Sangha is a word in Pali and Sanskrit meaning "association", "assembly,"
"company" or "community" and most commonly refers in Buddhism to the
monastic community of ordained Buddhist monks or nuns. This community is
traditionally referred to as the bhikkhu-sangha or bhikkhuni-sangha. As a
separate category, those who have attained any of the four stages of
enlightenment, whether or not they are members of the bhikkhu-sangha or
bhikkhuni-sangha, are referred to as the ariya-sangha or "noble Sangha".
The Sangha according to Theravada does not refer to the community of lay
followers, nor the community of Buddhists as a whole.
Definitions In a glossary of Buddhist terms, Richard
Robinson et al. define Sangha as: “Sangha. Community. This word has two
levels of meaning: on the ideal level, it denotes all of the Buddha’s
followers, lay or ordained, who have at least attained the level of srotapanna;
on the conventional level, it denotes the orders of the Bhiksus and
Bhiksunis.” Some lay practitioners in the West these
days use the word "Sangha" as a collective term for all Buddhists, but
the Pali Canon uses the word parisā for the larger Buddhist community — the
monks, nuns, lay men, and lay women who have taken the Three Refuges — reserving
‘Sangha’ for a more restricted use.” “The two meanings overlap but are not
necessarily identical. Some members of the ideal Sangha are not ordained; some
monastics have yet to acquire the Dharma-eye”
“Unlike the present Sangha, the original Sangha viewed itself as following the
mission laid down by the Master, viz, to go forth ‘…on tour for the blessing of
the manyfolk, for the happiness of the manyfolk out of compassion for the
world, for the welfare, the blessing, the happiness of deva and men"
Qualities of the Sangha The Sangha is the third of the Three
Jewels in Buddhism. Due to the temptations and vicissitudes of life in
the world, monastic life is considered to provide the safest and most suitable
environment for advancing toward enlightenment and liberation.
In Buddhism, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha each are described as having
certain characteristics. These characteristics are chanted either on a
daily basis and/or on Uposatha days, depending on the school of Buddhism. In
Theravada tradition they are a part of daily chanting:
The Sangha: The Sangha of the Blessed One's disciples is:
practicing the good way practicing the upright way
practicing the knowledgeable or logical way
practicing the proper way That is, the four pairs of persons, the
eight types of individuals - This Sangha of the Blessed One's disciples is:
worthy of gifts worthy of hospitalities
worthy of offerings worthy of reverential salutation
the unsurpassed field of merit for the world.
Monastic tradition The Sangha of monks and the Sangha of
nuns were originally established by Gautama Buddha in the 5th century BC in
order to provide a means for those who wish to practice the Dhamma full-time,
in a direct and highly disciplined way, free from the restrictions and
responsibilities of the household life. The Sangha also fulfils the function of
preserving the Buddha’s original teachings and of providing spiritual
support for the Buddhist lay-community. The monastic sangha has historically
assumed responsibility for maintaining the integrity of the doctrine as well as
the translation and propagation of the teachings of the Buddha.
The key feature of Buddhist monasticism is the adherence to the vinaya which
contains an elaborate set of rules of conduct including complete chastity and
eating only before noon. Between midday and the next day, a strict life of
scripture study, chanting, meditation, and occasional cleaning forms most of
the Sangha's duties [2]. Transgression of rules carries penalties ranging from
confession to permanent expulsion from the Sangha. The founder of Japanese
Tendai decided to reduce the number of rules down to about 60. In Kamakura Era,
many sects that originated from Tendai sect abolished vinaya entirely.
Monks and nuns may own only the barest minimum of possessions due to their
samaya as renunciates. In practice, they often have a few additional personal
possessions. Traditionally, Buddhist monastics eschew
ordinary clothes and wear robes. Originally the robes were sewn together
from rags and stained with earth. The idea that robes were dyed with saffron
seems unlikely to be true since it was and still is a very expensive commodity,
and monks were poor. The color of modern robes varies from community to community
The word which is usually translated as monk is bhikkhu in Pali or bhikshu in
Sanskrit. The feminine form is bhikkhuni or bhikshuni. These words literally mean
"beggar", learner, auspicious, adept, endowed with harmony and order; and it
is traditional for bhikkhus to beg their food. In most places this has become an
elaborate ritual, where lay people feed monastics in order to obtain merit which
will ensure them a fortunate rebirth. Although monastics in India
traditionally did not work for income, this changed when Buddhism moved to east
Asia, so that in China and the surrounding countries monks often engage
in agriculture. The idea that all Buddhists, especially
monks and nuns practice vegetarianism is a Western misperception. In some
Sanskrit Mahayana Sutras meat eating is strongly discouraged. In Pali Canon the
Buddha rejected a suggestion by Devadatta to impose vegetarianism on the
Sangha. According to the Pali Texts, the Buddha ate meat [as long as the animal
was not killed specifically for Him]. According to the Mahayana Sutras, the
Buddha does not eat meat. The Buddha [in the Pali Texts] allowed Sangha members
to eat whatever food is donated to them by laypeople, except that they may not
eat meat if they know or suspect the animal was killed specifically for them.
Consequently, the Theravadan tradition which follows the Pali scriptures does
not practice vegetarianism though an individual may do so at his or her
personal choice [3]. On the other hand, the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions
accept both Theravada and Mahayana scriptures, and consequently the
practice will vary depending on their interpretation of the sutras. In
particular, East Asian monastics take on the bodhisattva vows from the Brahma Net
Sutra which has a vow of vegetarianism as part of the Triple Platform
Ordination where they receive the sramanera/sramanerika, bhikshu/bhikshuni
and bodhisattva vows, whereas the Tibetan lineages transmit the
bodhisattva vows from Asanga's Yogacarabhumi, which does not include a
vow of vegetarianism. In some areas such as China, Korea and Vietnam one expects
the Sangha to practice strict vegetarianism while in other areas such
as Japan or Tibet one does not. The lay community is responsible for the
production of goods and services in society, and for the production and
raising of children. According to Mahayana sutras, the Buddha always
maintained that lay persons were capable of great wisdom in the Buddhadharma and
of reaching enlightenment. In the west, there is a misconception that Theravada
regards enlightenment to be an impossible goal outside the Sangha. This
is incorrect. In Theravada suttas, it is clearly recorded that the Buddha's
uncle—who was a lay follower—reached enlightenment by hearing the Buddha's
discourse. The distinction between Sangha and lay
persons has always been important and forms the Parisa, Buddhist community.
Here, monastics teach and counsel the laity at request while laymen and
laywomen offer donations for their future support. This inter-connectedness
serves as a marriage and has sustained Buddhism to this day.
Women's role in the Sangha Although always maintaining that women
were just as capable of attaining enlightenment as men, the canonical
texts depict the Buddha as being reluctant to permit women to join the
Sangha. After several entreaties from his aunt and foster-mother, Maha
Pajapati Gotami, who wished to become ordained, and from his cousin and aide
Ananda, who supported her cause, the Buddha relented and ordained Maha
Pajapati and several others as nuns. It is interesting to note that this was one
of the few issues about which the Buddha is recorded to have changed his mind.
The Buddha later established the condition that each new ordination would
be sanctioned by at least five bhikkhunis.
There have been several theories regarding the Buddha's reluctance to
ordain women, including the possibility that it was due to fears that a
community of women would not be safe in the society of his day. According to the
scriptures the reason the Buddha himself gave was that the admission of women
would weaken the Sangha and shorten its lifetime, and he laid down strict rules
subordinating nuns to monks. Before the modern era, the Bhikkhuni
Sangha spread to most Buddhist countries including Burma, with the notable
exceptions being Tibet and Thailand. However, in Sri Lanka, it died out in
the 11th century during a civil war and was not revived. Consequently, as
Theravada Buddhism spread to Thailand, the Theravada Sangha consisted only of
monks. In recent decades, there has been a
serious attempt to revive the Theravada Bhikkhuni Sangha with the assistance of
Mahayana bhikkhunis from the Chinese lineage. These were introduced from Sri
Lanka in 433 C. E., following the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, and subsequently
spread to Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Japan. This has resulted in a small but
thriving community of nuns in Sri Lanka, who in turn ordained the first Theravada
Buddhist nun in the history of Thailand, Ven. Dhammananda. However, the validity
of these ordinations is strongly disputed by some of the conservative
Theravada establishment. Meanwhile, a similar process has
produced the first fully ordained bhikkhunis in Tibetan Buddhism, where
only the novice ordination for bhikkhunis existed. In the west, where
feminism has been a strong influence, there have been many remarkable Buddhist
nuns: three notable examples are Pema Chodron, Ayya Khema and Tenzin Palmo.
The first bhikkhuni ordination in Australia in the Theravadin tradition
was held in Perth on October 22, 2009 at Bodhinyana Monastery. Venerable Ajahn
Vayama together with Venerables Nirodha, Seri and Hasapanna were ordained as
bhikkhunis by a dual sangha act of bhikkhus and bhikkhunis in full
accordance with the pali vinaya. Sangha as a general reference to
Buddhist community Some scholars noted that sangha is
frequently used in the West to refer to any sort of Buddhist community. The
terms parisa and gana are suggested as being more appropriate references to a
community of Buddhists. Parisa means "following" and it refers to the four
groups of the Buddha's followers: monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen. The Sanskrit
term gana has meanings of flock, troop, multitude, number, tribe, series, class,
and is usable as well in more mundane senses.
The Buddhist-derived new religious movement, Soka Gakkai, which began as a
lay organization associated with Nichiren Buddhism in Japan, disputes the
traditional definition of sangha. They interpret the meaning of the Three
Jewels of Buddhism, in particular the "treasure of the Sangha"—which they
refer to in English as "Samgha"—includes not only the monastic community, but
also lay persons that practice Buddhism correctly.
See also References
Bibliography Buswell, Robert E., ed.. Encyclopedia of
Buddhism. Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 740–744. ISBN 0-02-865718-7.
External links "The Bhikkhus' Rules, A Guide for
Laypeople" by Bhikkhu Ariyesako. "Duties of the Sangha" by Ajaan Lee
Dhammadharo Jealousy among the Sangha quoting from
Jeremy Haywards book on Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche Warrior-King of Shambhala:
Remembering Chögyam Trungpa.