Ajahn Chah: In Search of Refuge

Ajahn Chah (ajahnchah.org) via Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

[The Buddha spoke of a "refuge" (sarana). For there is only one real refuge. That's nirvana. But it has come to be thought of as threefold, Three "Refuges" as the path to the real refuge: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, the Three Jewels, Triple Gem, or Three Treasures. That's how the enlightened Thai Meditation Master Ajahn Chah is assuming it is understood here as he explains that the heart is at the core of nirvana:]

The Buddha said to find our refuge. That means to find our real heart. This heart is very important. People don't usually look at important things. Instead, we spend most of our time looking at unimportant things.

For example, when we clean house, we may be bent on washing the dishes and so on. But we fail to notice our own hearts. Our hearts may be rotten, we may be feeling angry, washing the dishes with a sour expression on our face.

That our own hearts are not very clean, we fail to see. This is what I call "taking a temporary shelter for a refuge."

We beautify house and home, but we don't think of beautifying our own hearts. We don't examine suffering (disappointment, woe, dukkha*).

The heart is the important thing. The Buddha taught us to find refuge within our own heart: Attahi attano natho: "Make yourself a refuge unto yourself/Be your own refuge." For who else can be our refuge? The true refuge is the heart, nothing else.

We may try to depend on other things, but they aren't a sure thing. We can only really depend on other things if we already have a refuge within ourselves. We must have our own refuge first before we can depend on anything else -- be it a [savior,] teacher, family, or friends.

*DUKKHA: not getting what we want; getting things we don't want; separation (loss) of the loved; connection with the unloved; old age, sickness, death; pain, misery, boredom, suffering.