As you are doing refuge practice, what you want to aim for is to deepen your wisdom and your compassion. The purpose of the practice is not just to generate a lot of emotional faith, but it is to really understand the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, what they are, what our relationship is with them, and then faith will naturally come and the inspiration to practise will naturally come from that.

We are not sitting there trying to go, “I’ve got to make myself have faith.” That is not going to work. Really think about the qualities of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Then think, “I have the possibility to develop those same qualities. The Buddha was not always a Buddha primordially, he was just like me. He practised, and I just kept playing poker or exercising my thumbs. He created the cause, and I did not, but we have the same potential, I can also attain Buddhahood.”

Think, what did the Buddha practise? The two key elements are wisdom and compassion. We practise both based on a determination to be free from cyclic existence. There you have the three principal aspects of the path, and you see how they fit into your practice of refuge.

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