What is the 3-Jewels.org website all about?
My Backstory
In my life I’ve created a pretty good life for myself but in my 40s my life sort of fell apart. I had a few traumatic experiences happen that took me to some dark places and 2 years of depression. I searched for answers to heal or fix my current situation and meditation was one of the early tools and practices I found that started me on the path to letting go and healing.
I was introduced to the Tao Te Ching through the book Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life which set me on a deeper path to live life more fuller and to be a better person. I’ve always been attracted to Eastern culture, mostly through Bruce Lee, Ninjitsu, and martial arts, but when I first tasted the Tao… I was hooked. It spoke to me. Today I would say this is my favorite book and the one that has most influenced my life.
I’m a longtime business owner and was on a journey of self-development since 1999 when I started my company. In this time I tried defining my purpose related to my business and to get clearer on who I served and how I served them. After going on a quest to heal myself and find a better way to live, I finally found my purpose in life, or maybe I should say clearly defined it.
My purpose in life is to challenge people to become innovative leaders so that we can change the world together.
Once I defined my purpose in life… I tried to figure out HOW to pull this off. Basically I was on a quest to save myself and save the world. So I started volunteering to help underperforming kids step up their reading skills at my local elementary school through a program called Read2Win. I also started trying to make a positive impact on the world in the only way I was able at the time – on social media, Facebook to be more specific.
After doing this for a while and offering a more positive approach I wanted to learn how to grow this or how to invite others to join me on this walk. I created an online Facebook group called BE THE CHANGE to try to get people started on the path or follow some that I invited early on who I respected and believed were already on the path and further down the path than I was. It has had some success, but I felt I needed more so I continued on my quest
Do I Need Therapy?
On this journey of self-discovery and self-healing I was reading and rereading Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life and I was working on changing my thoughts. I also read and reread the Tao Te Ching several times and was seeking ways to practice these ideas. I felt like maybe I needed a therapist to help me kick my depression.
At the downturn of my business and the trauma striking all around the same time, money was tight and I wasn’t taking on my new clients as I needed to get my shit straight so I wasn’t causing any other harm. At some point I thought I may need to go to therapy and get some professional help.
My insurance at the time was very unhelpful and just caused even more trauma in my situation so I gave up trying to use them. I sought out therapists on my own and the cost was too expensive for me at the time. So I was overwhelmed with stress and maybe shame for feeling so bad all the time. This really took a toll on my self-worth.
How Reading (listening actually) Turned Me On To Buddhism
Another side note is I am dyslexic and an auditory learner to some degree so in my journey for self-healing I turned to self-help. I’ve been a fairly avid audiobook reader (listener) for several years, but really only reading business books. In my state of depression I stopped listening to business books and started seeking positive uplifting books.
On a quest for a therapist and on a whim, I somehow found an audiobook titled Becoming Your Own Therapist. You can get it here if you’d like to read it.
This is where things changed. I never really knew much about Buddhism, but I was desperate. This book planted seeds of Buddhism as a philosophy more than a religion like I had first thought. This books starts out with… when we study Buddhism, we study ourselves. These ideas were helping and I started studying myself on a deeper level.
This book was so moving and seemed to align with the Tao it gave me ways to practice some of the ideas I was learning on top of the daily meditation I was doing. My meditation was not Buddhist in nature, actually it was totally secular but these things were falling together and this piqued my interest even more and led to deeper exploration of Buddhism.
The Buddha, The Dharma, & The Sangha
After a year or two on this journey exploring Buddhism, I learned of the 3 Jewels. This concept is that we take refuge in the 3 main jewels of Buddhism and they are the Buddha, or teacher, the Dharma, or lessons we learn, and the Sangha, or the community we study with and get accountability and support from.
Two points that were powerful on deeper understanding of the Buddha and his teachings were…
POINT 1:
The Buddha said he only taught two things…
- Suffering
- the Alleviation of Suffering
This obviously resonated with me as I was seeking ways to alleviation my own suffering. What I found was I needed a teacher to help guide me to explore these ideas deeper and seek out practices that actually deliver on this idea.
POINT 2:
The Buddha said…
What I found on deeper practice and explorations was I not only needed a teacher and their lessons but also a community offering support and accountability to help in those tough times. That is what this website – 3-Jewels.org – is all about. It is about helping others learn about these two main topics – suffering and alleviating suffering. It’s also about testing things and seeing what works for you and doing so through the 3 Jewels.
Just remember you are a Buddha, I’m a Buddha, we all can be a Buddha if we trust our Buddha nature within us. We are the teachers. We study old and new ideas related to Buddhist philosophy some created here, some created in books or courses or just interactions in life through our communities. Hopefully we will add a community here to help you find solid connections and support.
I hope the 3-Jewels.org serves you in the ways Buddhism has served me. I am planning on finding ways to communicate the Dharma or lessons of the Buddha in the best way I can. I have been studying on my own, with a physical sangha locally, virtually with several other sanghas and monasteries mostly in the Order of Interbeing or Zen Engaged Buddhism created by Thich Nhat Hanh.
I am hoping to add what I use in business – content, courses, coaching, and community. Stay tuned as I start to flush this stuff out how this will all play out.
Thank you for reading.
Peace, Love, & Respect to you my friends!
Dale Berkebile
P.S.
As the base of this site is related to the Sangha, community, and supporting one another – please leave a comment and share your thoughts on this article and on the vision as I currently laid it out. Tell me a bit about yourself and what you need from a community like this and how I might be able to serve you and what other topics you might like to learn about related to Buddhism or Taoism.
Thank you!