Formally taking the Three Refuges, usually recited three times in succession for emphasis, marks the entry point into Buddhist identity across traditions, performed at the ordination of monks and nuns, at lay conversion ceremonies for those newly identifying as Buddhist, and repeated at the opening of a very wide range of other ceremonies and practices as a standard preliminary before the specific occasion's main content begins.
Because of this repeated preliminary use, many practicing Buddhists recite the Three Refuges considerably more often than almost any other single text in their tradition, treating it less as a one-time declaration made at conversion and more as a repeated act of reorientation performed at the start of each formal practice session. The refuges are frequently paired, particularly in lay contexts, with the Five Precepts, basic ethical commitments against killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech and intoxication, so that taking refuge and undertaking basic ethical discipline are often presented and performed together as a single combined ceremony rather than as separate, unrelated acts. Buddhist teaching materials aimed at newcomers typically introduce the Three Refuges as the very first formal content a person learns, treating fluency with this short formula as more foundational to Buddhist identity than familiarity with any specific doctrine or meditation technique.