happens in the next few weeks?

So, for each of the next few weeks, I hope to unpack a little bit about what going for refuge means. This includes why we might have some hesitation, or feel like we are allergic to something like that, and what it is we take refuge in. We will explore those things that are supportive, and maybe those things that turn out to not be so supportive, as a way to hopefully bring some stability, direction, and orientation for these next few weeks.

For me, I feel buoyed to bring to mind that for millennia, Buddhists have taken refuge. There is this way that we are connected to thousands and millions, untold numbers of people, who have taken refuge. In their lifetimes, there have been untold numbers of difficulties. So, for me, it is meaningful that this activity of going for refuge is recorded in the earliest discourses from the time of the Buddha. There is this living connection to so many people who have done this before.

## A Place of Safety and Orientation

What is this idea of refuge? As I said, I will be unpacking this a little bit more and more as the weeks ensue, but we can think of it as a place of safety. In some ways, maybe as a place of protection, or maybe even a protective enclosure where we can rest or feel supported. We do not have to be so vigilant or on guard.

Perhaps we might imagine sheltering under a large ancient tree, a tree that has deep roots, a big, sturdy trunk, and a really wide canopy. Maybe it is not even super wide; maybe it is just wide enough for us. There are so many different ways we can imagine this, with the branches reaching out and around, creating this kind of safe, sheltering place.

This ancient tree has seen so much of the comings and goings of so many people's lives, and still, it is standing there. It provides shelter from too much sun and too much rain. But, of course, it shelters us in a way that does not isolate us. We are still connected to the environment and what is happening. It does not shelter us so much that we never even know whether the sun is shining or that the rain is falling. It is permeable, but yet sheltering. I like this image connected to nature; we can think of a refuge as a protective enclosure of sorts, like a tree.

We can also think of going for refuge as an orientation. It is the feeling of no longer being disoriented, this feeling of having a direction. If you have ever had that feeling of tumbling in the waves in the ocean, getting caught in the waves and feeling like, "Oh, I'm not even sure which way is up"—it is a terrible feeling. Sometimes we even have that with our emotions; we do not even know which way is up. But then we recognize, "Oh yeah, up is this way."

When I was learning to do some whitewater kayaking, there was something we would practice a lot: just learning to roll. A big part of it was just to be oriented in space. It is a skill you have to practice. When there is water all around, how do you move the paddle in such a way that you can be upright again? Having a sense of direction, having a sense of which way is upright, can be subtle in our everyday lives, but it is really significant. It comes with a certain amount of confidence and a certain amount of ease, especially when we compare it to being disoriented.

Very broadly and generally, we could say this orientation is about not causing harm, and going towards greater freedom. Just in this—not harming ourselves, not harming others—the way that we practice, we discover more and more how we might be causing harm. We become more sensitive, and this word "harm" starts to represent something that is really subtle. Maybe it is just like a contraction or a tightness, not some overt harm. It is orienting ourselves towards what is beneficial, what is helpful, and what is wholesome. It is orienting towards creating the conditions for greater freedom, greater ease, and wholesomeness. We do this without the burden of feeling like we have to make everything happen, or that we have to engineer, manufacture, and manipulate everything. Instead, it is more about putting the conditions in place that can support greater freedom. It is an orientation towards what is onward-leading, recognizing when we are stuck and going round and round in circles, and finding our way towards getting unstuck.

Having this type of orientation informs our intentions and aspirations, and in this way, it can influence our actions—whether actions of the body, actions of speech, or actions of mind. It creates a framework for our experience. Having a direction creates an organizational schema of sorts; it is the recognition that our experiences are not random or chaotic. They make sense, even if we do not know exactly why. We can have some confidence that there are reasons why things are happening, even if it is not clear to us at the moment. We can rest in that. There isn't magic; there isn't randomness. We are simply bringing ourselves to this orientation towards greater freedom, greater ease, and not being stuck.

Repeatedly doing this is transformative. It is kind of like the rudder on a boat: if we set the rudder in a certain direction, it might just be a small change, but over a long distance, that small change makes a difference in where you end up. If you were heading west from here in the Bay Area, California, and you wanted to go to Hawaii, you would set the rudder one place. But if it was a little bit off, you might find yourself in Japan. Both Hawaii and Japan are perfectly fine places to go, but if you had set your intention on going to one place, you do not want to end up in the other. We have to check the rudder and repeatedly reorient ourselves.

It can be transformative in the same way that repeatedly coming back to the breath—orienting towards the sensations of breathing—allows the body and mind to relax, to soften, to get collected, and to find greater ease. We do it again and again, however many times is needed. It does not matter how many times; just however many times is needed. In this way, having this orientation and this reorientation is portable. It can support us whatever arises in any situation. It allows for something different to arise in our life as we do this reorientation—taking refuge—because we are no longer relying on something outside of ourselves. Instead, independent of what is happening, we are orienting towards greater freedom, towards greater ease, and towards what we know is beneficial and wholesome.

## The Three Refuges of Overflowing Goodness

In many ways, perhaps, taking refuge can be a source of great happiness. I know for me, the first time I formally took refuge was here in this very room. Gil[^1] was teaching a course for a few weeks, and it was quite meaningful for me to reflect deeply, do some of the exercises, and over the weeks set this as my intention. Then, we went through a ceremony, which was quite touching. (As an aside, we are thinking about how we might be able to provide this to our greater online community in the spring, so you can keep your eyes on the IMC calendar for something like that.)

As it happened, just by chance I sat next to a good friend of mine for this ceremony. Somehow, I felt like we shared taking refuge together, and that was also really meaningful for me. The happiness comes from a number of things, including developing qualities we can be proud of—things like kindness, sensitivity, equanimity, mindfulness, and discernment. These are qualities that we cultivate and develop as part of this Buddhist path, as part of taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.

There is a _Sutta_[^2] passage that talks about this, which I modified just a little bit, and it goes like this:

> "There are three kinds of overflowing goodness. They nurture happiness and ripen in happiness. They lead to what is likable, desirable, agreeable, to welfare and happiness. And what are these three? Firstly, a noble disciple has gone for refuge to the Buddha. This is the first kind of overflowing goodness. Furthermore, a noble disciple has gone for refuge to the Dharma. This is the second kind of overflowing goodness. Furthermore, a noble disciple has gone for refuge to the Sangha. This is the third kind of overflowing goodness."

I like this idea of overflowing goodness. The goodness overflows and leaks out of us, spreading to others, and everything that we are involved with somehow gets touched with this goodness. In some ways, this brings happiness and confidence to all of us.

So tonight, I would like to talk a little bit about taking refuge in the Buddha. In subsequent weeks, I will talk about taking refuge in the Dharma and in the Sangha.

## Refuge in the Buddha's Biography

There are a number of ways in which we can think about going for refuge in the Buddha. One is refuge in the biography of the Buddha—the story of the Buddha's life. This is without concern for the historicity of the story, or whether this actually happened. The tradition holds the story about the Buddha's life.

There are a number of elements that I find supportive and inspiring. As it happens, right now I am teaching a course at the university on the life of the Buddha, so I am spending a lot of time reading the _Suttas_, reading what scholars have said, reading what Dharma teachers have said, and really looking at this. I am actually surprising myself by how touched I am by this.

Here are a few elements. The story of the Buddha was that he was a prince who had a very sheltered existence. It was not until he was a young man that he encountered old age, sickness, and death. He saw individuals dealing with old age, sickness, and death and was baffled by them. He ended up leaving his palace in order to find an end to suffering.

In some ways, it is healthy that young people feel immortal. While they might have an intellectual understanding that they, too, someday will grow old, get sick, and die, that understanding is too abstract. It is maybe too theoretical to make any significant impact in their lives. That certainly was the case for me when I was younger; I was not thinking about old age, sickness, and death. But more and more I think about it as people I know die, and as I see myself and other people aging. Sooner or later, all of us come into contact with the reality of impermanence[^3]. We are confronted with this. Somehow, I appreciate this portion of the biography of the Buddha: just like many of us, when he was young, he was not impacted by it. It was not until he was older that he was truly impacted by it.

Another piece of the story of the Buddha's life is that he tried a number of different practices until he found one that led to awakening. We have the good fortune that he taught it to others who, down through the millennia, have taught it to us. But he studied with different teachers, looking for what felt right or how he could find greater freedom. He tried different practices. He tried asceticism and extreme self-mortification, until he found a practice that was more of a middle way—one that did not indulge completely in sense pleasures, but did not shy away from the pleasures that are possible. He found a middle way.

I think so many of us also try different things before we find a way that makes sense to us, a way we experience greater freedom and ease with. Even if we have not found our way completely to awakening, we can recognize that just like the Buddha had to find his way, we are finding our way, too.

The last element of the Buddha's biography I will talk about now that I feel touched and inspired by is the way that he died. In fact, when I was reading the discourses that describe his death, I found myself getting a little bit tender, or sad about it. It is very touching the way it is described. Facing his death, he had real clarity of mind, mindfulness, and a lot of concentration. He treated everybody with care and respect. He asked people, "Okay, are there any questions? I'm dying now, do you have any last questions?"

There was a person who went up to him, wanting to learn some of the Dharma. Everybody else said, "No, don't go bother the Buddha. He's dying, can't you tell?" But the Buddha said, "No, no, I'll teach him. I'll give him some teaching." Even in his dying moments, he had this generosity of spirit.

Somehow, I kind of like that even at the end, he was a little bit cranky, too. There is a story that he asked the monk Upavana[^4], who was fanning the Buddha, to just step aside. Ananda[^5] was a little bit surprised that the Buddha said this, and asked, "But Upavana for years has been fanning you, and you've never asked him to just step aside. Why are you doing this now?" The Buddha replied, "Well, there are others who want to see me, because I am dying and this will be their last chance. And Upavana is standing right in front of me, fanning." This gives a little bit of a human quality. He died with tremendous grace and ease, not complaining, and was able to use his mind with concentration. I feel inspired by this, and take refuge in the idea that this is possible. Death will happen to all of us, but maybe there is a way in which we can bring a certain amount of grace to it, as best we can.

## Refuge in the Buddha's Awakening

We can also take refuge in the awakening of the Buddha. Not only the life story, but the fact that he had this experience of awakening, or enlightenment. He described how his mind became free, and the heart was at peace, completely free of greed, hatred, and delusion. He had a way of living that was radically different than a life caught up in expressing greed, hatred, or delusion. It was a different life than having a mind caught up in fear, apologizing for oneself, proving oneself, or defending oneself. He had a very different life that this awakening allowed. This inner change was based on well-being and based on truth; both are based on knowing. It is a letting go of all the ways of being agitated, allowing the heart and the mind to become peaceful.

We can find this inspiring. Maybe in some ways, we have touched into some type of experience that lets us know that something like this is possible. Maybe we have had a hint, an intuition, or perhaps a clear indication that there can be a different way in which the mind and heart can be—a way in which they are free and not agitated. Maybe we have experienced a little bit of an opening or a touchstone, something that keeps us coming back to the practice even though sometimes it feels difficult. It is something that speaks to you of a possibility, something bigger than our everyday experiences. It is something radically different, perhaps, from our everyday experiences.

So, we can feel that potential within ourselves and claim our potential for awakening and for freedom. All of us have this potential to live by the qualities of a Buddha. A Buddha is awake, truthful, ethical, compassionate, and equanimous. We can live in this way. We can be inspired by it, recognize the possibility of something deep and meaningful, recognize the qualities of an awake person, and, as best we can, develop and cultivate those qualities in ourselves.

This, of course, does not mean that these qualities are always evident. It does not mean that we are always behaving as a Buddha might behave, but that we trust there is a path in which we can align ourselves with them. There is a direction; there is an orientation. Taking refuge in the Buddha is to orient ourselves towards the direction of these qualities.

We might hold the notion that somehow we are flawed or imperfect in such a way that freedom is not possible. Maybe we have this secret, hidden idea or fear. Maybe we believe that we have had so many challenges in our lives that freedom isn't really possible, or that awakening is only for those people who are monastics and sit in caves for decades, or something like this. However, there is no one but us here. There aren't these "other people over there." It is all of us. _We_ are the people who are finding greater and greater freedom and greater ease. There are people who are finding changes in their lives and views that show up with kindness, equanimity, and behaving ethically. We can be one of these people. This is something that we can wake up to and that we can grow into.

It is a slow development, perhaps, but we just set the direction and walk the path. We can take refuge in the Buddha and the Buddha's awakening, and step by step, we can walk the path. Drop by drop is the water jug filled. It is possible to find greater ease, greater freedom, and peace. Who knows how far it can go? Maybe you will find out.

In this way, may our orienting towards greater kindness, greater compassion, and greater awakeness to what is really happening be a support for ourselves and for everybody we come into contact with. May the heart settle in its true potential, and may we show others, perhaps, the potential of all of our hearts. Thank you.

---

[^1]: **Gil Fronsdal:** A prominent Buddhist teacher and the primary teacher at the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) in Redwood City, California.

[^2]: **Sutta:** The Pali word for a discourse or teaching of the Buddha. (Often known as Sutra in Sanskrit). Corrected from "suit does" in the original transcript.

[^3]: **Impermanence (Anicca):** A central Buddhist concept stating that all conditioned things are in a constant state of flux.

[^4]: **Upavana:** A monk who served as the Buddha's attendant prior to Ananda.

[^5]: **Ananda:** One of the Buddha's principal disciples and his devoted attendant.