Speaker: Bob Reid. When we take refuge in the Dharma, we renounce violence against beings. To adhere to this vow, we need to cultivate awareness of our body, speech and mind through practicing the three wisdoms. In taking the refuge vow we commit to nonviolence, one of the four virtuous disciplines. The practice of nonviolence requires us to adhere to four precepts: never to repay abuse with abuse, never to be angry in return for anger, never to strike back when struck, and never to expose the faults of others when they reveal our own. To understand, accept and practice these disciplines we need to recognize and overcome the obstacles presented by our habitual and conventional mindsets, and to remember that the Buddhist wisdom tradition seeks not to control behavior or adhere to dogma but to cultivate authentic wisdom and alleviate suffering, which arises from self-grasping ignorance. As the Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche recalls one of his teachers saying, with “genuine renunciation toward self-importance, half the Dharma is accomplished.” The process of seeing, understanding and dissolving this ignorance takes place through engagement with the three wisdoms-hearing, contemplation and meditation.

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