The Threefold Refuge
in the Jodo Shinshu/Pure Land tradition

Leader/doshi
Hard it is to receive human form. Now we have received it.
Difficult is it to hear the Buddha Dharma. Now we hear it.
If we do not receive awakening in this life, in what life shall we do so?
With sincerity, let us take refuge together in the Three Treasures.

Sangha/everybody
I take refuge in the Buddha.
Together with all beings, may we attain the Great Way of Enlightenment,
awakening to the supreme intent of the Buddha.

I take refuge in the Dharma.
Together with all beings, may we enter the storehouse of the Dharma,
acquiring Wisdom as deep as the ocean.

I take refuge in the Sangha.
Together with all beings, may we become united as the Great Assembly,
being free of all bondage.

Leader/doshi
Hard is it to encounter the supreme, profound and wondrous Dharma
even in a hundred thousand million kalpas.
Now we are able to hear it and receive it.
Let us thoroughly understand the true intent of the Tathagata.

The Three Refuges
in General Buddhist tradition

In the time of Sakyamuni Buddha, one was permitted to join the Buddhist community (sangha) upon receiving the precept of the three refuges under the guidance of a monk and shaving one's head to symbolise a departure from worldly ways and into a life devoted to the path of Buddhism, which transcends the mundane world.

To receive the precept of the three refuges means to declare before one's teacher that one takes whole-hearted refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and to vow to not deviate from them.

"Buddha" here refers to Sakyamuni. "Dharma" to Sakyamuni's teachings, and "Sangha" to the community of followers who have entrusted themselves to Sakyamuni Buddha's teaching. Because these form what the basis of what one values most of all in life, they are called the "three treasures".

In its original form, Pure Land Notes was a simple A4 sheet that was posted to members of Shin Buddhist Association of Great Britain, a loose and informal organization that was founded by Jack Austin and Rev Hisao Inagaki in around about 1977. At that time, Jack was the Development Officer for the World Congress of Faiths, and Hisao was Lecturer in Buddhism at the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University. ... ... ... Read more.

In the early 1980's Jack's health deteriorated and the SBA (a registered charity) was dissolved. However, a small group, including Max Flisher and Jim Pym continued to meet informally at Hisao Inagaki's house and this small group went on to become the Pure Land Buddhist Fellowship.

Max Flisher was the first editor and publisher of the PLBF newsletter and it was he that expanded it to a few folded A4 sheets. Later, Jim took over editorship from Max and PLN expanded into the twenty page A5 journal that it is now.

Jim continued to distribute a journal until 2005, but when he relocated to Scotland, he was unable to produced PLN for a while and so, following discusions with Jim I purchased the domain name www.purelandnotes.com and launched the first incarnation of this website.

However, the reactionfrom potential re-subscribers to an online and free for all to see online incarnation of Pure Land Notes was that what at those in the UK wanted most of all from us was the reinstatement of a more tactile and personal printed journal. And so, rather paradoxically or at least against the trend at that time PLN went from online to in print in the summer of 2008.

Since then we have found a comprise and this website now functions as a way of previewing a few pieces from earlier editions of Pure Land Notes - and to act as a portal through which people can subscribe to either one or both of of the two formats in which it is now produced; the tradional hard-copy and/or as a PDF download suitable for viewing on tablets and mobile devices.

SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS
Pure Land Notes hard-copy and/or the -e-type (electronic) clone

OPTION 1) WORLDWIDE.
£10 for four quarterly issues of the -e-type (electronic) version of the journal per year delivered to your email address.

OPTION 2) UK ONLY.
£20 for four quarterly issues of the hard-copy per year often with personal ‘keeping in touch’ letter enclosed – AND email delivery of the -e-type ‘clone’ of the same issue to your email address. Subscribers to this option are considered members of the SBFUK.

OPTION 3) EUROPE.
£30 for four quarterly issues of the hard-copy per year delivered to your postal address.

OPTION 4) EUROPE.
£35 for four quarterly issues of the hard-copy - AND four quarterly issues of the -e-type per year delivered to your postal address and your email address.

OPTION 5) WORLDWIDE.
£40 for four quarterly issues of the hard-copy per year delivered to your postal address.

OPTION 6) WORLDWIDE.
£45 for four quarterly issues of the hard-copy delivered to your postal address - AND four quarterly issues of the -e-type per year delivered to your email address.

A selection (1from8) of pieces from PLN 27 - JAN 2016:
"Not Flourishing" Sazio Inagaki to Jack Austin in 1971.

A selection (2from8) of pieces from PLN 26 - OCT 2015:
Horai. Shaking the Dharma World Rev Haiso Inagaki.
The Melting Duck Egg Meditation DGR

A selection (1from8) of pieces from PLN 25 - JULY 2015:
Bodhisattvas Abounding Steve Lane

A selection (5from9) of pieces from PLN 24 - APR 2015:
On the Rewads of Doing Nothing Marcus Cumberledge.
Ananda's Shinjin Shaku Kekai.
Existence & Reality & Mystery of the Nembutsu Steve Lane.
The Earth and the Tree DGR.
En Mei Juku Kannon Gyo DGR

A selection (4from8) of pieces from PLN 23 - JAN 2015:
PLN23 Editorial DGR.
Book Review. Title: Listening to the Light, Author: Jim Pym.
Suffering- and - How Lucky I Am Steve Lane.

A selection (4from7) of pieces from PLN22 - OCT 2014:
PLN22 Editorial DGR.
Message on Retirement Ohtani Koshin, Monshu, Jodo Shinshu, Hongwanji-ha.
Succesion of Jodo Shinshu Tradition Ohtani Kojun, Monshu, Jodo Shinshu, Hongwanji-ha.
I Bite my Nails Steve Lane