The objects of refuge for those who strive for complete liberation are the Three Jewels. The Three Jewels have the power temporarily to protect us from the fears of cyclic existence and ultimately to establish us in ultimate excellence, and they are therefore an infallible refuge, for as the Great Master has said,

Samsaric lords, however good, will let us down.
As objects of refuge, the Three Jewels will never fail.

The Three Jewels are identified differently according to the different categories of greater and lesser vehicles. Here, in the unsurpassable tradition of the Great Vehicle, there are three categories of object:

objects in which realization is manifest,
those that are sources of inspiration, and
the absolute object of refuge.

(a) Objects in which realization is manifest

These are:

• the Jewel of the Buddha who embodies the four bodies and five wisdoms, who is endowed with the two puritiesc and is the ultimate fulfillment of the twofold goal.
• the Dharma of realization and transmission—the cessation and path included in the truth of untainted complete purity, and the Excellent Words that express it as perceptible words and letters.
• the Sangha—the true Sangha of sublime Bodhisattvas on the great levels, children of the Buddha endowed with the qualities of realization and liberation; and the surrogate Sangha of beings following the Great Vehicle on the paths of accumulation and joining and of sublime Listeners and Solitary Realizers following the Basic Vehicle.

(b) Sources of inspiration

• all fashioned images representing the Buddha, for example, drawings or paintings and statues;
• books containing the Dharma, the Buddha’s teaching, in the form of letters;
• and the Sangha of ordinary beings following the path—the lesser Sangha of lay practitioners and intermediate ordinees, and the so-called greater Sangha of fully ordained monks, four such taken together being called an assembly of the Sangha. There is also the Sangha of knowledge holders comprising those, whether monks or lay practitioners, who are following the path of the Mantra Vehicle and abide by the commitments. Whichever discipline they observe, these are all fieldsg by which beings may acquire merit.

(c) The absolute object of refuge

The ultimate refuge is the Buddha alone. Neither of the other two is the ultimate refuge, for the following reasons. Once one has seen the truth, the teachings that make up the Dharma of transmission have to be discarded. The Dharma of realization in the minds of Bodhisattvas, Listeners, and Solitary Realizers is subject to improvement and is therefore impermanent and deceptive. As for the Sangha, since its members are themselves still on the path to be trodden, they do not have the ultimate qualities; and since they are unable to eliminate their latent tendencies and the obscurations
particular to their respective levels without depending on the Buddha, they still have fear. As we read in the Sublime Continuum,

One will be abandoned, one is deceptive by nature,
And one does not have and is still afraid. For these reasons
The two kinds of Dharma and the assembly of sublime beings
Are not the highest, everlasting refuge.

Ultimately, the refuge of beings
Is the Buddha alone, because,
the Buddha being none other than the body of truth,
the Capable One embodies the teachings
And that is the final goal of the community too.

ii. The particular refuge objects of the Mantra Vehicle

According to the tradition of the Diamond Mantra Vehicle there are, in addition to the above, the particular Three Jewels: the teacher, the object from whom one receives blessings; the yidam, from whom one receives accomplishments; and the dakinis and Dharma protectors, who are charged with accomplishing the activities.

Furthermore, we distinguish the teachers as the embodiments of all Three Jewels (their bodies as the Sangha, their speech as the Dharma, and their minds as the Buddha), the yidam deities manifesting in their peaceful and wrathful forms as the nature of the Buddha in the body of perfect enjoyment and body of manifestation, their tantras as the extraordinary Dharma, and the dakinis and Dharma protectors as the special Sangha. In this way, we take them as our refuge.

The Great Master expresses it thus:
The Lord Teacher, root of blessings,
Yidam deity, source of accomplishments,
Dakinis, who perfectly grant the blessings.

• Dudjom Rinpoche – A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom

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