Refuge in Buddhism
religious concept in Buddhism
In Buddhism, refuge or taking refuge is a religious practice which often includes a prayer or recitation performed at the beginning of the day or of a practice session. Its object is typically the Three Jewels (also known as the Triple Gem, Three Treasures, or Three Refuges, Pali: ti-ratana or ratana-ttaya; Sanskrit: tri-ratna or ratna-traya), which are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. Taking refuge is a form of aspiration to lead a life with the Triple Gem at its core. In early Buddhist scriptures, taking refuge is an expression of determination to follow the Buddha's path, but not a relinquishing of responsibility. Refuge is common to all major schools of Buddhism.
Since the period of Early Buddhism, all Theravada and mainstream Mahayana schools only take refuge in the Triple Gem. However, the Vajrayana school includes an expanded refuge formula known as the Three Jewels and Three Roots.
Overview
Since the period of Early Buddhism, devotees have expressed their faith through the act of taking refuge, which is threefold. These are the three supports or jewels in which a Sutrayana Buddhist takes refuge:
The Buddha, the fully enlightened one (i.e. the figure of Sakyamuni Buddha)
The Dharma, the Buddhist teachings expounded by the Buddha
The Sangha, the monastic order of Buddhism that practices and preserves the Dharma.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q228220. The Library of Congress control number is sh85135039. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Refuge in Buddhism” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.