Expert: Laurie McLauglin - 11/30/2010

Question
I was baptised as a baby but would now like to convert to Buddhism. however, i am not sure how to go about it. Are there any certain procedures ..?
Any information/advise would be greatfully recived.
Yours sincerely.

Answer
Thank you for letting me answer your question, Fleur.

I am glad you are looking into Buddhism. It is certainly useful whether you adopt it as a religion or just use it to make your life better and keep your current religion. His Holiness the Dalai Lama suggests not to forsake your old religion to become Buddhist unless your old religion simply is not working for you.

I am at a bit of a loss to give you specific advice on how to convert to Buddhism, not knowing what kind of Buddhism you are planning to follow. I can speak from experience only from the standpoint of being a Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist practitioner, myself and I can give you general information.

The only way I am aware of in order to convert to Buddhism is to take Refuge Vows. Until you take them you are not "officially" Buddhist.

By taking these vows, you are stating that you are going to turn for refuge to The Three Jewels: the Lord Buddha, himself; Dharma: The teachings of Buddha and Sangha: Some say that Sangha is just the Buddhist spiritual community, but more accurately, Sangha means those in robes; the ordained and/or those who have had a direct realization of emptiness.

Taking refuge means that we depend on these three jewels to help guide us along our spiritual path and to provide refuge or shelter for us from any negativities we encounter while on the path and have nothing else that we trust or go to refuge for that is more important that the Three Jewels. From what I understand, one can still for example turn to Jesus for refuge after taking the Buddhist Refuge Vows, however one cannot think of Jesus as more important than the Buddha, Dharma or Sangha.

If one is not ready for this or is something is more important than those Three Jewels in your mind and heart, then it seems there is no purpose for the moment in going for refuge because there is no point in converting to Buddhism as your religion as there is another religion that is still working for you an in which you believe strongly.

Again not knowing what kind of Buddhism you are practicing, I am not able to suggest how to go about taking refuge as each Buddhist sect does it differently.

For example the most common way in the Mahayana Tibetan Buddhist lineage I follow, is to go through a Refuge Ceremony which one can take with a monk or nun but it is suggested you take with no one lower than a geshe.  A geshe is someone who has earned the equivalent of a doctorate in Buddhist studies. I suspect one could take refuge with one's root guru as well.

However there are also groups that give Refuge Vows during other ceremonies such as Empowerments.

So if you are going to a Buddhist center currently, you would want to tell one of the main teachers there that you are ready to take Refuge Vows and they will explain how it is done and what you need to do and who they recommend you take your vows with in a formal Refuge Ceremony.

If you are not going to a center currently and there is one near you, it is recommended that you do attend teachings, etc. practicing with others and getting teachings from qualified teachers will help you progress more easily along the path.

If there is no center near you to give you the vows, you can take and keep the Refuge Vows in your heart and recite the Refuge Prayer three times a day until such time as you find a center and you can take the vows with a qualified teacher.

As you probably know, the simple Refuge Prayer says "I go for refuge to the Buddha, I go for refuge to the Dharma, I go for refuge to the Sangha"

or, the Mahayana version:

Until I am enlightened,
I go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Through the virtue I create by practicing giving and the other perfections, may I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings.

When one takes Refuge Vows, there are five precepts that we also agree to when we take these vows.

These five vows are:
Not killing
Not stealing
No sexual misconduct
No lying
No intoxicants.

Again various teachers allow you to take some of these vows and not all of them and others require you take them all. Plus there are some variations on what each of these means. Like the Bible, one can take them literally and at face value or one can take them as guidelines.

For example, no intoxicants can mean just that - never taking anything that will alter the way your mind works in a negative way including tobacco, alcohol and drugs. But some say this means you can still drink, for example, but cannot drink to where your mental faculties are impeded.

So before taking Refuge Vows, one needs to think about these vows and if you can keep them and which ones you can keep and how much.

Besides the obvious, there are a few good reasons to take these vows:  It helps to help to tame our mind; improve our ethical discipline which helps us in getting a good human rebirth in our next lives and keeping them increases our merits. Gaining merit by keeping vows increases our virtues.

I hope some of this information is helpful to you.  If you have any other questions about taking Refuge or any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

In the mean time I wish you much joy as you explore the Buddhist path.

Namaste - Laurie