Living the Three Jewels

Recently, I have been reflecting on the meaning of the Three Jewels in a more personal and experiential way through mindfulness practice and somatic-based psychotherapy.

The Three Jewels represent the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Traditionally, the Buddha was the historical being who came to realize universal truths 2600 years ago. I am in the Mahayana tradition, and in this tradition, the Buddha also represents universal truths such as the three marks of existence — that life involves suffering, things are impermanent, and all things are interconnected — as well as causation, or cause and effect.

The Dharma refers to both the teachings realized by the historical Buddha and the way things are — phenomena itself. Sangha means a community of fellow practitioners.

For many years, I related to the Three Jewels mostly as teachings and concepts outside myself. I sincerely studied the Dharma and tried to understand the teachings through the mind. In some ways, I thought wisdom was something I needed to attain through more effort, more understanding, and more practice.

But over time, especially through mindfulness practice and somatic-based psychotherapy, I began experiencing the Three Jewels in a different and more personal way.

I began asking myself: what does the Buddha mean to me in a way that helps me live my life more fully?

As my understanding expanded, it began to make sense to me to reframe the Buddha as the capacity for deep knowing — a trust that we all carry wisdom within us.

Sometimes I notice my mind trying very hard to solve everything through thinking. But when I meditate, I often notice my body already knows something when my mind settles down. There are moments when I suddenly realize I feel anxious and disconnected while my mind has been trying to push through. When I pause and listen more carefully during meditation, there is often a deep knowing underneath the confusion.

This way of understanding the Buddha has helped me trust that wisdom is not only intellectual. There is also wisdom in slowing down, listening inwardly, and being present with our direct experience.

The Dharma, for me, has also taken on a new meaning. The Dharma represents teachings and perspectives that help open the door to new possibilities for healing and freedom. It guides us to shift perspective so we can move from living only in the head toward reconnecting with the heart and body.

I used to think transformation meant fixing myself or becoming a better version of myself. But mindfulness practice gradually helped me see that awareness itself already creates space. Sometimes simply recognizing what is happening with kindness begins to soften suffering.

The teachings also help me question deeply held beliefs and patterns that I once thought were fixed. They remind me that experience is always changing, and that perhaps we are not as limited as we think we are.

Sangha has also become very meaningful to me in a different way.

Traditionally, Sangha means the community of practitioners. But now I also experience Sangha as the presence of safety, care, and connection that helps us feel more grounded and centered.

There have been moments in my life when I did not know what direction I was taking or how to move through uncertainty. It is still ongoing. During those times, simply being with people who listened without trying to fix me or change me helped me reconnect with myself. Sometimes healing happens not because someone gives us answers, but because we feel safe enough to be fully present with what is here.

Sangha helps us remember what matters in our own lives — each individual and unique life.

As I mentioned before, I have been exploring ways of sharing the Dharma outside of my Buddhist tradition and enrolled in MMTCP in 2023. This exploration continues to unfold as I stay connected to mindfulness practice.

I notice that I have been changing in ways where I can no longer fully fit into the place that once felt so familiar to me. Familiarity can feel safe because it is known. At times, this change has felt unsettling and uncertain.

Part of me still wants to know where all of this is leading. But more and more, I experience practice not as arriving somewhere fixed, but as learning how to stay present with an unfolding life.

This new way of understanding the Three Jewels has changed how I seek healing in myself and others, and also how I relate with myself and others.

I am still discovering what all of this means. But I trust that this unfolding itself may be part of the teachings I have been studying — that our potential is not limited, and that the pursuit of getting somewhere may simply be a stepping stone toward discovering something unexpected.

For me, this is becoming a new way of living more fully and authentically through the teachings of the Three Jewels.