Taking Refuge
Today I offer for your reflection, one of the exercises from the on-line Dharmagiri Course that my study buddy, Carolyn, and I have found to be quite “enlightening.”
Several times a day, ask yourself: “Where am I placing my trust?”
The traditional practice for Buddhists is to trust (“take refuge”) in: (1) the Buddha, (2) the Dhamma, and (3) the Sangha. What this means is that we trust (1) our natural ability to wake up from the confusion that keeps us trapped in feelings of discomfort, dis-ease, and dissatisfaction, (2) the teachings that show us the way to wake up, and (3) all those who have actually woken up!
Which is great.
But a good hard look at what we actually do…when we’re feeling lonely, or anxious, or upset, or whatever…can help us see that (maybe, just maybe) we are actually putting our trust in a lot of other things.
Ice cream, for example.
Or vodka. Or the internet. Or keeping really, really, really busy.
We ask the question, not as a way to make us feel bad about what we’re going. But to make us conscious of what we’re doing.
Which is another way of saying….to wake up!