September 2026

by Brenda

One version of the refuge prayer begins:

With the wish to free all living beings
I shall always go for refuge
To the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha
Until I reach full enlightenment.

I have recently begun using these lines as a basis for reflection and analysis. For me, it’s easy to repeat the words of this or any other prayer without fully taking in the immensity of the meaning, so it’s helpful to go slowly and stop to think. I’d like to share some of my thoughts with you here.

With the wish to free all living beings

This is my wish. It forms the motivation for this meditation session, for my day, for my life. However, “If wishes were horses beggars would ride” so I must ensure that this doesn’t remain as a wish – beautiful as it may be in its intention. Freeing all living beings is no easy undertaking. There are so many of them (us?) and the chains of karma, the iron trap of self-grasping – as Lama Tsongkhapa describes our plight in “The Three Principal Aspects of the Path” – are so strong that a mere wish won’t go very far. How do I progress from the wish to the deed? The next lines offer an answer:

I shall always go for refuge
To the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.

To be able to free anyone else I must first be free myself. The Three Jewels offer a way to this freedom. The third and fourth Noble Truths lay this out clearly, assuring us that freedom is possible and here is the way to attain it. By relying on the teachings of the Buddha and observing ethical conduct above all, I can take the first steps on the road to freedom with the intention help as many other beings along that road as well.

If this can sometimes feel totally overwhelming and exhausting, the final line indicates the end point of the journey:

Until I reach full enlightenment.

It’s encouraging to me to remember that there are thousands, hundreds of thousands, who knows how many buddhas, who have reached that beautiful end point. If they achieved it, it must mean that the guide to the path is reliable, therefore I can follow it with complete confidence. 

Part 2 will follow shortly. Watch this space!