Metta: Buddhists, Worldly Unwholesome Advisors, and the Three Refuges

In the Buddha’s teachings, taking refuge in the Three Refuges is a deep, abiding turning of the heart toward the path of liberation and awakening. It’s not blind allegiance to any inner circle or outer group, nor a lifelong vow of devotion to a specific sect, tradition, or individual figure. In its truest sense, the Sangha Jewel refers to the community of pure practitioners: the assembly of noble disciples (ariya-saṅgha) who have realized the path, keep the precepts, practice with diligence, and are established in right view and right mindfulness. Early Buddhist scriptures such as the Samyutta Nikāya and the Majjhima Nikāya record again and again that when disciples declared refuge in the Buddha’s presence, they most often did so with a simple, sincere spoken vow: “I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the Dharma. I take refuge in the Sangha.” This was no cumbersome ritual, but a single clear-headed choice of the heart, marking the moment they pledged to follow the Awakened One as their teacher, the Dharma as their path, and the pure community as their companions, walking together toward liberation.

There are indeed plenty of unwholesome guides in the world, corrupt monastic communities, and even people and groups who use the name of Buddhism to amass wealth or spread falsehoods – the widely discredited Shi Yongxin and Shi Xuecheng among them. These harms cut deep, but they’re not unique to Buddhism; they’re, in fact, common problems that arise in every kind of human group, rooted in the collective karma that can arise in any human community, and the individual karma of those who act unwholesomely. The failings of individual corrupt monastics or a single sect reveal the damage that happens when polluted minds meet unwholesome conditions, and can’t be used to erase the true meaning of the Sangha Jewel. Just as a forest may hold dead branches and fallen leaves, it still offers shade and shelter. What practitioners take refuge in is the overarching direction of pure practice, and the community of virtuous friends walking the same path – not the ever-shifting moral conduct of any one person wearing robes. The Buddha taught his disciples in the sutras to steer clear of bad friends and unwholesome guides precisely to protect the growth of the Noble Eightfold Path, not to have people give up eating for fear of choking and abandon their reliance on the entire Sangha altogether.

Most Buddhists have already developed an aspiration for the Dharma, and put genuine effort into studying, contemplating, and practicing it in their daily lives, long before they formally declare the Three Refuges. Most who have taken refuge have never claimed to hold the only true path, or barred others from practicing. Taking refuge is a direct connection between an individual and the Three Jewels. It doesn’t breed a sense of superiority rooted in ego-clinging, nor does it require anyone who takes refuge to take responsibility for every group on earth. At its heart, the Three Refuges rest on inner acceptance of the true Dharma, putting it into practice, and making a firm commitment to the path of liberation. It offers us a place of refuge amid turmoil, but it never asks us to hand over our own discernment to any external authority.

Exposing corruption and abuse within religious circles, and criticizing sects, groups, or individuals who amass wealth out of greed or spread distorted teachings, is a necessary act of upholding worldly justice and protecting the true Dharma. The Buddha himself spoke out to analyze and refute the non-Buddhist ascetics and false practitioners of his day. But this is entirely separate from the choice of whether to take refuge in the Three Jewels. Criticizing unwholesome guides is meant to stop evil, promote good, and protect the true Dharma; taking refuge in the Three Jewels is an individual’s choice, shaped by their own circumstances, to take the Buddha’s teachings as their ultimate refuge. The two don’t conflict. In fact, precisely because there are so many unwholesome guides in the world, practitioners need the Three Jewels as a beacon all the more, cultivating right view and right mindfulness to guard their own minds in impure environments. At the same time, they respond with compassion and wisdom to all beings’ aspirations to be freed from suffering and walk the path of awakening. They don’t let one leaf block their view of the forest’s pure potential, nor do they deny or downplay the meaning of the Three Refuges, or the importance of an individual’s personal declaration of refuge.

At its core, the Dharma is a path of ending suffering, attaining liberation, and full awakening. The Three Refuges are not an amulet to shield you from worldly problems. They are a call to inner stability when you face those problems head-on. They remind us that no matter how turbulent the world outside grows, the community of pure practitioners endures wherever the true Dharma abides. No matter how glaring individual wrongdoings may be, the Sangha Jewel the Buddha taught ultimately points to that pure community and path of practice that rises above any single person’s failings, and moves together toward awakening. If practitioners can see things as they truly are, they will not lose their original intention to the world’s muddy currents. Instead, encouraged and supported by the Three Jewels, they can walk the Middle Way with steadier, firmer resolve.