{"id":1636,"date":"2013-03-21T07:53:54","date_gmt":"2013-03-21T13:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?p=1636"},"modified":"2013-03-21T07:55:41","modified_gmt":"2013-03-21T13:55:41","slug":"what-is-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/03\/what-is-refuge.html","title":{"rendered":"What is Refuge?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>\u201cTaking Refuge in Evil Buddhas?\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n

What you say?<\/p>\n

In my last post, I discussed this odd practice based on a talk that Jiryu gave a Green Gulch<\/a> last month. Talking about refuge in evil Buddhas online and here at Wild Fox, sounds like one of the catches is about \u201crefuge\u201d \u2013 what is it?<\/p>\n

Very nice question, worthy of sitting calmly and contemplating so I won\u2019t get all preachy here. This is just a little post with a bit about the meaning of the word \u201crefuge,\u201d a place of safety.<\/p>\n

The phrase in Japanese that is translated \u201crefuge\u201d is \u201cnamu kie.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to my unreliable memory, Katagiri Roshi used to say that \u201ckie\u201d was more active than \u201crefuge\u201d \u2013 more like throwing ourself into Buddha\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

But I wanted to check that memory so I Googled and came up with a piece by \u201cAn Appropriate Response: Coaching and Consultation\u201d<\/a> (how about that!?). Here\u2019s what they have:<\/p>\n

In Japanese, \u201cI take refuge in Buddha,\u201d is \u201cNamu kie butsu\u201d. \u201cNamu\u201d means honoring and acknowledging what and who inspire us, and expressing our dedication and appreciation to that. \u201cKie\u201d means to wholeheartedly throw oneself into and to depend on. So \u201cNamu kie butsu\u201d is sometimes translated as \u201cI wholeheartedly throw myself into the house of Buddha.\u201d That\u2019s the heart of taking refuge: returning to and throwing ourselves into now and now and now.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Given that I tend to be a suspicious person, I pushed the inquiry a bit further and asked Koun Franz (a real Soto priest who\u2019s got some serious language skills but has been neglecting his excellent blog recently<\/a>) what he thought. Here\u2019s what he said,<\/p>\n

I think the [An Appropriate Response] article covers \u201ckie\u201d fairly well. A quick search shows that by itself, it usually refers to religious conversion, which is interesting (also \u201cdevotion\u201d). It\u2019s always danger to dissect compounds, but the \u201cki\u201d means \u201ccoming home,\u201d and the \u201ce\u201d means something like \u201cdepend on,\u201d so together, that actually covers a lot of ground. \u201cNamu,\u201d by the way, doesn\u2019t mean much of anything\u2013it\u2019s a transliteration of Sanskrit (?), so the characters themselves only represent sound, not meaning (literally they mean \u201csouth nothing\u201d). The dictionary lists praise, amen, hail, etc., but combined with \u201ckie butsu,\u201d that makes for some awkward translation, no matter how you do it.<\/em><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s probably a very modern notion, but I, too, have always liked the \u201crefugee\u201d version of taking refuge. Very Zen-y to take refuge in such a way that you have no safe place to stand. I\u2019m not sure that the idea of \u201cthrow yourself into,\u201d as a translation, has legs, but as an interpretation, I\u2019d say it\u2019s right on.<\/em><\/p>\n

Amen to coming home to, and relying on, Buddha! <\/em>
\nBuddha immersion! Amen!<\/em><\/p>\n

I hope that doesn\u2019t help explain \u201crefuge\u201d but adds some grist for the practice mill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTaking Refuge in Evil Buddhas?\u201d What you say? In my last post, I discussed this odd practice based on a talk that Jiryu gave a Green Gulch last month. Talking about refuge in evil Buddhas online and here at Wild Fox, sounds like one of the catches is about \u201crefuge\u201d \u2013 what is it? Very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[55,57,26],"class_list":["post-1636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-evil-buddhas","tag-refuge","tag-soto-zen"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is Refuge?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""Taking Refuge in Evil Buddhas?" What you say? 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