Taking Refuge

Well, I haven't written here for a couple of weeks and I put this down to the fact that I have returned to my studies for this semester. This does not mean I haven't been reading about Buddhism, only that I have not had the time to share with others in written form.

Today I'm going to talk about something that I have found in the writings that really helps me sometimes: Taking refuge.
For me, this path was taken on at a time when I felt at an all time low. I had recently experienced some difficult times in my day to day life and I was having trouble keeping my head out of the anxiety cloud that seemed to constantly surround me. The idea that you can take refuge in a religion was something that really threw me but once I really delved into the idea it made allot of sense.
From Taking refuge

"The idea behind taking refuge is that when it starts to rain, we like to find a shelter. The Buddhist shelter from the rain of problems and pain of life is threefold: the Buddha, his teachings (the Dharma) and the spiritual community (the Sangha). Taking refuge means that we have some understanding about suffering, and we have confidence that the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (the "Three Jewels") can help us. We should however not be taking refuge in Buddhism to avoid problems in this very life, there are many non-religious organisations for that, but we should take refuge to avoid problems in future lives, or even better, to avoid future uncontrolled rebirths.

See, all of this made allot of sense to me. Its not about finding a way to put your head in the sand and forget about the issues that are presenting themselves. Its more about realising that there are ways you can find support within the teachings of a Buddha. His teachings are largely derived from personal experience and even though they took place 2400 years ago, I feel they are still largely applicable, even in today's hectic life.

We can also find support within a group of people that are like minded. People to bounce our ideas of the teachings off or perhaps gain another understanding of how something worked for another and their experience of it.

Anyway, I just felt this was something to share this evening. I hope you are all well and I hope to have more time to write again soon.