The Three Jewels
The ideals at the heart of Buddhism are the Three Jewels, or the Three Treasures. These are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.. They are called the Three Treasures because they are things that are precious and hold great value.
To become a Buddhist is to make these the central principals of one's life. Devotion to the Three Treasures is often referred to as the Three Refuges. They are called the Refuges because a refuge is a place we go to, or a person we turn to, for safety.
The Three refuges are particularly important for Buddhists because, for them, the world is an insecure place. It is Samsara, the world of dukkha, where everything is subject to change (anicca). The Buddhist therefore seeks refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha: the teacher, the teaching and the taught.
The Buddha
The Buddha refers both to the historical Buddha and to the ideal of Buddhahood which is open to all.
The Dharma
The teachings of the Buddha, or the truth he understood, are the Dharma. Dharma has many meanings but most importantly it means the unmediated Truth (as experienced by the enlightened mind) and Buddhist Teachings, the Truth as mediated by language and concepts. In the second sense Dharma is the teaching that was born when the Buddha first put his realization into words and communicated it to others at Sarnath in Northern India. The occasion is traditionally referred to as 'the first turning of the wheel of the Dharma' and the eight-spoked Dharma wheel is a common emblem of Buddhism.
Dharma also refers to the entirety of scriptures which are regarded as constituting the Buddhist canon. These include records of the Buddha's life (known as the Pali Canon), scriptures fro a later date, and the written teachings of those people who have attained Enlightenment over the centuries. The canon in its entirety is many hundred times as long as the Bible and it represents a literature of unequalled riches. It includes works such as the Dhammapada, The Diamond Sutra, and The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
Dharma also means the practices which are outlined within the scriptures. The essence of Buddhism is very simple, despite the wealth of its literature: it is finding ways to transform oneself. As the Dhammapada says, it could be summed up as 'learning to do good; ceasing to do evil; purifying the heart'.
The Sangha
The Sangha or the spiritual community is the third of the 'Three Jewels'. Buddhism is a way of approaching life and therefore it only has any meaning when it is embodied in people; it is not an abstract philosophy or creed. Great value is placed on the fellowship of others who are treading the same path, and those who embody its goal. The Sangha, in the broadest sense, means all of the Buddhists in the world and all those of the past and of the future. In practice it particularly refers to other Buddhists with whom one is in effective contact.
Some people are further advanced the path of Buddhism than others, and particular respect is paid to the lineage of great teachers down the millennia. Archetypal figures known as Bodhisattvas are the embodiment of the ideals of Buddhism. For example, Avalokitesvara is the embodiment of Compassion, and he is depicted with four, eight, or a thousand arms with which he seeks to help sentient beings; Manjusri is the embodiment of Wisdom and he is depicted carrying a sword with which he cuts through ignorance. Together the Bodhisattvas and other Enlightened teachers are known as the Arya Sangha or community of the Noble Ones.
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