Tisarana, the Three Real Refuges

Tisarana is the threefold refuge. It is also known as the three jewels, the three treasures, the triple gem or tri-ratana. Tisarana is referred to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. All three refuges offer protection from the fickle and unstable world we live in.
 

A common formula recited by someone wishing to become a Buddhist and by Buddhists more generally is:
 

Buddham saranam gacchami. 

I go for refuge to the Buddha.
Dhamman saranam gacchami. 

I go for refuge to the Dhamma.
Sangham saranam gacchami. 

I go for refuge to the Sangha.
 

Dutiyampi Buddham saranam gacchami. 

For a second time, I go for refuge to the Buddha.
Dutiyampi Dhamman saranam gacchami. 

For a second time, I go for refuge to the Dhamma.
Dutiyampi Sangham saranam gacchami. 

For a second time, I go for refuge to the Sangha.  

Tatiyampi Buddham saranam gacchami. 

For a third time, I go for refuge to the Buddha.
Tatiyampi Dhamman saranam gacchami. 

For a third time, I go for refuge to the Dhamma.
Tatiyampi Sangham saranam gacchami. 

For a third time, I go for refuge to the Sangha. 

---Khuddakapatha Sutta 

Saranam means refuge or protection. By reciting the above formula three times, one professes his faith and confidence in the Ti-sarana. One who takes refuge in the Three Refuges (Saranagamana) is generally accepted as a Buddhist.
 

Taking refuge in the Triple Gem is generally considered to make one formally a Buddhist. Thus, in many Theravada Buddhist communities, Tisarana is often recited by both monks and lay people. This is the correct way to take refuge in the tisarana. By constantly reciting them day by day, the meaning of the Dhamma becomes clearer and clearer in realization.
 

In the ‘Sīlekkhan’ commentaries, it is said that the Three Refuges are more supreme than the Five Precepts. In the time of the Vipassã Buddha, the samanera Tisaranagamaniya decided that it would be beneficial to recite the Three Refuges all the time. After his death, the results of having constantly recited the Tisarana made him the Sakka thirty-two times. That is how powerful the Three Refuges are! In Gotama Buddha's time, he also attained enlightenment at the age of seven.
 

The three refuges remind us that the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha are very precious. This is because they lead us the opportunity to work towards enlightenment. At the same time, they save us from being swept along by samsara, its delusion, attractions and its suffering. Tapussa and Bhallika were the foremost lay disciples who had firm belief in the Buddha and the Dhamma. The Buddha gave them a discourse at the end of which both the two brothers were established in the Two Refuges (dve vacika saranagamana).
 

Concerning the virtues of the three real refuges, most Buddhists had better take some words of Buddha. In the Apannaka Jataka the Buddha declared and then admonished, “By taking refuge in the Triple Gem, one escapes from rebirth in states of suffering. In forsaking such a refuge as this, you have certainly made a mistake. In the past, too, men who foolishly mistook what was no refuge for a real refuge, met disaster.”
 

Posted by Nyan U