Śaraṇagamana

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Definitions
Key Term	śaraṇagamana
Hover Popup Choices	taking refuge; going for refuge; seeking protection; refuge
In Tibetan Script	སྐྱབས་འགྲོ་
Wylie Tibetan Transliteration	skyabs 'gro
Devanagari Sanskrit Script	शरणगमन
Romanized Sanskrit	śaraṇagamana
Romanized Pali	saraṇagamana
Tibetan Phonetic Rendering	kyab dro
Chinese Script	皈依
Chinese Pinyin	guīyī
Japanese Transliteration	kie
Korean Script	guiui
English Standard	going for refuge
Alternate Spellings	refuge; skyabs su 'gro ba; སྐྱབས་སུ་འགྲོ་བ་
Term Type	Noun
Source Language	Sanskrit
NEW: Context Descriptions (Glossary-DefinitionTsadra)	Abhidharma (Indo-Tibetan): In the Abhidharma context, śaraṇagamana (T. skyabs 'gro) is analyzed as a mental state or volition (cetanā) that seeks protection from the sufferings of cyclic existence. It is categorized as the preliminary step for all subsequent vows. Taking refuge is motivated by two primary causes: fear (bhaya) of the lower realms and belief (śraddhā) in the power of the Three Jewels to protect. In this tradition, the actual objects of refuge are the Buddha (as the teacher), the Dharma (as the cessation and the path), and the Saṅgha (as the community of noble beings who have attained realization). Mahāyāna (Indo-Tibetan): Within the Mahāyāna framework, the scope of taking refuge is expanded through the lens of bodhicitta. Refuge is not taken merely for personal protection from suffering but for the sake of attaining enlightenment to benefit all sentient beings. The objects of refuge are viewed through the trikāya (three bodies) of the Buddha. The ultimate refuge is the dharmakāya or emptiness, which is the true nature of the Dharma. The Saṅgha consists of the noble bodhisatvas who have attained the spiritual levels (bhūmis). Vajrayāna (Indo-Tibetan): In the Vajrayāna or Secret Mantra tradition, the practice of refuge is further elaborated into the "Inner Refuge" or the "Refuge of the Three Roots" (mūla). While the outer refuge remains the Three Jewels, the practitioner additionally takes refuge in the Guru (the root of blessing), the iṣṭadevatā (yidam, the root of accomplishment), and the ḍākiṇī (the root of activity). Often, the Guru is seen as the embodiment of all refuges. Some systems also speak of the "Fourfold Refuge" (Guru, Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha) or even a "Sixfold Refuge" combining the Three Jewels and Three Roots. Dzogchen/Mahāmudrā (Indo-Tibetan): In these traditions, refuge is understood as the recognition of the primordial nature of one's own mind. This is sometimes called the "Resultant Refuge" or "Refuge of the Innate Nature." Instead of seeking protection from an external source, the practitioner recognizes that the ultimate Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha are already present within the "alpha purity" (ka dag) and "spontaneous presence" (lhun grub) of their own mind-essence.
NEW: Glossary-PopUpBeginnerDefinition	The foundational act of entering the Buddhist path by formally seeking protection and guidance from the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha.
NEW: Glossary-PopUpScholarDefinition	The formal act (Skt. śaraṇagamana; T. skyabs 'gro) of taking refuge in the Triple Gem (triratna). It is considered the gateway to all Buddhist practices and the factor that distinguishes a Buddhist practitioner (upāsaka/upāsikā) from a non-Buddhist. The practice involves a mental commitment based on the recognition of the suffering of saṃsāra and faith in the ability of the Three Jewels to provide liberation.
NEW: Glossary-DefinitionBodhicittaWiki	On the path of a bodhisatva, śaraṇagamana (T. skyabs 'gro) is the indispensable foundation for generating bodhicitta. It establishes the spiritual orientation toward the Three Jewels as the only reliable guides for the journey toward full enlightenment. Taking refuge is the very first act in any Mahāyāna liturgy, signifying the practitioner's entry into the "family of the Buddhas." In this context, refuge is taken with the "Vast Motivation," extending until all beings are established in the state of perfect liberation. The Three Jewels provide the necessary field of merit and the doctrinal framework (Dharma) required to cultivate the perfections (pāramitās) and overcome the obscurations to knowledge.
NEW: Glossary-DefinitionLotsawas	taking refuge; going for refuge; seeking protection
Tshig mdzod Chen mo	གནས་སྐབས་དང་མཐར་ཐུག་གི་འཇིགས་དང་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ལས་སྐྱོབ་པའི་ཆེད་དུ་བླ་མ་དཀོན་མཆོག་ལ་ཡིད་ཁྱེད་ཤེས་ཀྱི་དད་པས་བརྟེན་ཅིང་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས་པའོ།
Dung dkar Tshig mdzod Chen mo	ངན་སོང་གི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ལ་འཇིགས་ཏེ་སྙིང་ཐག་པ་ནས་དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་འགྲོ་བ་