I take refuge in Buddhadharma, deeply so. I take refuge in all the teachings of light and illumination from all sources. I rejoice in reading a blog post by Monika at Symbol Reader or Rory at Beyond the Dream. Monika’s exploration of the world of symbols and therefore of the inner consciousness is always illumining, and awakens something within me. It is Buddhadharma, though I have not seen the word Buddha in her writing. Rory sometimes writes from his contemplations on the Tao te Ching, and again I am stirred to remain constant in the primordial light of awareness as I read.

Many other bloggers could be listed here. Indrajit Ranathore writes from his Hindu background, often bridging sciences of matter and of the mind with Sanskrit concepts that have been around since long before Shakyamuni Buddha walked and taught. Any writing or teaching from anywhere and anytime around the world that calls us to our innate luminosity, that reminds us that we are the substance of living love, these are Buddhadharma and I take refuge. I take refuge in the constancy of its sounding. Like the echo of the first cosmic heart beat, Buddhadharma vibrates through all beings. It sounds through Abraham Lincoln’s speeches, Marcus Aurelius’ yearning for the rule of a philosopher king, through the discoveries of the ocean of consciousness of Jung, the steadfast wisdom and kindness of Sacagaweya to Lewis and Clark, or the illuminations of Tesla.

Many great artists more tantrically present Buddhadharma. Our senses become the threshold to an awakening. Georgia O’Keefe, Pina Bausch, Goethe, Shakespeare, poets, calligraphers, Rumi, Bernini, Van Gogh, Billy Holiday. Buddhadharma does not only come from the Buddha of history but from the Buddha nature that IS every being’s nature. You and I ARE Buddha; that’s the simplicity of the teaching. As Venerable Robina Courtin says with her analogy of an acorn’s relation to an oak tree so is a human being’s relation to Buddha nature and Buddhahood. An acorn’s nature is to become an majestic oak tree. A human being’s nature is to mature into the full cosmic expression of radiant compassion and limitless self-existing wisdom.

I take refuge in Dharma, in the teachings of light and awareness. I take refuge in that there is no shortage of them from all religions and walks of life. I take refuge that every culture has produced them in ways that suit that culture. And I take refuge in the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha and his heirs. The rigors of meditation and contemplative analysis that they inspire, even require, have been experienced by each of us in our past lives, and as such are available within. May all beings draw upon innate luminosity. May all beings express unbounded compassion.