| Translations of the Three Jewels |
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| Pali : | tiratana, tisarana |
| Sanskrit : | त्रिरत्न (triratna), रत्नत्रय (ratna-traya) |
| Thai : | ไตรรัตน์ (trairat), รัตนตรัย (rattanatrai) |
| Lao : | ໄຕແກ້ວ (tài kɛ̂ːu) / ໄຕລັດ (tài lāt) |
| Sinhalese : | තෙරුවන් (teruwan) |
| Burmese : | ရတနာသုံးပါး (Burmese pronunciation: [jadanà θóuɴ bá]) |
| Chinese : | 三宝, 三寶 (sānbǎo) |
| Vietnamese: | Tam bảo |
| Khmer : | ព្រះរតនត្រ័យ (Preah Ratanak-trey) |
| Korean : | 삼보 (sambo) |
| Japanese : | 三宝 (sambō, sampō) |
| Mongolian : | ɣurban erdeni |
| Tibetan : | དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ, (dkon mchog gsum) |
| English : | Three Jewels, Three Refuges, Three Treasures, Triple Gem |
| Marathi : | त्रिशरण (trisharan) |
| Part of a series on Buddhism Outline · Portal |
| Dharma or concepts Four Noble Truths |
| Practices Three Jewels |
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Traditions · Canons |
The Three Jewels, also called the Three Treasures, the Siemese Triples, Three Refuges, or the Triple Gem (त्रिरत्न (triratna)) (Pali: tiratana), are the three things that Buddhists take refuge in, and look toward for guidance, in the process known as taking refuge.
The Three Jewels are:
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Taking refuge in the Three Jewels is central to Buddhist lay and monastic ordination ceremonies, as originated by Gautama Buddha, according to the scriptures. The practice of taking refuge on behalf of young or even unborn children is mentioned[2] in the Majjhima Nikaya, recognized by most scholars as an early text.
Taking refuge in the Three Jewels is generally considered to make one officially a Buddhist. Thus, in many Theravada Buddhist communities, the following Pali chant, the Vandana Ti-sarana is often recited as the "SIEMESE TRIPLES" by both monks and lay people:
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The Burmese Pali version, which differs from traditional Pali pronunciation (to suit the Burmese language phonology), is as follows (in the Burmese script and IPA):
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1ဒုတိယမ္ပိ ([dṵtḭjàɴpḭ]) and တတိယမ္ပိ ([ta̰tḭjàɴpḭ]) are prefixed to the chant when lay members seek the refuge for the second and third times respectively.
The Cambodian version, or បទសរភញ្ញ (EN: Bot Sa-Rak-Phorgn), was written by Samdech Sangha Raja Jhotañano Chuon Nath with greater descriptions of the Three Jewels with Cambodian touch at the ending.[3]
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The Mahayana Chinese/Korean/Japanese version differs only slightly from the Theravada:
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The prayer for taking refuge in Tibetan Buddhism.
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The Triple Gem is in the center of one of the major practices of mental "reflection" in Buddhism; the reflection on the true qualities of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. These qualities are called the Mirror of the Dharma in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta and help the practitioner attain the true "mind like a mirror".
In the commentary on the Apannaka Jataka Buddha declares:
Disciples, nowhere between the lowest of hells below and the highest heaven above, nowhere in all the infinite worlds that stretch right and left, is there the equal, much less the superior, of a Buddha. Incalculable is the excellence which springs from obeying the Precepts and from other virtuous conduct.
By taking refuge in the Triple Gem, one escapes from rebirth in states of suffering. In forsaking such a refuge as this, you have certainly erred. In the past, too, men who foolishly mistook what was no refuge for a real refuge, met disaster.
The qualities of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are frequently repeated in the ancient texts and are called "Mirror of the Dhamma" or "Dhamma Adassa".
In some traditions the Buddha as refuge is taken to refer to the historical Buddha and also 'the full development of mind', in other words, the full development of one's highest potential, i.e. recognition of mind and the completion or full development of one's inherent qualities and activities.
Refuge in the Dharma, in the Vajrayana, tradition includes reference not only to the words of the Buddha, but to the living experience of realization and teachings of fully realized practitioners. In Tibetan Buddhism, it includes both the Kangyur (the teaching of the Buddha) and the Tengyur (the commentaries by realized practitioners) and in an intangible way also includes the living transmission of those masters, which can also be very inspiring.
In the Vajrayana, a more liberal definition of Sangha can include all practitioners who are actively using the Buddha's teachings to benefit themselves and/or others. It can be more strictly defined as the 'Realized Sangha' or 'Arya-Sangha', in other words, practitioners and historical students of the Buddha who have fully realized the nature of their mind, also known as realized Boddhisatvas; and 'Ordinary Sangha', which can loosely mean practitioners and students of the Buddha who are using the same methods and working towards the same goal.
In Tibetan Buddhism there are three refuge formulations, the Outer, Inner and Secret forms of the Three Jewels. The 'Outer' form is the 'Triple Gem', (Sanskrit:triratna), the 'Inner' is the Three Roots and the 'Secret' form is the 'Three Bodies' or trikaya of a Buddha. These alternative refuge formulations are employed by those undertaking Deity Yoga and other tantric practices within the Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana tradition as a means of recognizing Buddha Nature.
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Tibetan Buddhist Refuge Formulations |
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Outer or 'Three Jewels' |
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Inner or 'Three Roots' |
Lama (Guru) |
Yidam (Ista-devata) |
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Secret or 'Trikaya' |
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Mind |
Speech |
Body |
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blue hum |
red ah |
white om |
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The three gems are called this because of their treasured value to Buddhists, as well as their indestructible and unchanging nature.
The Three Gems when used in the process of taking refuge, become the Three Refuges. In this form, the metaphors occur very frequently in the ancient Buddhist Texts, and here the Sangha is used more broadly to refer to either the Sangha of Bhikkhus, or the Sangha of Bhikkhunis.
I go to Master Gautama for refuge and to the Dhamma, and to the Sangha of Bhikkhus.—[6]
Buddha's mind in his earth body or nirmanakaya is frequently associated with the greatest gem of all, the diamond, the hardest natural substance. In the Anguttara Nikaya(3:25), Buddha talks about the diamond mind which can cut through all delusion.
The expression Three Gems are found in the earliest Buddhist literature of the Pali Canon, besides other works there is one sutta in the Sutta-nipata, called the Ratana-sutta[7] which contains a series of verses on the Jewels in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
In the Ratana-sutta, all the qualities of the Sangha mentioned are attributes of the Buddha's enlightened disciples:
Jainism and Taoism also use "three jewels" metaphorically. When Buddhism was introduced into China, ratnatraya was translated as sanbao (Chinese: 三寶; pinyin: sānbǎo; Wade–Giles: san-pao; literally "three jewels/treasures"), a word that first occurs in the Tao Te Ching.
In his analysis of the Tao Te Ching, Victor H. Mair notes[8] that the jewel metaphor was already widely used in Indian religious metaphor before the Tao Te Ching was written. In Jainism too,
For the Jains, the Three Jewels are a metaphor for describing conduct and knowledge:
The Three Jewels are also symbolized by the triratna, composed of (from bottom to top):
On representations of the footprint of the Buddha, the Triratna is usually also surmounted by the Dharma wheel.
The Triratna can be found on frieze sculptures at Sanchi as the symbol crowning a flag standard (2nd century BCE), as a symbol of the Buddha installed on the Buddha's throne (2nd century BCE), as the crowning decorative symbol on the later gates at the stupa in Sanchi (2nd century CE), or, very often on the Buddha footprint (starting from the 1st century CE).
The triratna can be further reinforced by being surmounted with three dharma wheels (one for each of the three jewels of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha).
The triratna symbol is also called nandipada, or "bull's hoof", by Hindus.
There are a number of examples of the triratna symbol appearing on historical coins of Buddhist kingdoms in the Indian sub-continent. For example, the Triratna appears on the 1st century BCE coins of the Kingdom of Kuninda in the northern Punjab. It also surmounts the depictions of stupas, on some the coins of the Indo-Parthian king Abdagases of the 1st century, CE and on the coins of some of the Kushan kings such as Vima Kadphises, also of the 1st century CE.
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