In Buddhism, representations of the Buddhas, enlightened beings, lineage gurus and Dharma teachings are more precious than other objects. The logic behind this is simple. The Buddhas, the Dharma and the gurus are key to our achievement of enlightenment.

• Without the Buddha, there would be no revelation of the true nature of things including our potential to be enlightened.
• Without the Dharma, there would be no antidote to our delusions and no guided path to enlightenment.
• Without the Guru, our journey to enlightenment would be significantly longer and fraught with more obstacles as we cannot receive teachings or communicate directly with the Buddhas at this time.

That’s why the Buddha, Dharma and gurus are worthy objects of refuge.

Once we have taken refuge, one of the commitments is to regard any representation of the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) as the actual Jewel. As such, anything containing texts or images of Buddhist teachings, enlightened beings or spiritual teachers should be treated with deep respect.

So, if you have a pile of old or damaged Buddhist texts, Dharma materials or images that you no longer need, it’s important to dispose of them in the correct way. After all, if respecting the Three Jewels creates great merits, disrespecting them will create tremendous negative karma.

Watch the video for a method to dissolve and discard Dharma items that you don’t want to keep. We hope you find this simple guide helpful.