It allows us to link our presently limited capabilities with that of the unlimited compassion, wisdom and power of the Buddhas, as well as aspiring towards the attainment of those same qualities.

H.E. Tsem Rinpoche usually gives the refuge vows twice a year, during Wesak Day and Tsongkhapa Day. Prior to attending the refuge ceremony, refuge-seekers must attend a class conducted by His Eminence’s senior students. The class covers various essential topics including what it really means to take refuge in a Guru, and in the Three Jewels.

Contact the Liaison of Kechara House, Yap Yoke Fui (yokefui.yap@kechara.com) to find out more about taking refuge with His Eminence.

Three of the Body

1. Killing

2. Stealing

3. Sexual Misconduct

Four of the Speech

4. Divisive Speech

5. Harsh Words

6. Idle Chatter

7. Lying

Three of the Mind

8. Envy

9. Hatred and Malice

10. Wrong Views
 

The Refuge Commitments

1. Not to go for refuge to teachers who contradict Buddha’s view, or to Samsaric gods.

2. To regard any image of a Buddha as an actual Buddha

3. Not to harm others

4. To regard all Dharma Scriptures as the actual Dharma Jewel

5. Not to allow oneself to be influenced by people who reject the Buddha’s teachings

6. To regard anyone who wears the robes of an ordained person as an actual Sangha Jewel.

7. To go for refuge to the Three Jewels again and again remembering their good qualities and the differences between them.

8. To offer the first portion of whatever we eat and drink to the Three Jewels, while remembering their kindness

9. With compassion, always encourage others to go for refuge

10. To go for refuge at least 3 times during the day and 3 times during the night, remembering the benefits of going for refuge

11. To perform every action with complete trust in the Three Jewels

12. Never to forsake the Three Jewels, even at the cost of our lives, or even as a joke
 

The Benefits of Going for Refuge

1. We become a pure Buddhist

2. We establish the foundation for taking all other vows

3. We purify the negative karma that we have accumulated in the past

4. We daily accumulate a vast collection of merit

5. We are held back from falling into the lower realms

6. We are protected from harm inflicted by humans and non-humans

7. We fulfill all our temporary and ultimate wishes

8. We quickly attain the full Enlightenment of Buddhahood
 

Taking vows is like setting on a journey to a particular destination with a good road map to guide us. When we uphold our vows and commitments, our merits are constantly being generated and increasing even if our practice is interrupted by sleep or other distractions.

The lay vows are the most basic vows that one can take. Requiring no formal ceremony, the lay vows provide guidelines for the most fundamental good human behaviour.

The Eight Precepts are vows that can be taken as a merit-making activity for auspicious occasions such as Wesak Day and Tsongkhapa Day, or even on our birthdays!

The refuge vows are basic vows taken to change our habituations from negative to positive actions.

The Bodhisattva vows encompass Wishing Bodhicitta and Engaging Bodhicitta. Wishing Bodhicitta is simply the prayer-form while Engaging Bodhicitta is the action-form of turning our daily activities into actions to benefit others with awareness. The Bodhisattva vows include both the root and auxiliary vows.

Taking vows is important to enhance and maintain our practice in future lives. If you break any of the eighteen root Bodhisattva vows, you must purify by invoking the four opponent powers and retake them in front of a Buddha image at an appropriate ceremony.

The Lay Vows

To refrain from:

1. Killing

2. Taking what has not been given

3. Sexual misconduct

4. Telling lies

5. Drinking alcohol that clouds the mind

The Eight Precepts

To refrain from:

1. Killing

2. Stealing

3. Lying

4. Taking intoxicants,

5. Sexual misconduct

6. Taking meals at inappropriate times (One meal a day before noon)

7. Sitting on high and luxurious chairs

8. Wearing jewellery, cosmetics or perfume, enjoying music or TV

The Refuge Vows

To refrain from the Ten Non-Virtuous Actions:

3 of the Body – Killing, Stealing, Sexual Misconduct

4 of the Speech – Divisive Speech, Harsh Words, Idle Chatter, Lying

3 of the Mind – Envy, Hatred and Malice, Wrong Views

The Bodhisattva Vows

The Eighteen Root Vows

You must abandon:

1. Praising yourself and belittling others

2. Not sharing with others one’s wealth and the Dharma

3. Not forgiving even when others apologise

4. Doubting and denying the doctrine of the Great Vehicle

5., Taking offerings intended for the Three Jewels

6. Abandoning the doctrine (through sectarianism etc.)

7. Causing an ordained person to disrobe

8. Committing one of the five crimes of immediate retribution

9. Holding perverted views

10. Destroying places such as towns

11. Teaching emptiness to those untrained

12. Discouraging others from seeking full Enlightenment

13. Causing others to break the vow of individual liberation

14. Belittling those who follow the path of individual liberation

15. Proclaiming false realisations (of Emptiness etc)

16. Accepting gifts of articles that have been misappropriated from the belongings of the Three Jewels

17. Laying down harmful regulations and passing false judgement

18. Giving up the pledge of altruistic aspiration (Bodhicitta)

Except in the cases of giving up the pledge of altruistic aspiration and holding perverted views, a complete infraction of any of the root vows requires association with what are the called the ‘four factors of thorough entanglement’:

The Four Conditions That Constitute A Vow Transgression

1. Not being mindful of the disadvantages
2. Not reversing the desire to indulge in the infraction
3. Indulging in the act with great pleasure and delight
4. Lack of any shame and conscience

The Forty Six Auxiliary Vows Of A Bodhisattva

You are to abandon the following actions:

Seven Downfalls Related To Generosity

1. Not making offerings every day to the Three Jewels

2. Acting out thoughts of desire because of discontent

3. Not paying respect to those senior to one in ordination and in taking Bodhisattva vows

4. Not answering questions out of negligence though one is able to do so

5. Selfishly not accepting invitations due to pride, the wish to hurt others’ feelings, or anger and laziness

6. Not accepting others’ gifts out of jealousy, anger etc. or simply to hurt the other

7. Not giving the Dharma to those who wish to learn

Nine Downfalls Related To The Practice Of Morality

8. Ignoring and insulting someone who has committed any of the five heinous crimes or defiled his or her vows of individual liberation, or treating him or her with contempt

9. Not observing the precepts of moral conduct because one wishes to ingratiate oneself with others

10. Complying with the minor precepts when the situation demands one’s disregard of them for the greater benefit of others

11. Not committing one of the seven negative actions of the body and speech when universal love and compassion deem it necessary in a particular instance

12. Accepting things which are acquired through one of the five wrong livelihoods

13. Wasting time on frivolous actions (such as carelessness, lack of purely morality, dancing, playing music just for fun, gossiping) and also distracting others in meditation

14. Misconceiving that Bodhisattvas do not attempt to attain liberation and failing to view delusions as things to be eliminated

15. Not living up to one’s percepts, thinking that doing so might decrease one’s popularity, or not correcting the undisciplined behaviour of body and speech which result in a bad reputation that limits one’s ability to carry out the tasks of a Bodhisttva

16. Not correcting others whom, motivated by delusions, commit negative actions. Doing so helps them to disclose and purify their actions, whereas concealing them generates suspicions of being disliked by others

Four Downfalls Related To Patience

17. Parting from the four noble disciplines; not retaliating when scolded by others, humiliated by others, hit by others or even killed by others

18. Neglecting those who are angry with you

19. Refusing to accept the apologies of others

20. Acting out thoughts of anger, not opposing the arousal of anger within one’s mind by reflecting upon its harmful consequences etc

Three Downfalls Related To Joyous Effort

21. Gathering circle of disciples out of desire for respect and material gain

22. Wasting time and energy on trivial matters, not countering laziness, addiction to excessive sleep, and procrastination

23. Being addicted to frivolous talk

Three Downfalls Related To Concentration

24. Not seeking the appropriate conditions for attaining single pointed concentration, and meditating upon it without proper guidance

25. Not eliminating the obstacles to one’s concentration

26. Regarding the blissful experience derived from concentration as the main purpose of single pointed meditation

Eight Downfalls Related To The Perfection Of Wisdom

27. Abandoning the doctrines of the Lesser Vehicle with the thought that the practitioners of the Greater Vehicle need not study or practise them

28. Unnecessarily expanding one’s energy in the other directions despite having one’s own Greater Vehicle methods

29. Pursuing non-Dharma studies to the neglect of the Dharma ones

30. Studying non-Dharma subjects with great thoroughness, out of attachments to these views, and favouring them

31. Abandoning the doctrines of the Great Vehicle, claiming that they are ineffective and rejecting the texts on ground of their litery style

32. Praising oneself and belittling others out of arrogance and hatred

33. Not attending Dharma ceremonies, discourses etc out of laziness or pride

34. Despising one’s Guru and not relying on his words

Twelve Downfalls Related To Ethics And Helping Others

35. Not helping those who need assistance

36. Avoiding the task of caring for sick people

37. Not working to alleviate other’s suffering, such as the seven types of frustrations: being blind, deaf, lame, exhausted from fatigue, depressed, abused and rebuked by others, and suffering from hindrances to a calm and single pointed mind

38. Not showing the Dharma way to those recklessly caught up in the affairs of this life alone

39. Not repaying the kindness of others

40. Not consoling those who have mental grief, such as that caused by separation from loved ones

41. Not giving material aid to those who are in need of it

42. Not taking care of one’s circles of disciples, relatives and friends by giving them teaching and material aid

43. Not acting in accordance to others’ wishes

44. Not praising those who deserve praise and their good qualities

45. Not preventing harmful acts to the extent permitted by circumstances

46. Not employing physical prowess of supernatural powers, if one possesses them, at the time needed

I take refuge in the Guru
I take refuge in the Buddha
I take refuge in the Dharma
I take refuge in the Sangha (3x)

SANG GYE CHO DANG TSOG KYI CHOG NAM LA
JANG CHUB BAR DU DAG NI KYAB SU CHI
DAG GI JIN SOK GYI PAY SO NAM KYI
DRO LA PAN CHIR SANG GYE DRUB PAR SHOG (3x)

I take refuge until I am enlightened in the Buddhas, the Dharma and the Sangha.
By the positive potential I create by practising generosity and the other far-reaching attitudes,
may I attain Buddhahood in order to benefit all sentient beings. (3x)

May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness!,
May all sentient beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering!,
May all sentient beings never be parted from happiness free of suffering!
May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from bias, attachment and aversion.

SA ZHI PO KYI JUG SHING ME TOG TRAM
RI RAB LING ZHI NYI DAY GYAN PA DI
SANG GYE ZHING DU MIG TAY UL WAR GYI
DRO KUN NAM DAG ZHING LA CHO PAR SHOG

This ground, anointed with perfume, flowers strewn,
Mount Meru, four lands, sun and moon,
imagined as Buddha-land and offered to you.
May all beings enjoy this pure land.

IDAM GURU RATNA MANDALAKAM NIRAYATAYAMI

Long Mandala Offering

OM VAJRA ground AH HUM, mighty golden ground.

OM VAJRA fence AH HUM, the iron fence around the edge; in the centre is Mount Meru, the king of mountains.

In the east the continent Lupagpo; in the south, the continent Dzambuling; in the west, the continent Balangcho; in the north, the continent Draminyan.

In the east are the sub-continents Lu and Lupag; in the south Ngayab and Ngayabzhan; the west Yodan and Lamchogdro; in the north Draminyan and Draminyan Gyida.

In the east, the treasure mountain, in the south the wish-granting tree, in the west the wish-granting cow, in the north the uncultivated crops.

Here are the precious wheel, the precious jewel, the precious queen, the precious minister, the precious elephant, the precious horse, the precious general, the great treasure vase.

Here are the goddess of beauty, the goddess of garlands, the goddess of song, the goddess of dance, the goddess of flowers, the goddess of incense, the goddess of light and the goddess of perfume.

Here are the sun, the moon, the precious parasol, the banner of victory in all directions and in the center are the most perfect riches of gods and humans, with nothing missing, pure and delightful.

To my glorious, holy and most kind root Guru, the lineage Gurus, and in particular to the great Lama Tsongkhapa, Buddha who is the King of Sages, Vajradhara, and the entire assembly of deities, I offer these as a Buddha-field.

Please accept them with compassion, for the sake of migrating beings. Having accepted them, please bestow on me and on mother sentient beings abiding as far as the limits of space, your inspiration with loving compassion.

IDAM GURU RATNA MANDALAKAM NIRAYATAYAMI

LAMA TON PA CHON DEN DAY DAY SHIN SHEG PA
DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PA DZOG PAY SANG GYE
PAL GYAL WA SHAKYA TU PA LA
CHAG TSAL CHING KYAB SU CHI WO CHO DO JIN GYI LAP TU SOL

To the Guru and founder, the endowed transcendent destroyer,
the one gone beyond, the foe destroyer, the completely perfected, fully awakened,
the glorious conqueror, the subduer for the Shakya clan,
I prostrate, go for refuge and make offerings. Please inspire me.

Mantra: TAYATHA OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNI SHAKYAMUNI YE SOHA(7x)

OFFERING PRAISE

TAM CHE DU NI SA ZHI DAG
SEG MA LA SOG MAY PA DANG
LAG TIL TAR NYAM BAR DU YE
RANG ZHIN JAM POR NAY GYUR CHIG

Everywhere may the ground be pure,
free of the roughness of pebbles and so forth.
May it be the nature of lapis
and as smooth as the palm of one’s hand.

OFFERING PRAYER

LHA DANG MI YI SHO PAY DZAY
NGO SU SHAM DANG YI KYI TRUL
KUN ZANG CHO DRIN LA NA MAY
NAM KAY KAM KUYN KYAB GYUR CHIG

May the offering substances both human and divine,
those actual and those which are emanated,
unsurpassed Samantabhadra clouds of offerings,
fill the entire space.

OFFERING CLOUD DHARINI

It is taught in the sutras that this brings infinite benefits such as raining a great rain of offerings in front of the conquerors and their children.

OM NAMO RATRANAYAYA NAMO BHAGAWATE BENZA SARA PRAMADINYE TATHAGATAYA ARHATE SAMYAK SAM BUDDHAYA TAYATA OM BENZE BENZE MAHA BENZE MAHA TESHA BENZE MAHA VIDDHYA BENZE MAHA BODHICHITTA BENZE MAHA BODHI MANDROPA SAM KRAMANA BENZE SARVA KARMA VARONA BHIKSHU DANA BENZE SOHA

HEART OF DEPENDENT ARISING

OM YE DHARMA HETU PRABHAVA HAYTUNTE SHAN TATAGATO HAYWADAT TESHAN TSAYO NIRODHA EWAM WADI MAHA SHRAMANAYE SOHA

CONDENSED HEART SUTRA

MASAM CHOME SHERAB PAROL CHIN
MASHE MAGA NAMKEY NGO WO NYI
SOSOR RANGRIG YESHE CHOYUL WA
DUDUN GYELWAY YUM-LA CHAG TSAL LO

Mantra: TAYATHA OM GATEY GATEY PARAGATEY PARASAMGATEY BODHI SOHA (7x)

REQUEST TO TURN THE WHEEL OF DHARMA

JE-TSUN LA-MA DAM-PA CHEY-NAM KYI
CHO-KU KA-LA CHEN-TI TIN-TIK NEY
JI-TAR TSAM-PI DUL-SHIH DZIN-MA LA
ZAB-JI CHO-KYI CHAR-PA WHAP-TU SOL

All you holy Gurus, unerring in conduct, may you precipitate a rain of realisation of Bodhicitta and Shunyata from the clouds of all-knowing compassion which fills the Dharmakaya sky, providing for the field of disciples precisely what is needed.

INVOCATION

MA LU SEM CHEN KUN GYI GON GYUR CHING
DU TE PUNG CHAY MI ZAY JOM DZAY LHA
NGO NAM MA LU YANG DA KYEN GYUR PAY
CHOM DEN KOR CHAY NAY DIR SHEG SU SOL

Protector of all beings without exception, divine subduer of innumerable negative forces, deity, perfect knower of all things, Bhagawan and attendants, please come here.