As with all religions and traditions, Buddhism has its fair share of ceremonies and rituals. Ultimately though, they are all designed to help with training our mind. Buddhist ‘religious’ services may consist of a number of rituals, much like a Church of England service. We can also put together a number of prayers or other practises to suit ourselves and create our own ritual.

There is one ritual that Buddhists consider to be fundamental to being a Buddhist, as opposed to just using some of the practises to help in our daily lives. This is the practise of ‘going for refuge’. Going for refuge can be best explained by an analogy. Imagine a child hiding behind its mother when it sees something unfamiliar or that scares it, or a dog that takes to its basket because of noises or fireworks or something similar. We can picture the child looking out from behind mum’s legs, feeling safe and protected where he or she is, but still curious to know what’s going on – the child has sought the refuge of his mum.

The world can be a very scary, unfamiliar, bewildering and dangerous place to us, but we can take refuge in the Buddha and his teachings, knowing that we will be protected and can find security there. There are three elements to this refuge, or the ‘Three Jewels’ as they are called, because they are precious. They are:

Buddha – the teacher and role model

Darma – the teachings and ways to live our life

Sangha – our fellow Buddhists and all the Buddhas who will help and guide us on our way.

So we take refuge in the three jewels – Buddha, Darma and Sangha, knowing that they will protect and look after us. This doesn’t mean that nothing bad will ever happen to us – it will, whilst we are in samsara. But it does mean that we have a set of tools and a way of thinking that means we don’t suffer as much when the bad things do happen, because we can see and understand why they may be happening and can deal with them accordingly.

We can put together our own rituals to suit our own needs and circumstances. So we might start by saying a prayer to take refuge (“I take refuge in Buddha, Darma and Sangha”), then doing three prostrations and asking the Buddhas to help us train our mind, before doing a meditation. Afterwards, we can dedicate our virtues for what we’ve just done to the hope that everyone finds some happiness and a reduction in their suffering, or even dedicate to something specific, such as someone we know who is going through a troubled time.

We may also make an offering before we eat or drink anything and take refuge several times during the day (via a quick one line prayer) and then at the end of the day dedicate any virtues we have gained. Doing this helps to build up our positive virtues and train our mind gradually, without even having to inconvenience ourselves!!