3. The Three Jewels: Awakening, Practice, and Community

Show Notes

Recovery is not only about stopping harmful behaviors. It is about waking up to our lives with greater awareness, honesty, and connection.

In this episode, Chris introduces the Three Jewels of Buddhism and explores how they relate to the principles of the Twelve Steps. These three foundations offer a framework for spiritual practice that supports sobriety, awakening, and meaningful connection with others.

In this episode, Chris explores:

• The meaning of the word Buddha and the idea of awakening
• The Dharma as a path of mindfulness, understanding, and love
• The Sangha as the importance of spiritual community
• How these three jewels parallel the principles found in the Twelve Steps

This episode is for you if:

• You are curious how Buddhist teachings connect with recovery
 • You want a deeper understanding of spiritual awakening
 • You are learning how community supports long-term sobriety

The Invitation

The Three Jewels are the foundational refuges of Buddhist practice: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.

The Buddha represents the possibility of awakening. In Buddhism, the Buddha is not viewed as a god but as a human being who awakened to the causes of suffering. His life reminds us that awakening is possible for all of us.

The Dharma refers to the teachings and practices that guide us toward awareness, wisdom, and compassion. These teachings are offered as suggestions and practices that help us see clearly and live more skillfully.

The Sangha is the spiritual community. It is the place where we practice these teachings together, support one another, and learn to cultivate loving awareness in relationship.

Together, these three jewels remind us that recovery is not meant to be practiced alone. Awakening happens through practice, guidance, and community.

Featured Practice

Take a few quiet breaths.

1. Sit comfortably and allow your body to relax into the support beneath you.
2. Bring your awareness to your breath as it naturally rises and falls.
3. Notice the beginning, middle, and end of each inhale and exhale.

If the mind wanders, gently bring your attention back to the breath.

Simply watch the breath move in and out, allowing it to breathe you.

Journal Prompt

How do the three refuges of awakening, practice, and community show up in my own recovery?

Write honestly and notice where these supports already exist in your life.

Key Reflection

“A bad Sangha is better than no Sangha.”

Chris McDuffie is a licensed psychotherapist, mindfulness teacher and sober coach in private practice. He is the CEO and lead therapist for Chris McDuffie Counseling, a leading concierge practice caring for mental and behavioral health needs. He lives in Carlsbad, California, and holds a  Master of Social Work from Fordham University. He teaches recovery from addiction and co-occurring disorders through the spiritual practices of Buddhism and the 12 Steps.

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone walking their own sobriety path.

Follow Chris for reflections and meditations:
Website: https://www.chrismcduffietherapy.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chris__mcduffie/

Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/buddhanature

You don’t have to walk this path alone.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

This is Spiritual Sobriety, a podcast about recovery, awakening, and learning how to live with more honesty, compassion, and freedom. I'm Chris McDuffie. I work as a licensed psychotherapist, meditation teacher, sober coach, and someone who has spent the past 15 years walking the path of recovery and spiritual practice. In this podcast, we explore the intersection of the Buddhist wisdom and the 12 steps, not as theories, but as lived practices. Practices that help us meet suffering directly, loosen the grip of old patterns, and remember who we are beneath the stories we carry. Each episode is an invitation to slow down, reflect, and bring these teachings into your real life. Not to fix yourself, but to relate to yourself with more insight and compassion. Wherever you're listening from, I'm glad you're here. Let's begin. Hi, and welcome to Spiritual Sobriety. I'm your host, Chris McDuffie. Today we will discuss the three jewels of Buddhism and how they relate to the principles of AA and the 12-step programs. I won't go into great detail about the life of the Buddha or his entire path of becoming awoken. I will do that more in future podcasts. But for now, here's a brief primer. Buddha's birth name was Siddhartha Gutama, born in a wealthy noble family in India, roughly 500 years before the birth of Christ. The term Buddha is a Hindu term, which comes from the root Pali word Buddh, which means to awaken. In the Hindu religion, the Buddhas were seen as ranking higher than the gods. The term enlightened one comes from the Victorian English translation, and I find that that term doesn't do justice to the original Pali definition, and I tend not to use it. As I introduce each jewel, consider how it relates to spirituality and your own recovery work. I'd also like you to consider how each jewel might correspond to the 12-step principles. You may recall I chose to define spirituality in a recent podcast defining spirituality. There I chose to define spirituality as bonding in love or simply love. The first jewel is the Buddha. Here, Buddhists celebrate the man and his triumphant ability to awaken himself to the causes of suffering. Remember, in Buddhism, the Buddha is generally not considered a god or a saint in any sense. Rather, the Buddhists celebrate the realization that if this one man could attain awakening, they too might awaken in this present lifetime. To be clear, awoken refers to being mindfully present and fully aware of one's actions and their true nature. Consider the modern day opposite, trudging through life drunk, high, or mindlessly marching through a marriage or career while feeling numb and asleep, walking through life while fixed on the past or future. Yes, humans did this too 500 years before the birth of Christ. Another key component of the first jewel is the concept of taking refuge and awakening. Here, Buddhists are referring to having a spiritual awakening, which allows them to finally see the spiritual essence within all of us. This includes realizing that we are all born with what Buddha called our Buddha nature. The Buddha nature could be defined as loving awareness. The second jewel of Buddhism is the Dharma. The term Dharma is a Pali word that has many meanings in Buddhism. The Dharma is typically referred to the canon of public teachings of the Buddha that offered steps towards awakening and living a spiritual life. In this second jewel, we again see the concept of taking refuge. Here, Buddhists take refuge in the path of mindfulness, understanding, and love, which is accomplished through the learning and practices of Buddha's teachings. Consider the image of a refuge as a safe sanctuary. For many of us, it may be the rooms of AA. To be clear, Buddhist teachings are generally not considered to be heaven sent or sent from God or the gods. Also, it is important to point out that Buddha offered his Dharma teachings as suggestions, not moral laws or mandates. As Buddhist scholar Joseph Goldstein points out, the Buddha essentially said, This is what works for me. See for yourself if my suggestions help you to awaken in this lifetime also. Note that I mentioned in this lifetime, which refers to the Buddhist and Hindu concept of reincarnation. Buddha was basically saying, why wait to begin while you're suffering right now? The third jewel of Buddhism is the Sangha. The word Sangha is Pali for the community itself. Here, Buddhists take refuge in their community, the family, or as we see in AA, the fellowship. In the Sangha, Buddhists learn to practice loving awareness and loving kindness and their relationships with one another while developing trust in each other. Buddha was asked by a student of the three jewels, which is the most important? The Buddha is said to have replied, the Sangha. It is the spiritual bonding and love with others that is the ultimate objective in Buddhism. Buddha was then asked by a student, what about a bad sangha? Should we leave it or stay? The Buddha is said to have replied, a bad Sangha is better than no Sangha. I like to tell this to my clients who don't want to go to sober living or attend 12-step meetings. So consider for yourself how you might use the three jewels of Buddhism as spiritual objectives to enhance your sobriety and living. Were you able to see the commonalities of the three jewels of Buddhism and the 12-step principles? I hope that you found today's discussion helpful to your spiritual sobriety. Before we end, I'd like to lead you through a brief meditation. This will be a sitting meditation. I invite you to sit in a relaxed, attentive posture. I invite you to have your eyes open or closed or shaded. And just feel for a moment the body relaxing, not too tense, not too relaxed, grounded and centered right through the floor, the ground, and the chair that's holding you. See if you can sit 5% more comfortably, relaxing any tension that may have arisen. If your eyes are closed, I invite you to gaze gently between the third eye, between your eyebrows. In Sanskrit, that inner gaze is called your dristi. So here our dristi is gently relaxed between our eyebrows, but at the same time, I have awareness of my body and now the breath itself. Please do not sit in discomfort if you ever need to stand up and stretch or relax. Please do. As you come back to the awareness of the body, now bring awareness to the breath. If you'd like, you could even put your hand over your heart and feel the gentle rising nature of your inhale. And the falling and calming, relaxing exhale that brings you relaxed and closer to the chair and the ground that's holding you. Long, slow awareness of that inhale. And a long, slow, relaxing awareness of the exhale. Here we are not controlling the breath. Instead, I invite you to watch your breath like watching leaves floating down a stream. There's the inhale. And there's the exhale. Distractions are part of the practice. The mind and the ego will wander off the body, off the breath, distracted by the six senses. In Buddhism, there's considered six senses, not five. And here you get a chance to draw your awareness back from the distractions and bring your awareness back home to the body. And home to the breath. Anytime the mind wandered away. Noticing there's a beginning, a middle, and an end to the inhale. And notice there's a beginning, a middle, and an end to the exhale. Relax the body with any tension that may have arisen. Our eyes are still between our third eye if our eyes are if our eyes are closed. And being aware of the breath cycle, let the breath breathe you. Now notice at the top of the inhale there's a gap just before the exhale starts. Now notice there's a gap at the bottom of the exhale just before the inhale begins. And we'll end with a final cleansing inhale in the nose. The chest rises to the blue sky above. Hold it in, and a long slow exhale out your mouth if you prefer. Maybe the mouth or the nose. And gently opening your eyes. Thank you for joining me today. I look forward to hearing your feedback and thoughts on today's segment. And I look forward to seeing you next time. Namaste. As we close, I invite you to take a moment and notice what stayed with you from this episode. You don't need to understand everything or do anything perfectly. This path unfolds one honest moment at a time. If what we explored today resonated and you feel called to go deeper, I offer one-on-one therapy and coaching for people who want personal support, integrating these teachings into their lives. You can connect with me directly and learn more at Chris McDuffeytherapy.com, C H R I S M C D U F F I E, T H E R A P Y dot com. And if this podcast has been helpful, you're welcome to share it with someone who might need, or take a moment to follow or review the show. Thank you for practicing with me. The path continues.