Generally, when someone takes the Refuge Vows, they’re considered a Buddhist. Going for refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha are fundamental to Buddhist practice. I consider them all equal in importance. When one of them is missing, it's like a stool with only one or two legs. It might stay upright for a little while, but sooner or later it’s going to crash. There are some ways one could try to justify ignoring one or two Jewels, even citing scripture to do that.
If you wanted to try to leave out taking refuge in the Sangha, one could point to the Sutta containing the Buddha’s final instructions:
“Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation."
And another version:
“Be a lamp unto yourself, be a refuge to yourself. Take yourself to no external refuge.”
But then there’s this:
Ven. Ananda said to the Blessed One, "This is half of the holy life, lord: admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie."
The Buddha replies, "Don't say that, Ananda. Don't say that. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk has admirable people as friends, companions, & comrades, he can be expected to develop & pursue the noble eightfold path.”
And Bodhidharma weighs in also:
“If you don’t find a teacher soon, you’ll live this life in vain. It’s true, you have Buddha Nature. But without the help of a teacher, you’ll never know it. Only one person in a million becomes enlightened without a teacher’s help.”
In a typical Buddhist paradox, we seem to be getting two opposing messages. On the one hand, you’re the only one who can awaken you, and on the other, that spiritual friendship—a Sangha, a teacher—is the whole of the path, you can expect your practice will develop and deepen. Are these really in opposition? Are they more “or” than “and?” Not only are both right despite their apparent “or,” nature, they are both right simultaneously. It’s true that only we can awaken ourselves, and we can do it with the help of fellow practitioners. In order to awaken we take refuge in the Buddha as the revered (but not only) teacher. We take refuge in the Dharma, because we have faith that by learning the teachings, we see our True Nature and awaken. And as Bodhidharma says, only one in a million can do this on their own.
The Buddha spoke again to Venerable Ananda. "It may be, Ananda, that some of you will say, 'without the Buddha, the Sublime Teacher, there is no teacher for us'. No, Ananda, you should not think in this way. Whatever doctrine and discipline taught and made known by me will be your teacher when I am gone."
Then the Buddha, addressing the other monks said, "If any amongst you has any doubts as to the Buddha, the teaching, or the order of monks, ask me now so that afterwards you may have no cause to regret that you did not ask me while I was still with you."
The last statement refers to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, not to have any doubts about them. There’s a full endorsement of the Three Jewels if ever there was one. The Dharma is reality as it is, and that is a teacher in and of itself. There will be other human teachers that come after Shakayamuni’s death. And we can count on the Sangha to help us and understand their teachings.
Let’s jump back into the 21st Century now. Obviously, Shakyamuni died two millennia ago, so he’s not physically here to admonish us as he did so often with Ananda (to me, the Everyman practitioner). Ananda was often the Buddha’s foil, by asking the questions or making the statements that any of us might say. That covers Buddha and Dharma. But what about Sangha? I estimate that there are more who identify as Buddhist than there are people living in temples. In a temple or Zen Center, Sangha is a given. But how does a lay practitioner go for refuge in a Sangha? Is the response, “Well, the Buddha said only take refuge in myself, so I’m good.” That justification may not work too well unless you’re that one in a million.
I’m among the other 999,999. One month after Covid lockdown in 2020, I was really feeling the lack of Sangha. I’d moved from my most recent Zen Sangha a few years previously and led an in-person Zen group in my new location, but due to various circumstances, the groups never took off. I stayed in touch with my teacher over video calls and had some email contact with the others in that group, but nothing that regular. And then Covid hit, and I felt isolated, as many did. I referred to my meditation space at home as my “hermitage,” but I’m not one of those “lives on a mountain meditating for the sake of all beings” guys. That may come to pass, but not in 2020 and not so far since. i really go for refuge in the Sangha. So, a month into lockdown, we started an online Zen Sangha with members from the old group and few people we’d met online.
Three years later, and we’re still online. We meet every week on video, and we have that spiritual comradeship Ananda spoke of. We’ve gotten to know each other despite literally being continents apart. We help each other in our practice. We’re supportive of each other’s practice while the world at large may not be conducive to practicing and my spiritual friends can point it out when I’m headed in the wrong direction. I may consider myself a physicist because I’ve read a few books on physics. But I may have some totally off-base misunderstandings that would prove I’m not one. I’d have to rely on others that understand more than I do to point that out.
This leads to the question, if you don’t have a Sangha and/or a teacher—the “spiritual friends”—can you really have gone for refuge in the Three Jewels? That situation is as subject to impermanence and changeable as everything else, so it’s not a judgement of anyone’s practice. I do strongly suggest joining in the “whole of the holy life.” There’s a Sangha of some sort for everyone. It may just take some effort to find it. Don’t leave one of the legs off the stool!