Refuge

is the encounter with one's own Buddha nature. One turns to the values that can be truly relied upon. One takes refuge in the Buddha as one's goal, in the Dharma - the teaching - as one's path, and in the realized Sangha - the Bodhisattvas - as one's friends and helpers on the path. These are the so-called Three Jewels. In the Diamond Way and some schools of the Great Way, one additionally takes refuge in the Three Roots. Taking refuge with a lama is the ritual beginning of the path. It makes a connection between the Buddha nature of the disciple and the timeless wisdom of a Buddha.