The Buddha used to say that anyone can observe the precepts, but for the people who haven’t taken refuge in Buddhism, they cannot undertake the precepts. Before taking refuge, everyone might have undertaken the lay Buddhist’s precepts, but “undertaking the precepts” under such situation only cultivates the wholesome roots, and is still not genuinely perfect. Everyone knows that the blessing of empowerment is very amazing, and also likes to request empowerment. However, s/he does not know that the empowerment is in fact the transmission of the Tantric vows, so s/he has to take refuge first in order to be eligible to request the empowerment; otherwise, even though s/he has requested the empowerment, it is still not of great use.