« The Four Noble Truths | Home | Taoism »
Sangha
By peace | May 20, 2008
Sangha (Pali: saṅgha; Sanskrit: संघ saṃgha) is a word in Pali or Sanskrit that can be translated roughly as “association” or “assembly” “company” or “community” with common goal, vision or purpose. It is commonly used in several senses to refer to Buddhist or Jain groups. Traditionally, in Buddhism sangha almost always has one of two meanings: most commonly, sangha means the monastic sangha of ordained Buddhist monks or nuns. In a stricter sense, sangha can mean the assembly of all beings possessing some high degree of realization, referred to as the arya-sangha or noble sangha or assembly of seekers seeking what is real and true, as in “Satsang”.
Qualities of the Sangha(awakened beings who provide guidance and support)
The Sangha of the Blessed One’s disciples (Savakas) is:
1. practicing the good way
2. practicing the upright way
3. practicing the knowledgeable or logical way
4. 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 :
1. worthy of gifts
2. worthy of hospitality
3. worthy of offerings,
4. worthy of reverential salutation
5. the unsurpassed field of merit for the world.”
Following the death of Buddha in 483 BC, the concept of the Sangha, or community of monks, grew ever more important. The Buddha had ordained monks in his lifetime, calling them to follow the homeless life and practise the Dharma, and their number continued to grow after his passing.
The first monks were considered to be arahats, beings enlightened by the Buddha’s teaching. They in turn ordained others. The Buddha had charged his followers to ‘travel for the welfare and happiness of people, and out of compassion for the world’, and this they did. Some 200 years after the Buddha’s death the movement had spread throughout india. They depended on lay people for food and other necessities, and the relationship grew whereby the monks were fed in return for teaching. The Buddha’s teaching embraced all classes, as he rejected the caste system and taught that all could attain enlightenment.
Soon after Buddha’s death, the First Great Council of 500 senior monks was held. These monks were all arahats who had known Buddha. They met to recite the teaching as they remembered it and agree a definitive version.
The teaching was preserved in oral tradition, and it was not until many years later that it was written down. It was grouped into three pitakas or baskets. Vinaya consisted of the rules for monks (bhikkhus) and nuns (bhikkhunis). These not only provide guidelines for the monastic life, but also allow for the setting of disputes and imposing discipline. Sutta is the collection of the Buddha’s sermons, while abhidamma(higher Dharma) consists largely of philosophical analysis of the Buddha’s teachings. It was the differing interpretations in this latter section which caused most of the disputes between the various emerging schools.
A second Great Council took place around 383 BC. By this time, several schools of thought had evolved. Part of the controversy was over whether Buddhists should only try to gain their own enlightenment(arahats) or whether they should seek the freedom from suffering of all beings(bodhisattvas). In fact, as compassion is an essential aspect of Buddhist practice, this is largely a question of semantics. Today, there are two main traditions, the Theravada or Teaching of the Elders and the Mahayana or Greater Vehicle, which contains a number of different traditions such as Zen, Vijrayana and Pure Land.
Topics: Religion, Spiritual Articles, View All Post |
