Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

Buddhist people acquire knowledge.
Among the three kinds of wisdom, taking refuge
belongs to the wisdom of practice, the third one.
1. Preparations for Taking Refuge
a. Hinayana. One should first study Hinayana doctrine
and realize the very terrible and dangerous conditions
existing in the world, which are liable to affect one
unless the triple refuge is taken. After one has read
translations (or texts) of the Theravada scriptures (as,
for instance, those issued by the Pali Text Society), one
will know the conditions of human life. Whether one is
rich or poor, weak or strong, one realizes that this Saha
world is full of dangers. By our studying the Four Noble
Truths and seeing their application in our life, many
bitter, painful things come into one's span of knowledge
which had not been discovered before. Also, one will
formulate a philosophy of the universe and of life
according to investigation of the first two Noble Truths.
For this one needs to take refuge in the Three Gems.
Many persons in the East take the refuges but do not
first know the dangers of this world. Indeed, it is my
experience that they are usually seeking comforts rather
than seeing dangers when they visit a temple. In the
temple, especially if it is a rich one, they may have the
best worldly comforts while enjoying the quasi-spiritual
pleasure of seeing marks of attainment in others. In
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