"... During the last five decades interest in Buddhism has become widespread in the West. From being the closed preserve of professional orientalists, whose interest was largely linguistic and historical, and to whom Buddhism was little more than a particularly well-preserved mummy in the museum of Comparative Religion, the wise, compassionate, and vital teachings of the Buddha have started attracting the attention of an increasing number of sensitive and thoughtful people who, though having outgrown authoritarian creeds of every kind, are yet in search of a framework of psychological and spiritual reference ample enough to contain and elastic enough not to confine their aspirations. Whether choosing to describe themselves as Buddhists or not, those who feel 'at home' within the framework called Buddhism, and who settle down therein, in effect commit themselves to the realisation of an ideal by following a certain way of life in the company of other people similarly committed. This is what is traditionally known as 'Going for Reuge' to the Three Jewels, an act which, though it may find ceremonial expression, is essentially a profound inner experience, a spiritual rebirth or 'conversion', as a result of which one's whole life is transformed and reoriented.
The Three Jewels are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. By the Buddha or Enlightened One is meant not only the historical Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, but the ideal of Enlightenment both in its universal aspect and its ultimate reality. The Dharma or Doctrine is not only the sum total of the Buddha's teachings but the whole body of moral and spiritual laws, discovered and revealed by him, of which the doctrinal teachings form the conceptual formulation and practical exemplification. Similarly the Sangha or Assembly is the spiritual community of those who, following the Dharma, have attained the same level of spiritual experience, or observe a common rule of monastic discipline, or simply the whole body of the faithful going for refuge to the Three Jewels - enlightened and unenlightened, monastic and lay, real and nominal.
The Three Jewels are, therefore, of pivotal importance in Buddhism. Indeed, the Three Jewels are Buddhism...."
taken from Preface of 'The Three Jewels' by Sangharakshita, Windhorse Publications, 1998