Take Refuge in the Three Jewels & Keep the Five Precepts

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Pay homage to Buddhas in ten directions Pay homage to Dharma in ten directions Pay homage to Sangha in ten directions.

The Three Jewels are the most valuable jewels in the world, because the Buddha-Dharma Sangha guides us in the spiritual way towards liberation and goodness for both ourselves and others. The five precepts are the key to eternal happiness, the motto of a peaceful life, and the basic moral standard of every Buddhist. It is the main virtue of being a human in the present and next rebirths.

The Buddha's disciples should sincerely receive and observe the five precepts to manifest the dignity and wisdom in our body, as well as in our mind. It also means we reach the accomplishment of the formality, nature and conduct of the precepts.

Dr. Bhikkhuni Gioi Hong (world name Sunyata Pham) was born in 1963 in Binh Tuy, Vietnam and ordained at the age of fifteen under the great master, the Most Venerable Bhikkhuni Hai Trieu Am. In 1994, she received a Bachelor's Degree in Literature from Sai Gon University. She studied in India for ten years and in 2003, graduated with a PhD in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Delhi, India. In 2005, she settled down in the United States and in 2015, she earned a second Bachelor's Degree in Literature at the University of Riverside, California.

Currently, she is pursuing a degree in the Master of Arts Program at the University of California, Riverside and works as a lecturer at the Vietnam Buddhist University in HCM City. She favors quietly reflecting on Dharma, and that leads her to write, as well as translate, Buddhist books and lyrics for music albums on her Bao Anh Lac Bookshelf.

In 2000, she established Huong Sen Temple, Binh Chanh, Sai Gon. Viet Nam. In 2010, she founded Hương Sen Temple in Perris, California, USA, where she serves as abbess.

The book, The Three Jewels and Five Precepts, was launched ten years ago (2007) with the second reprinting in 2010 and the third (2016) at Hong Duc Publishing, Viet Nam.

This current edition (2020) will be printed at Hong Duc Publishing, Viet Nam. In presenting this edition, I have maintained the contents written in the first edition, however, for the sake of greater clarity, a few changes have been made, errors have been corrected, Pali and Sanskrit terms are included, and a summary, as well as discussion questions, have been added at the end of each chapter.

The Buddha is the perfect wisdom-merit one. Dharma is a profoundly supreme teaching. The Sangha is a community of four or more fully ordained monastics. Taking refuge in the Three Jewels (Treasures) is performed in all Buddhist sects:

I take refuge in the Buddha.

I take refuge in the Dharma.

I take refuge in the Sangha.

It means we rely on the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha who show us the way to seek a place of shelter and protection from the danger of suffering realms, to live with moral purity, without dropping into the low realms of the heavens (deva), demons (pittivisaya), spirits, heretics or evil.

The five precepts (no killing, no stealing, no virtue, no lying and no drinking) are to prevent unrighteous thought, speech, acts and bring peace, as well as happiness, to individuals, families and societies.

**Contents and Sample Pages**