Twenty-six hundred years ago, in northern Inida, a young Shakya prince named Siddhartha prepared to leave the palace compound to explore the surrounding countryside and villages. Now in his twenties, he had led an extremely sheltered life designed to ensure that he would remain loyal to his duties as heir to the throne.
In Stars at Dawn, Wendy Garling documents the extent of the privileges that had been lavished on him. "The whole point of giving him three palaces with three wives and three harems had been to ensure that he had all the worldly delights a young prince could want. So far that seemed to have been working. The legends all have it that Siddhartha never ventured outside the palace walls and had no inkling of what lay beyond. Now this was going to change." (p. 114)
Siddhartha's excursions into the bigger world are legendary. In spite of the court's attempts to shield him, he saw first-hand the reality of old age, sickness and death. He was shocked to witness the truth of the human condition and to realize that even he, his family and loved ones, with all their privileges, would also experience these fates. On his fourth excursion, he saw a holy mendicant who had renounced the security and strivings of ordinary life in order to discover freedom. "Overwhelmed with awe and respect, Siddhartha had found a new role model for his life." (p. 118)
Upon his return to the palace, the prince turned his mind towards the spiritual life. He left the palace in the middle of the night, determined to find a path that would take him to liberation from suffering. Seven years later, after much hardship and near-death asceticism, Siddhartha realized there was a way beyond the extremes of indulgence in sensory pleasures and harsh denial of the body. He accepted an offering of food, sat under a magnificent bodhi tree, and by the morning had achieved his goal. He became Shakyamuni Buddha, a beacon of enlightenment for our current age.
One of the Buddha’s earliest teachings was about refuge. Lama Willa Baker (2024) recounts that the Buddha instructed his disciples to "go forth in homelessness" and to live and practice in the wilderness. He advised them, "When you are afraid, remember me. If you are still afraid, remember your path and take refuge in the community of practitioners." To this day, the Three Refuges—Buddha, Dharma and Sangha—are a source of support and safety for practitioners, especially in times of distress and fear.
Two and a half millennia later, many of us reading this post are experiencing relative comfort and safety. At the same time, ecological and societal instability are on the horizon, if not already here. We are aware of intense suffering on the other side of our “palace walls” and we notice that the walls themselves are becoming thinner and crumbling in many places. It seems that the “home” we must now leave is already falling apart. There is no longer a strong and stable palace to leave behind...or return to.
We find ourselves in a new kind of wilderness, with an urgent need for protection, safety and community. How do we acknowledge the truth of this moment in a way that is supportive and manageable? How do we avoid falling into denial and despair, further closing the door to awakening? Where do we find true refuge for ourselves, and how can we offer refuge to others?
Finding Refuge is an invitation to bring our current reality onto our path and into our conversations, drawing on the wisdom that arises within ourselves, our lineages, and the communities and places where we live.
Sources and resources
Garling, W. (2016) Stars at Dawn: Forgotten Stories of Women in the Buddha's Life.
Baker, W. (2024). The recording of Lama Willa Baker's Dharma Sunday talk on "Refuge and Refugia" (Sept 15, 2024) can be found on the Natural Dharma Fellowship website.
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