Buddhist meditation, 3 Guides, InsightLA

Why should I sit with a sangha on a Sunday?

On Sunday evenings in West Los Angeles, we now have a reopened InsightLA meditation center.

It's on Olympic near 14th Street in Santa Monica with free street parking. After a guided sit in a spacious, sparkling clean room of wooden floors in good company, there are introductions, a Dharma talk, and then open discussion. It's well attended in person and online via Zoom (by donation).

Who needs a guide to spiritual awakening?

Tonight, the Dharma topic with Eileen Ybarra was Ti-Sarana or the "Three Refuges."

Now, "refuge" is a terrible translation of sarana, which really means "guide" or "guidance." When Early Buddhists and Theravada tradition practitioners today repeat the lines

1. Buddham saranam gacchami. "I go for guidance to the Buddha."
2. Dhamman saranam gacchami. "I go for guidance to the Dharma."
3. Sanghan saranam gacchami. "I go for guidance to the Sangha."

American Col. Henry Steel Olcott stamp

Colonel Henry Olcott, one of the first Americans to formally become a Buddhist more than a century ago, repeated this formula. But he understood that the 19th century translation was very faulty. Monks confirmed that but were not too concerned with what people wanted to call it in English.

Olcott emphasized how misleading it was to use "refuge" when language, linguistic, and Buddhist philosophy all clearly pointed toward "guidance."

• Going for Refuge? NO. Going for Guidance (sarana)

I thought the Buddha would do magic? - No.

Just as the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are the Three Jewels or Gems, they are also the Three Guides. They point the way to enlightenment and the real refuge from all suffering, which is nirvana.

Who is the Buddha? It for us at this time is the historical figure of Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha Gautama, the "Awakened One," more than 26 centuries ago. He awakened under the bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, Bihar (Enlightenment Grove, Vihara, names based on what happened to him there).

No one saves us but ourselves,

No one can and no one may;

We ourselves must walk the Path;

Buddhas only point the Way.

Does Gisele Bundchen have insight? Probably not because her biggest fan did not see fit to teach the world and help us. But Gisele does have an app.

• CONTINUED IN PART II
• Disclosure Project: Dharma Buddhist Meditation
• WhatsApp: chat.WhatsApp.com/D5zsBZlmGel5mR9ctzEknP
• Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen Bradford, Wisdom Quarterly; Eileen Ybarra (guided meditation instruction), Insight Los Angeles (insightla.org)