Faith in the Three Treasures—the Buddha, the Law, and the Order—has been the religious characteristic of all Buddhism, Hinayana or Mahayana, throughout the twenty-five hundred years of its history. Some Western scholars have argued that because it has no deity Shakyamuni’s Buddhism is not a religion but a system of ethics, morality, and philosophy. But such scholars overlook the religious nature of faith in the Three Treasures.
Basic Buddhist ConceptsCategory Archives: Basics
Faith in the Three Treasures
Today, as in Shakyamuni’s time, being a Buddhist means having religious faith in the Three Treasures. The formula “I take refuge in Gautama, the World-honored One, in the Law, and in the Order of Monks. World-honored One, from this day to the end of my life, recognize me as a believer who has taken refuge” occurs time and again in the earliest Buddhist scriptures and means that even without theoretical understanding, a person who has faith in the Three Treasures is a true Buddhist.
Basic Buddhist ConceptsBasic Buddhist Concepts
One of the world’s oldest and greatest religions, Buddhish–like its companions, Christianity and Islam–has experienced schism and division which scatter its teachings among separate sects, nations and sets of ritual practice. Nonetheless, it is possible to identify common teachings which form the essence of Buddhist belief. This book provides lucid explanations of such fundamental concepts as the Three Treasures, the seals of the law, the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the law of causation, and the threefold learning—teachings that all Buddhists honor, which bare the heart of this complicated and magnificently profound religion.
From the Preface:
In its more than twenty-five hundred years of history, Buddhism has acquired an extraordinarily complicated body of doctrines that vary from sect to sect throughout Hinayana and Mahayana, the religion’s two main streams. Grasping all of its content is extremely difficult. In this book, to make entry into the field easier for the inexperienced, I have attempted to cut through sectarian differences and to set forth basic truths common to all Buddhism. My approach is justified since, in its purest form, Buddhism inclines to no particular group or sect but reveals the universal human condition. In this sense, it is the ideal religion for the future. A person who understands its truth, even though he or she Jacks knowledge of special doctrinal terms and vocabulary, cannot fail to see that Buddhism is correct and applicable to all places and times.