Common guidelines and maintaining proper refuge
23 Following in the Buddha's Footsteps
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Volume 4 Following in the Buddha's Footsteps 
Sep 27, 2024 Part of an ongoing series of teachings based on the book Following in the Buddha's Footsteps, the fourth volume in The Library of Wisdom and Compassion series by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Venerable Thubten Chodron.
- Take refuge in the morning and in the evening
- Do all actions entrusting yourself to the three jewels
- Don’t forsake refuge
- How to keep our refuge purely
- Remembering the main refuge is Buddha and Dharma
- Explanation of dharma protectors
- Pitfalls of relying on spirits
- Creating the causes for happiness and abandoning the causes for suffering
- Proper way to relate to dharma protectors and spirits
23 Common Guidelines and Maintaining Proper Refuge (download)
Contemplation points
- Contemplate:
- Try to recall what refuge meant to you when you first took it the first time.
- Think about what refuge means to you now. Has something changed in your mind? Are you more grounded in your life than you were before?
- How does taking refuge influence your cultivation of bodhicitta?
- Why is it so important to take refuge in the morning, evening, as well as throughout the day, in times of ease and times of stress, etc? What does this allow us to do?
- Why is karma considered our greatest protection when we practice? How do we understand refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha in light of this?
- What is the purpose of Dharma protectors, pujas, blessings, and deities? What is the proper way to relate to them?
Venerable Thubten Chodron
Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.
