Dear Friends,

> The ultimate goal of "going to refuge" is to put a person on the
> right path (the middle path), starting with the right
> view/understanding. Just my 5-cent worth.

Sorry to be self-centered, but I just thought it might be nice to talk
about taking refuge in regards to this discussion... when I first
practiced Buddhist meditation, I didn't know the right path or the
wrong path, and I suffered a lot, but it makes a good story to tell
now :)

One morning, I woke up at 3 am, but couldn't continue practicing, as
the day before had been cut short with terrible suffering, and as soon
as I started walking in the morning my head started to hurt again.
So, in desperation I decided to go out into the black of night,
wandering through the rows of kutis looking for some kind of escape,
some kind of way out, some kind of refuge...

Past the blind roosters who crowed in the dark, past the dogs that ate
the cats and the cats that ate whatever it was that cats eat in
Thailand (not roosters...) and then I spotted the old bamboo sala,
dimly lit in the distance, with a large golden-hued statue at the far
end.

Like a moth to a flame, stumbling I half ran to the rickety old
building (since destroyed and replaced by a mammoth meditation hall,
with air conditioned vip rooms...)

I prostrated on the floor three times before the golden one, his eyes
half closed and smiling the smile of omniscience, and recited,
half-choking on tears, the only pali words I knew the meaning of:
"buddha.m sara.na.m gacchaami..." From then on, I thought, I wasn't
just a backpacker looking for instant karma, I was a real yogi... so I
went back to suffer more, but this time I didn't mind as much.

That's what these words bring to my mind... when people ask me if I'm
Buddhist, I say I am, because I take the Buddha as my refuge.

On a side note, one thing everyone probably remembers from Bodh Gaya
nowadays is the loud loud speakers blaring these words over and over
again throughout the compound (on sale for 160 rupees)...

Also, has anyone ever seen the new Thai version of Angulimaala? The
use of these words in that movie is very special. I've heard the DVD
has English subtitles...

"Ye keci buddha.m sara.na.m gataase na te gamissanti apayabhumi.m."

Sabbe sattaa nibbaana.m sara.na.m khema.m sacchikarontu,

Yuttadhammo