Three Jewels of the Vajra vehicle

• Final and provisional objects of refuge
• Actual and symbolic Jewels
• Importance of taking refuge every day
• Refuge field and merit field
• Fundamental innate mind of clear light and subtlest wind
• Four buddha bodies
• Three Jewels according to Vajrayana
• What it means to take refuge in the guru
• Ultimate guru and conventional guru

10 Three Jewels of the Vajra Vehicle (download)

Contemplation points

1. Spend some time with the various charts provided in the text for the final and provisional objects of refuge and the symbolic jewels. What are examples for each of the Three Jewels? What makes the Buddha’s qualities distinct from those of an arya learner?
2. What are some of the reasons why it is so important to take refuge in the Three Jewels each and every day?
3. Imagine the merit field as described. Why is it so important to overcome antipathy towards people you don’t get along with or feel safe around? Why is it also important to imagine the holy beings looking at you with complete acceptance and great compassion?
4. It can be easy to confuse the fundamental innate mind of clear light with the idea of a soul. Why is this not the case? What is it that transmigrates from one life to the next and continues to awakening? Describe it in your own words?
5. Tantric practitioners also take refuge in the Guru, but this is not a fourth object of refuge. What is the ultimate guru? Describe it in terms of body, speech, and mind. By contrast, describe the conventional guru. What is the importance of the conventional guru in our lives?