“Lord Phoche, I’m curious about the meaning of the words ‘Buddho, Dhammo, Sangho’
that the Buddha just said. I feel like it’s different from what I understand,” I interjected.

“What is your understanding?” Lord Phoche asked in return.

“I’ve been taught my whole life that these three words mean: 1. To pay homage to the
Buddha, which refers to the Buddha himself. 2. To pay homage to the Dhamma, which
refers to the Buddha’s teachings. And 3. To pay homage to the Sangha, who are the
Buddha’s disciples. It doesn’t seem the same as what the Buddha said a moment ago,” I
observed.

“It’s just as I always emphasize to you: as stories pass through time, only a few percent
of the truth remains. And the main reason why so much truth is lost is the wrong
beginning. When the beginning is wrong, everything else goes wrong,” Lord Phoche
explained.

“Where is the wrong beginning?” I asked.

“Consider it carefully. Although these three words are spelled the same and
pronounced the same, they have meanings that are as different as heaven and earth.
The beginning here refers to starting from different fundamental beliefs. Originally, the
Buddha encouraged those who say these three words to rely on themselves, but now it
encourages relying on external things,” Lord Phoche explained.

“What does it have to do with relying on external and internal things?” I asked.

“Have you been through so many stories and still can’t distinguish what is from the
outside and what is from the inside? When the Buddha told everyone to always
remember that they are Buddha or God, ‘themselves’ here means from within. Once
they remember, then they will discover the Dhamma, discover the truth, or in simple
terms, they can see everything as it really is, see according to nature, according to the
eyes of God. And finally, when they know the truth, they will live peacefully in society,
without suffering, or called those who are free from suffering, without judging who is
right or wrong. Observe carefully; all three of these processes occur after you feel being
Buddha or from within.”

“As for what you know, where they teach to pay homage to the Buddha, pay homage to
the Dhamma, which are the Buddha’s teachings, and pay homage to the Sangha, who
are the Buddha’s disciples, that is a process that makes you rely on external things, not
yourself. Even though what you are relying on is the Buddha or the product of the
Buddha, all of it is considered relying on external things,” Lord Phoche replied.

“Aren’t they the same? Because the Buddha also has the Buddha mind or the God
mind,” I asked.

“They are completely different. Even if the Buddha himself were standing in front of
you, you should not rely on him. This method is very easy to misunderstand, and in
practice, the results are vastly different, especially the issue of reliance, which comes
from a fundamentally weak foundation. Because the physical nature of humans is that
of social animals, they have to rely on each other. But with this way of life, they take
this principle and apply it to spiritual matters or internal matters as well. Therefore,
whenever they use the principle of relying on external things for internal matters, they
immediately close the opportunity to rely on themselves. Think about it: when you had
faith in the Buddha, you forgot to have faith in yourself and the God within yourself,
didn’t you?” he asked.

“Hmm,” I thought.

“And it has many other chain reactions,” he added.

“What else does it cause?” I asked.

“Let’s start with the most important thing. Those who intentionally create this process
of reliance have to use this method to create faith, and they use the Buddha as a tool.
That means they don’t respect the Buddha’s teachings, such as making the Buddha a
miracle worker superior to other humans, creating miracles when there is no need to
do so. Because the Buddha already has the perfect miracle of wisdom.”

“The next process is the creation of idols to represent the Buddha, to elevate the
Buddha into a miracle worker, which shows that those who do this have not attained
the truth. Because they do not know that in truth, we are all God, we are one, we come
from the same place, we are equal, no one is superior to anyone. But with the plan to
make everyone rely on them, they do that. The creation of idols is the creation of faith
from the outside, through the easiest senses of touch, taste, sight, which are the easiest.
The bigger they make them, the more elaborate and beautiful, the more faith there will
be. The more faith there is in external things, the less faith there will be in oneself.”

“Am I hearing you correctly? You’re saying not to have faith in the Buddha? If what
you’re saying reaches the ears of my religious leaders, I think it will be a big issue,” I
observed.

“If that religious leader refers to the Buddha, if he knows that people have faith in him
to the point of forgetting to have faith in themselves, I think he would be more sad than
happy,” Lord Phoche replied.

“No, I mean the leaders who have a role in supervising and propagating religion,” I
argued.

“Even the Buddha, who is known as the master of the art of being Buddha, does not
want anyone to have faith in him. And who are they that they want people to have faith
in them? I’m telling you, anyone who tells you to have faith in them or their
organization, they do not wish you well. And that shows that they have not attained the
truth either. Because those who know the ultimate truth, those who know who they are, know who others are, know where everyone comes from and will return to, they
will absolutely not allow others to have faith in them. Because they know clearly that
everyone comes from the same place and is equal.

When those people have faith in them, people will immediately lose faith in
themselves. Those who do this are committing a grave spiritual offense. Therefore,
those who have attained the truth must take on the duty of telling humans to have faith
in themselves only.”