Take refuge in Buddha. Take refuge in Dhamma. Take refuge in Sangha.Take refuge in the Triple Gem. It is the best pound-for-pound thing you can do for your meditation. This is something that I have stumbled along the way. What do I mean refuge.... it's like your mind can have one base object.  It can be an idea, a being. It could be the Christian God, it could be Buddha or even the breathe. I have had it recently as the breathe and it's wonderful.But now I have the Triple Gem and it is very strong

.To do it,
“I take refuge in BuddhaI
I take refuge in DhammaI
I take refuge in Sangha”

Repeat this a couple times.  Try it for a couple days.  If you are sensitive enough it actually happening should feel a little bit like an event.   Other than just saying it,  It is a little more complicated.  IIt's not some random automatic thing. It is the sincerity behind it that will do it.   The sincerity and motivation can come from knowing it comes with great benefit.  However,  I am sure there are people around the world who have refuge in something without having specifically said it  How to want is.That being said.. if you have to say it artificially for now that's fine. Just say it every now and again. It might take some time for you to fall into it. Anyway, if you are sensitive enough it might even feel like an “event”. 

That's enough for now

maybe some people can test it out and report back!
go out, report back!.

That is a Mahayana prayer for the practice of Calm Abiding Meditation.....


In the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha
I take refuge till enlightenment.
By virtue of giving and the like,
I shall reach buddhahood to aid beings

And the practice is to repeat the pray three times along with another prayer on the Four Immeasurable Thoughts


Cheers  Stuie

One year ago I took part in a zen sesshin lead by an European born zen-teacher who is based in Japan. At the end of the retreat he gave lay precepts to a couple of people there. As they started chanting the recitations of the ceremony, where Gautama Buddha, dharma, morals and sangha we mentioned, the room became filed with Shakyamuni's energy. So beautiful, so clear... I've done tantric guru yoga to Shakyamuni enough to be able to recognise his presence.
Later I asked the zen teacher if he was aware of this, that Shakyamuni's energy was clearly present. He said he wasn't but was very interested to hear this.

I chant Four Refuges daily: guru, buddha, dharma and sangha. There definitely is a charge of spiritual energy which clarifies ones awareness to the maximum that takes place with this.

I start every meditation session with three incantations of the following (personal adaptation of) the boddhisaatva vow.

---

Until highest enlightenment,
I take refuge in the Buddha, the dhamma and the Arya Sangha.
And like the Buddha, I will walk the boddhisaatva path,
Through the stages of realization
Until highest enlightenment,
For the benefit of all sentient beings.
As vast as space.

---

By the third incantation, I generally feel this very deeply and am already very calm and introspective.
The four immeasurables, mentioned above, are also an excellent way to set ones intentions correctly.
They are a great way to help diminish the hindrances.

Thanks for bringing this up.

At a recent weekend retreat with the Mahasi monks at nearby Tathagata Meditation Center, I learned that they chant the Rattana (Triple Gem) Sutta every morning. In a dhamma talk the teacher recited part of it, which had a nice ring to it.

Here's an impressive chanting rendition (s/w traditional, somewhere in Burma), shows parallel text (Pali and English) to follow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3P53OQxq4c

Ven. U. Jagara made a point during a longer retreat that some use a 4th refuge: one's self, explaining that at the end of the day, after all the example and help of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, it comes down to what one does oneself, with one's own intentions, actions, and practice. He keyed this off a passage in the Dhammapada (verses 157-164). (This does not mean, of course, oneself as an entity or the like, but as the process of one's own individual life.)

Similarly, in the 5th of the "Traditional Five remembrances" (Anguttara Nikaya, sutta 57 in the book of fives. Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation on page 686, A. 5:57), where, after remembering the inevitability of 1) aging, 2) sickness, 3) death, and 4) the loss of all that's near and dear, all we're left with is 5) "I am the owner of my kamma, the heir of my kamma; I have kamma as my origin, kamma as my relative, kamma as my resort; I will be the heir of whatever kamma, good or bad, that I do."

When I say this I mean it exactly. Precisely.  Mathematically.  You can have refuge in a single thing as your backdrop.  I have seen it in very particular basic visual and have experienced it precisely.

and...

your best meditation increase % goes up when you choose the triple gem, Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha