Unexpected Freedom

Contemplating HappinessHappiness arises from the timely company of friends.Happiness arises from having few needs.Happiness arises from having accumulated virtue at life’s end.Happiness arises from seeing beyond suffering.Dhammapada verse 331In the practice of the Buddha’s teaching we regularly hearabout going for Refuge. When we first encounteredBuddhism some of us might have had the impression thatgoing for Refuge was an interesting traditional way of talkingabout believing in a teacher. Perhaps it was part of the wayone became a member of the religion – you went through aritual called ‘going for Refuge’.I know in my own case that it was not something Iconsidered important when I first discovered the Buddha’steaching. I wanted to align myself with a way ofunderstanding the world that emphasised meditation. Thepractice of going for refuge and precepts seemed rathersecondary. It took a good number of years before I beganconsciously to sense how profoundly important it is to havea refuge; to have a sense of something that one is committedto, something beyond getting what one wants.Of course, we are all committed to getting what we wantto some degree, and there is a certain type of pleasure – afeeling of gratification – to be derived from it. If I get what I181