Q. What changes have taken place in your life since you first took the three refuges? A. Like countless millions of others over the last 2547 years, I have found that the Buddha's teachings have made sense out of a difficult world, they have given meaning to what was a senseless life, they have given me a humane and compassionate ethics with which to lead my life and they have shown me how I can attain a state of purity and perfection in the next life. A poet in ancient India once wrote of the Buddha: To go to him for refuge, to sing his praise, to do him honour and to abide in his Dhamma is to act with understanding. I agree with these words completely.