#LamaZopaRinpoche begins this teaching, #ThoughtTransformationTeaching 122, recorded on October 23, 2021, at Kopan Monastery in Nepal, by explaining that it’s very important to expand on the topic of refuge because it can take one’s whole life—even as a monk or nun studying—or many lifetimes to understand it. Rinpoche reminds us that he’s giving these teachings on refuge because a young girl and other students in China have requested for Rinpoche to offer the refuge ceremony.
The motivation for listening to the teachings, and for taking refuge, is not just for oneself or for temporary happiness. It isn’t enough to want to not be reborn in the lower realms or to obtain a deva or human rebirth in the next life. It also isn’t enough to want to be free from samsara and achieve nirvana. The real motivation is the desire to liberate the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to the total cessation of obscurations and the completion of realizations—Buddhahood—by yourself. In order to do that, you must achieve enlightenment. Therefore, for that purpose, you listen to the teachings and take refuge.
#LamaZopaRinpoche then begins to read from, and provide commentary on, a discussion of refuge from "Day Twelve" of Phabongkha Rinpoche's Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. Phabongkha Rinpoche explains, we should rely on the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha like we rely on a doctor, medicine, and nurses when we are sick. #LamaZopaRinpoche says that similar to how we must make sure that the doctor we chose is expert and that the medicine and nurses are correct, when taking refuge we must rely on Buddha, the founder of refuge; Dharma, the actual refuge; and Sangha, the helper for actualizing refuge ourselves.
Phabongkha Rinpoche then tells the story of two non-Buddhist brothers who became Buddhist when they saw Maheshvara taking refuge in Buddha. One of the brothers composed a text, which Phabongkha Rinpoche refers to, saying:
"Like this text says, having taken refuge in our Teacher and being disciples of his teachings,
we should hold firmly to them, unable to be converted to other [religions], and not take
refuge in Bön, Mutegpa, and so forth, which are outside this Dharma."
#LamaZopaRinpoche explains that these brothers went for refuge to the Buddha "a hundred percent, totally. Their mind is indestructible." They will not go back to their old religion, change to following other religions, or follow Bön or Mutegpa. They firmly took refuge in Buddha.
Rinpoche describes “Mutegpa” as meaning "non-level." He explains how the Buddhist schools—Vaibhashika, Sautrantika, Mind-Only, Madhyamaka Svatantrika, and Madhyamaka Prasangika—are "teg pa," or "levels," like steps. Understanding the Vaibhashika view, helps you understand Sautrantika view, and so on. So understanding the Madhyamaka Svatantrika view is unbelievably helpful for understanding the Madhyamaka Prasangika view, Rinpoche explains. The other religions don’t help understand the most correct subtle emptiness and are therefore "Mutegpa." Rinpoche offers the example of the Hindu tradition, where the I is permanent, exists alone, and exists with its own freedom. In contrast, Buddhism teaches that the I is impermanent, depends on causes and conditions, and does not exist with its own freedom.
Phabongkha Rinpoche continues on the topic of refuge, making two additional points: the more you think about other religions, the more you become devoted to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; and if you have two refuges, you lose your refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
Within this context, Phabongkha Rinpoche begins a discussion of the Bön religion, which was prevalent in Tibet before Buddhism. As explained by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Phabongkha Rinpoche says that the founder of Bön cannot be said to have ceased all the gross defilements and subtle defilements and completed all the qualities; the Bön religion itself doesn’t have a method for the delusions to decrease; and the “Sangha” in Bön, those intent on virtue, do not have a lineage through vows to the founder. So the founder, the religion, and the followers do not have the qualities of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
#LamaZopaRinpoche continues reading through this section of Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand and adding commentary, concluding with Phabongkha Rinpoche's point that "taking refuge is not only reciting words":
"Like someone who has made mistakes seeks help from an influential leader, being afraid of the evil-gone realms, samsara, and so forth and trusting that the Rare Sublime Ones have the capacity to protect you, you must develop the mental factor intention that totally relies upon these protectors. This is the criterion for having taken refuge."
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