You know... I have been thinking, which is dangerous, I should maybe go into detail about each precept listed in the last post. If you the reader are curious it will satisfy your thirst and it will help me. So I think that it what I am going to do, starting now.

I will start with the Three Treasures.

1. Taking refuge in the Buddha.
2. Taking refuge in the Dharma.
3. Taking refuge in the Sangha.

They are not that bad... honest.

Number one is pretty self explanatory "Refuge in the Buddha" well that more or less means to me that one should trust his teacher (Buddha). But here is the catch: everything is a teacher even you the reader. Now that is the deepest meaning. The basic meaning would be to listen to the 'original' Buddha's teachings. One minor misconception about Buddhism that I see and hear is that many think Buddha is a god like figure... more than human. Now some will argue this and I am not going to point fingers, but in my eyes the Buddha was nothing more than a man. He lived, he experienced pain, emotions, and finally death. That sounds pretty human to me. Anyway, taking refuge is more or less trusting the teaching of the man in question.

Number two: Dharma is a teaching, and in this case means the teachings of Buddhism. So one who takes refuge simply gives himself up to the dharma (follow the teaching/trust the teaching).

Number three: Sangha is the group in which people practice the dharma and take refuge in the Buddha. So it is devotion to the group of other Buddhists who practice with you. But I think, personally, it is more than that. Sangha is a group true, but I do not like how that is kinda selective to only Buddhists. I view Sangha as the world including all who reside on it. Afterall one simple teaching is that everyone and everything has potential to be a Buddha... so why not?

Now you should be able to see how these all go together. If you trust the Sangha you trust the Dharma and if you trust the Dharma you are trusting the Buddha.

I could write more, but I believe this does some justice... afterall I am still a student and I am not a teacher so DO NOT take everything I say as truth. I, like the Buddha, am human and prone to the human condition of making mistakes. No one nor anything is perfect all the time.
See that was painless.

Night.