triśaraṇa (Sanskrit; Pāli, tisaraṇa). The ‘three refuges’, namely the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṃgha, particularly when used as a profession of faith. The formal procedure by which a layman becomes a Buddhist is by ‘taking refuge’, which involves repeating three times the formula ‘I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the Saṃgha’ (in Pāli, Buddhaṃ saraṇam gacchāmi, Dhammaṃ saraṇam gacchāmi, Saṃghaṃ saraṇam gacchāmi). The utterance of this formula is followed by recital of the Five Precepts (pañca-śīla). In addition to the three refuges Tibetan forms of Buddhism, influenced by tantric Buddhism, have added the guru as an additional refuge to the formula, since access to the other three refuges is considered to be dependent upon the kindness of a teacher. The three refuges are also referred to as the ‘three jewels’ (triratna). See also refuge tree.

A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2004 (which is available in electronic version from answer.com)