By: Eihei Dogen
The first of one hundred twenty questions in the Guidelines for Zen Monasteries says, “Do you revere buddha, dharma and sangha, or not?”
Thus, it is clear that what the buddhas and ancestors in India and China have authentically transmitted is reverence to buddha, dharma, and sangha. Without taking refuge, there is no reverence. Without reverence, there is no taking refuge.
The act of taking refuge in buddha, dharma, and sangha is achieved through mutual affinity and interaction. Whether you are in a deva [god] realm, a human realm, a demon realm, or an animal realm, when you have mutual affinity and interaction with buddha, dharma, and sangha, you invariably take refuge in them.
Taking refuge in the three treasures, you nurture yourself wherever you are, birth after birth, world after world. You accumulate merit, assemble virtue, and attain unsurpassable, complete enlightenment. Even if you are misled by unwholesome friends, obstructed by demons, cut off from your wholesome roots, and become an icchantika [the most base and spiritually deluded of all beings], in the end you will regain your wholesome roots and increase merit. The power of taking refuge in the three treasures will never decay.
From: Facscicle No. 89 of Shobogenzo, “Taking Refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha,” in Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo, edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi (this fascicle was translated by Gyokuko Carlson, Kyogen Carlson, and Kaz Tanahashi.