The only institutional element to this involved the Sangha, but lay Buddhists may possibly only interact with the Sangha by making choices to monks. For all Buddhists, lay and monastic, convertion to Buddhism included accepting the "3 Refuges," , Tri-Sharaṇa, i.e. (1) Refuge in the Buddha, (2) Refuge in the Dharma, and (3) Refuge in the Sangha. Presumably 1 should know about the Buddha to consider refuge in him, but this is presupposed.
Lynellbelgra
Lynell Belgrave
is a 2nd grade in Biological Sciences
from
San Gabriel