Sangha

The word *saṅgha* (or *saṃgha*) originally meant “association,” “assembly,” “company,” or “community.” In political settings, it referred to a governing body in a republic or kingdom. Over time, religious groups—including Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs—adopted the term. Because of this history, some Buddhists consider the sangha tradition to be the oldest surviving democratic institution in human history.

Within Buddhism, *sangha* primarily describes the monastic communities of monks (*bhikkhu*) and nuns (*bhikkhuni*), often called the *bhikkhu-sangha* and *bhikkhuni-sangha*. A separate category, the *āryasaṅgha* (“noble Sangha”), includes any Buddhist—monastic or lay—who has reached one of the four stages of enlightenment.

Different schools interpret the term differently. In Theravada Buddhism and Nichiren Shoshu, *sangha* does not refer to unenlightened lay followers or to the entire Buddhist community; it is reserved for those considered enlightened. Theravada uses the word *parisā* (or *catuparisā*, “fourfold assembly”) to collectively describe monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen.

The term has two main levels of meaning. On the ideal (*arya*) level, it includes all Buddha’s followers—ordained or not—who have at least become *srotāpanna* (stream-enterers). On the conventional (*saṃvṛti*) level, it refers only to the orders of monks and nuns. Mahayana practitioners sometimes use *sangha* for all Buddhists, but the Theravada Pāli Canon generally uses *parisā* for the broader community of those who have taken the Three Refuges, reserving *sangha* for the ideal and conventional meanings. These two meanings overlap but are not identical: some members of the ideal Sangha are not ordained, and some monastics have not yet gained the “Dharma-eye.” The original Sangha saw itself as following the Buddha’s mission to travel for the welfare and happiness of many people and beings.

The Sangha is the third of the Three Refuges in Buddhism. Across schools, the *āryasaṅgha* is considered the foremost form of this jewel. How a school defines *sangha* shapes what it recognizes as the contemporary jewel. Many schools view monastic life as the safest environment for advancing toward enlightenment, given worldly temptations.

The Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha each have specific qualities, chanted daily or on Uposatha days. In Theravada tradition, the Sangha of the Buddha’s disciples is described as practicing the good, upright, knowledgeable, and proper way. These disciples—the four pairs of persons, eight types of individuals—are worthy of gifts, hospitality, offerings, and reverential salutation, and are the unsurpassed field of merit for the world.

The Sangha was founded by Gautama Buddha in the fifth century BCE to allow those wishing to practice full-time in a disciplined way, free from household responsibilities. It preserves the Buddha’s original teachings and provides spiritual support for lay Buddhists. Historically, the Sangha has maintained the doctrine’s integrity and translated and propagated the teachings.

Buddhist monasticism centers on the *vinaya*, which includes 227 main rules of conduct (the *Patimokkha* in Pāli), covering complete chastity, eating only before noon, and avoiding malicious or salacious talk. Between midday and the next day, monastics focus on scripture study, chanting, meditation, and occasional cleaning. Violations carry penalties from confession to permanent expulsion.

Some traditions modified these rules. Saichō, founder of Japanese Tendai, reduced the rules to about 60 based on the Bodhisattva Precepts. During the Kamakura period, many Japanese schools—Zen, Pure Land, and Nichiren Buddhism—abolished traditional ordination in favor of this model. The Order of Interbeing, established in 1964 and linked to the Plum Village Tradition, has fourteen precepts for all monastics, written by Thích Nhất Hạnh.

Monks and nuns typically own minimal possessions as renunciants: three robes, an alms bowl, a cloth belt, a needle and thread, a razor for shaving the head, and a water filter.