Treasures of the True Nature 自性三寶 from Collection of Rain Blossoms

The outer Three Treasures guide us, but the true path is to uncover the inner treasures of our own nature. Image: Shutterstock.

Buddha means awakening.

When we learn the way of the Buddha, we first take refuge in the Three Treasures—the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Sangha. Yet even these outer treasures are, at their root, without fixed form.

The Buddha is awakening, the Teaching is what is right, and the Sangha is purity. So it is not enough to only take refuge in the outer Buddha, Teaching, and Sangha. What matters most is to enter, through these outer treasures, into the Treasures of the True Nature. This, just so, is the real Teaching.

Outer Forms and Inner Awakening

We should not cling too much to the outer Three Treasures. For spending every day kneeling before a statue of the Buddha is not as meaningful as one clear moment of awakening. And offering to monks day after day is not as important as purifying your own heart. When we follow the Buddha’s words and put them into practice, that is truly taking refuge in the Teaching.

“To take refuge” means to turn toward and to rely upon. The Buddha, the Teaching, and the Sangha—awakening, rightness, and purity—are like a boat that rescues those who are drowning. People drift and sink in the sea of life, with nothing to hold onto. But if they entrust themselves to this rescuing boat of the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Sangha, they too can reach the farther shore. And so, this is the true meaning of taking refuge.

The Treasures of the True Nature

Still, many people spend their whole lives taking refuge only in the Three Treasures, yet never awaken. Why is this so? It is because they give up the root and chase after the branches, clinging too much to outward images. They think the Buddha is only a jeweled statue sitting on an altar, not knowing that their own true nature is the real source of awakening. If one does not seek the Treasures of the True Nature, then even if they kneel for a hundred lifetimes, it will all be in vain.

So a true follower of the Buddha looks through the outer forms to find awakening, and knows they must search within their own nature to discover it.

自性三寶

雨花集

濟公活佛  

佛者，覺也。我們學佛，就是要先皈依形像三寶。佛、法、僧，就是形像三寶。但形像三寶，根本亦是無相。

佛就是覺，法就是正，僧就是淨。我們不祇要皈依佛法僧，最緊要由形像三寶而入自性三寶，乃謂之真正佛法。

我們不要拘泥於形像三寶，終日跪在形像佛前，倒不如清心一悟。終日供養僧眾，倒不如淨一淨己心，從佛說要旨依照做去，便是皈依佛法。

皈者投也，依者靠也。佛、法、僧—也就是覺、正、淨—就是一隻拯溺之舟。俗人在海中浮沉，無所依止，苟能投靠拯溺之舟—佛、法、僧—均得到達彼岸。皈依者，如是如是。

世人有終身皈依形像三寶，而未能成佛者甚眾。其原因則為捨本求末，執相太過，以為佛就是一尊寶有之佛，而不知自性就是真正本覺。如果不求自性三寶，跪一百世亦是徒然。真正佛徒，形求正覺，應覓自性為是。

This translated text is a chapter from Collection of Rain Blossoms, a scripture written by JiGong Living Buddha in the 1900s through spirit writing. Here the link to the original Chinese source.

If you are interested in other chapters of this book, here is the link to the table of contents.