Is any man an island, a refuge unto himself?

Ajahn Chah, “Dharma in English,” 10/31/18; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Ellie Askew, Wisdom Quarterly

QUESTION: Can Ajahn elaborate on what it means by taking [guidance from] refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha? I read that one should be one's own refuge [guide, lamp, island], so what's the difference?

Than Ajahn's ANSWER: Taking guidance from refuge in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha means we take the Triple Gem [The Three Jewels of the Enlightened Teacher, the Enlightened Teaching, and the Enlightened Taught] as our teacher.

Before we can teach ourselves, we need someone to guide us because in the beginning we don’t know what we should do. So we need a teacher to instruct us on what to do. We need the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha as our guide refuge, as our teacher.

Once we have learned from the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha [and awakened to the ultimate liberating-truth] and know what we are supposed to do, then we have to be our own guide refuge. 

We have to apply what we have learned ourselves, because the Buddha cannot do it for us; the Sangha [enlightened community of those who have directly realized the liberating truth for themselves] cannot do it for us; we have to do it ourselves.

So this is what it means by taking ourselves as our own guide refuge: We have to do the practice ourselves. So we need both. We need to take guidance from refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha as our teacher, and we need to be our own guide refuge as a practitioner.