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 (Savakas) 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."
“Sangha. Community. This word has two levels of meaning: (1) on the
ideal (arya) level, it denotes all of the Buddha’s followers, lay or
ordained, who have at least attained the level of srotapanna; (2) on the conventional (samvtri) 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 (Sanskrit, parisad) 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"
Sangha (Pali: saṅgha; Sanskrit: saṃgha; Wylie: 'dus sde; Chinese: , sēng gā) 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. Within this community those who have attained a higher level of realisation are referred to as the ariya-sangha or "noble Sangha".
The Sangha also includes lay people who are personally dedicated to the discipline of dhamma-vinaya. This use of the word "Sangha" is only sometimes found in the Pali texts.
