Ge Ming: Buddhists, Unwholesome Teachers in the World, and the Three Refuges

In the Buddha’s teachings, the Three Refuges are the deep, abiding orientation of a practitioner’s heart toward the path of liberation and awakening. It’s not blind attachment to internal or external groups, nor a lifelong pledge of allegiance or devotion to a specific school, sect, or individual figure. Among the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, the Sangha Jewel refers, at its core, to the community of pure practitioners: the assembly of noble disciples (ariya-saṅgha) who have realized the path, uphold the precepts, practice with diligence, and are grounded in right view and right mindfulness. Early Buddhist scriptures such as the Saṃyutta Nikāya and Majjhima Nikāya recount again and again that when disciples formally took refuge before the Buddha, they almost always did so with a simple, sincere verbal declaration: "I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the Sangha." This isn’t a complicated ritual, but a clear choice made in a single, lucid moment, marking the moment one takes the Buddha (the Awakened One) as teacher, the Dharma as path, and the pure community as companions, to journey together toward liberation.

There are indeed many unwholesome teachers in the world, along with degenerate sangha communities and even people and groups that use the name of the Dharma to amass wealth or spread falsehoods. Cases like the widely disgraced Shi Yongxin and Shi Xuecheng, whose misconduct has been extensively documented, are a painful example of this. These phenomena are deeply distressing, but they’re not unique to Buddhism; in fact, they arise frequently in all kinds of worldly groups, stemming from the collective karma that can build up in any human community, alongside the individual karma of harmful actors. The misconduct of individual corrupt monks or the deviations of a particular sect reveal the rot of defiled minds and the convergence of causes and conditions, and do not invalidate the true meaning of the Sangha Jewel. Just as a forest may hold withered branches and dead leaves, the forest itself still offers cool shade and shelter. What practitioners take refuge in is the overarching direction of pure practice and the community of wholesome spiritual friends, not the personal conduct of any given monastic, which may shift at any time. The Buddha taught disciples in the sutras to avoid bad friends and unwholesome teachers precisely to protect the growth of the Noble Eightfold Path, not to make people refrain from eating for fear of choking, or to abandon all reliance on the sangha as a whole.

Most Buddhists develop an aspiration for the Dharma long before they formally take the Three Refuges, and strive to study, contemplate, and practice in their daily lives. After taking refuge, most who have taken refuge never claim to hold the only correct path or reject the practices of others. Taking refuge is a direct connection between an individual and the Three Jewels; it doesn’t foster a sense of superiority rooted in self-attachment, nor does it require those who take refuge to answer for every group in the world. The core of the Three Refuges lies in inner faith in, acceptance of, and practice of the true Dharma, along with a firm commitment to the path of liberation. It helps us find a steady refuge amid worldly turmoil, but it doesn’t mean ceding our discernment to any external authority.

Exposing the corruption and misconduct that fester in religious circles, and criticizing sects, groups, and individuals that amass wealth out of greed or spread harmful false teachings, is a necessary act to uphold worldly justice and protect the true Dharma. The Buddha himself also analyzed and refuted the wandering ascetics and false practitioners of his day. But this is a completely separate matter from the choice of whether to take refuge in the Three Jewels. Criticizing unwholesome teachers serves to curb harm, promote what is good, and protect the true Dharma; taking refuge in the Three Refuges is an individual’s choice, shaped by causes and conditions, to take the Buddha’s teachings as their ultimate refuge. The two are not in conflict. In fact, the very prevalence of unwholesome teachers in this world is all the more reason for practitioners to take the Three Jewels as their lamp: to cultivate right view and right mindfulness, guard their own minds in impure environments, and meet all beings’ aspiration to be free from suffering and walk the path of awakening with compassion and wisdom. We must not let a single leaf block our view, leading us to deny the pure potential of the entire forest, or to dismiss and dilute the meaning of the Three Refuges and the significance of each individual’s refuge declaration.

The Dharma is, at its core, the path to liberation, awakening, and freedom from suffering. The Three Refuges aren’t a talisman to shield us from worldly problems, but a call to inner steadfastness and a source of encouragement when facing life’s challenges. It reminds us that no matter how turbulent the world grows, the community of pure practitioners always exists wherever the true Dharma abides; no matter how glaring individual misconduct may be, the Sangha Jewel the Buddha points to ultimately refers to the pure practice ground and community that transcends individual faults and advances collectively toward awakening. If practitioners can see things as they truly are, they won’t lose their original aspiration to the world’s muddy currents; on the contrary, they’ll walk the Middle Way with greater firmness, emboldened and blessed by the Three Jewels.