The first reason: The Buddha is liberated from all kinds of
fear.
If he is also suffering in Samsara then he may not be able to help.
For example, if
someone is drowning in a lake, you cannot help each other very much
because both of you are drowning and do not know how to swim. So,
you need a person who can swim and is not drowning so this person
can help you. If the Buddha himself is suffering in Samsara and he
has a fear of suffering then he will not be able to help us. But,
he is totally free from all these kinds of fear and he is totally
free from all kinds' sufferings. Therefore, he is capable to help
us.
The second reason: The Buddha is skillful to help sentient
beings.
If he is capable but not skillful then sometimes instead of helping
us, it can hurt us. But the Buddha is not like that he is very
skilful and knows the right timing to help us. He knows the nature
of all of us. He knows exactly what our intentions are. He knows
what kind of potential you have. When he sees his disciples, he can
help them in many different ways. According to the individual
intentions, motivations, and nature - because we all have different
natures and different natures need different methods to practice.
For example, in the Buddha’s time, there was a king known as King
of Smell-Eater. His name was Ragha - which means an ever-joyful
person. The Buddha wanted to help this King to get out of Samsara.
But the time was not ripened; whenever the Buddha tried to him, he
couldn’t help him. The king was a good guitar player so he always
played the guitar and he enjoyed that. His skill of playing the
guitar was incomparable and he was very proud of his skills.
Playing the guitar always distracts him. He never listened to the
Buddha.When the right time came, the Buddha emanated into another
form - he also played a guitar. The king was playing a guitar with
a thousand strings. Each guitar had one thousand strings. So, both
of them were playing equally good. Then they both took a string
out, so now they had 999 strings and they still had the same music.
One by one they took out a string and finally there was only one
string and the King was playing as
good as he played with a thousand strings. The Buddha also played
with the same skills. And finally the Buddha took out his last
string and without any string he played and has the same music. The
king was defeated because he couldn’t play without a string. The
king's pride gone down and he was not only surprised but also
admired the Buddha.Finally, the Buddha showed him his real form and
gave dharma talks and finally this King attained Arahathood.
The Buddha was also waiting for the right time. He knows when
the right time is but wedon't know. There are many stories like
that. When the right time comes, the Buddha helps the person. Even
the Buddha has all the powers he cannot help when the right time
hasn’t come because of karmic power cause and effect. The law
of karma is very powerful. The power of karma and the power of the
Buddha are considered equal. When someone's karma is ripening, to
give the result then the Buddha cannot stop that. Otherwise, there
wouldn't be any suffering in the world. There wouldn't be any hell
realm or lower realms in the world. The Buddha might have already
destroyed them if he had the power. But the karmic law is equally
powerful. So you have to wait for the right time. The Buddha knows
when the right time is for individuals, the nature of the
individuals and the intentions of the individuals. So, he is very
skilful to help others.
The third reason: The Buddha has great compassion.
We also have compassion but our compassion is partial. We feel
compassion towards our relatives, children but we cannot be
compassionate to our enemies. But Buddha's compassion is impartial.
The Buddha's compassion is for everybody. There is no question of
enemies, relatives or friends - so this compassion is great
compassion. It is equal to all beings. That's why it is called
great compassion -even if we hurt him it doesn't matter right?
The forth reason: The Buddha helps all beings equally.
Since he has great compassion he will not see if someone benefited
him, hurt him or not benefited him. It doesn’t make any difference.
For example, in our human society if someone has helped us then we
would also like to help him or her. If someone has not helped us
then we don't care. If someone has hurt us, then we definitely we
would like to hurt him or her, too. The Buddha is not like that, he
can help all the beings equally -these are the four reasons why we
can take refuge in the Buddha.
Read more at :
http://www.norbucholingcentre.org/downloads/takingrefuge.pdf