Thich Nhat Hanh presents the Three Jewels—Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—not as distant religious objects but as living dimensions of awakening available in each moment. The Buddha is understood less as a remote historical figure and more as the awakened nature inherent in all beings, a capacity for clarity, understanding, and compassion that can be “touched” through mindful awareness. Taking refuge in the Buddha thus becomes an act of trusting this innate potential for awakening rather than an exercise in external worship. In this way, the Buddha functions as a model of awakened consciousness that is immediately present rather than historically remote.

The Dharma, in his presentation, is not confined to scriptures or abstract doctrines but is identified with the living experience of truth in daily life. Teachings are authentic to the extent that they can be directly experienced and applied, bringing about understanding, healing, and transformation. Mindful breathing, walking, speaking, and listening are treated as concrete embodiments of the Dharma, not merely as techniques but as expressions of insight in action. The Dharma thus appears as a path of practical wisdom that reveals itself in the very fabric of lived reality.

Regarding Sangha, Thich Nhat Hanh broadens the traditional notion of a monastic community into a more inclusive field of shared practice. Sangha includes families, lay communities, and all those who support one another in mindful living, forming an environment where the collective energy of mindfulness and compassion can arise. This community is not idealized as perfect; rather, it is valued as a realistic and essential support for transformation. He even evokes a wider sense of Sangha that embraces non-human elements of nature, suggesting that the earth itself participates in the work of collective awakening.

Underlying this reinterpretation is a strong sense of interdependence among the Three Jewels. Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are portrayed as mutually containing and expressing one another: the awakened nature is present in the community, the teachings are embodied in shared practice, and the community manifests the path of understanding and compassion. Refuge, in this light, is less a turning toward something outside oneself and more an engagement with interwoven dimensions of awakening already present in experience. This perspective renders the Three Jewels immediately relevant, inviting practitioners to discover them in the midst of ordinary life rather than seeking them in some distant realm.