Taking the Path of Zen by Robert Aitken

Author:Robert Aitken
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781466895232
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The Three Refuges

At the beginning of our sutra services, we chant in Pali the “Ti Sarana Gamana”:

Buddhaṃ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi;

Dhammaṃ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi;

Sanghaṃ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi.34

In using the liturgical language of Southern Buddhism for this gatha, we follow the example of Senzaki Nyogen Sensei, who sought always to show that Buddhism is a single stream and not divided into separate sects.

Usually the “Ti Sarana” is translated:

I take refuge in the Buddha;

I take refuge in the Dharma;

I take refuge in the Sangha.

This may be the best translation when all is said and done, but it is important to examine the Pali words closely so that we may appreciate the levels of meaning that are not brought out in the English.

The first words in each of the three lines are inflected forms of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. “Saranam” is an inflected form of “sarana” which means “protection, shelter, abode, refuge, willed or chosen resort.” “Gacchami” is a verb form meaning “going to” or “will undertake.” Thus a translation of the first line of the “Ti Sarana” would be, “I undertake to find my home in the Buddha,” and the three lines are thus more of a vow than a prayer. The implication is that by finding my home in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha I can free myself from blind conditioning and realize true nature. Placed at the beginning of the service at the start of a day of zazen, the “Ti Sarana” is a renewal of devotion to the way of enlightenment, practice, and compassion.

In Sino-Japanese, “Saranam gacchami” is translated kie, which means “to turn to and rely upon.” Ki, or return, also means “come down to, result in, belong to.” This translation makes it clear that the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are already my home, and I am devoted to them. With them as my abode, I am freed from cycles of karma that bind me to repetitive action and reaction.

To realize the very heart of essential nature is to take refuge in the Buddha. To cultivate the garden of realization is to take refuge in the Dharma. To share the fruits of the garden is to take refuge in the Sangha. Yasutani Roshi says, “The ‘Ti Sarana Gamana’ is the foundation and the whole of the Buddha Tao.”35

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