Arriving Home :: Taking Refuge In Meditation
Being a meditation teacher over the past many years, I have received the distinct honor of seeing how meditation deeply affects people’s lives. While the progress may seem small at first, your practice will soon reveal new layers of consciousness and a completely transformed way of being.
A feeling of being at home in meditation is one of the effects that has the propensity to be experienced both as a beginning meditator and as an experienced one. As explored in a previous ‘Arriving Home’ Finding Your Inner Home In Meditation, how we find this sense of being home is largely by coming to understand our own true nature and an inherent steadiness in the mind and heart. While the journey of coming to find our inner homes is individualistic, there are aspects of this inward journey that can be expedited and strengthened by forces outside of ourselves.
The Three Jewels
To take refuge in meditation is a deeper nod to our inner home that we can access anywhere and at anytime. Yet what does this really mean?
To find refuge in your own inward journey
Within the inner-sanctuary of practice, you may feel sensations of safety and protection. Your mind may feel free enough to let go of judgements and fear. You may feel filled with relief from not having to think or figure things out all of the time. You can put your life and problems down for a few moments during meditation. Your heart can feel open and be free.
To find refuge in elements outside of ourselves
Teachings from the buddha have pointed us to three arenas in life where we can find elements of home: safety, rest and trust. This is where we get to really experience meditation through its teachings and through the experiences of other meditators.
We can pull from teachings on the three jewels for taking refuge and finding a sense of home within through the support of practice: The buddha, dharma and sangha.
The Buddha : translating to consciousness, awareness and wakefulness.
The Dharma : the practice; or the teachings; or ‘the way’.
The Sangha : translating to community; to come in contact with and to gather.
Taking refuge in the three jewels is like finding shade under a tree on a really hot summer day, but for your heart and mind. You are alive and restful within awareness and being wakeful. You are supported by the practice of meditation and its teachings. You feel supported being in the community and with fellow meditators also walking the path of practice.
If you ever need to know how to find a sense of sanctuary, rest and an inner-haven both internally and externally with meditation, remember to access your home within and take to refuge in the three jewels.
