Buddhism

The Buddhist ideal of sangha (“community” in Sanskrit) is a cohesive group in harmony or in union with virtue. Usually the term sangha is used to refer to a community of Buddhist monks or nuns rather than to a community of lay Buddhists. The basic expectation of the members of a sangha is that they respect the law of cause and effect, or karma (a Sanskrit term for actions and, by implication, their inevitable consequences.) Although causal relationships are not easy to establish, many ancient Indian Buddhist masters, including Nagarjuna (flourished c. 150–250 CE) and Dharmakirti (flourished seventh century CE), cogently argued that the infallibility of karmic law could indeed be ascertained by relying upon pratyaksapramana (direct valid cognition) and anumanapramana (inferential valid cognition). Since nonvirtuous intents and acts will invariably bring about suffering, sangha members are admonished to abandon ten major nonvirtuous acts. Three pertain to the body: killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct. Four pertain to speech: divisive speech, lying, harsh speech, and senseless talk. Finally, three pertain to the mind: covetousness, harmful intent, and wrong view. The sangha is further encouraged to engage diligently in the practice of the virtues of generosity, discipline, patience, perseverance, meditation, and development of wisdom. The practice of these six virtues is considered to be the source of true happiness.

As mentioned earlier, the more traditional and rigorous definition of sangha extends only to ordained monks and nuns, thus excluding lay believers. Nonetheless, the authentic sangha in its most refined meaning refers to those who have realized dharmata (the true nature of all phenomena) through their direct experience. They are known as the arya sangha, the holy, sublime, spiritual community.

Alternatively, the Buddhist community can be conceptualized in accordance with the teachings of Gampopa (1079–1154), a prominent Tibetan Buddhist master of his time. In his taxonomy, the ordinary sangha includes those who strive for a favorable condition of rebirth in either the human realm or one of the godly realms. However, when their karmic merit for such a favorable rebirth is exhausted, they are bound for lower rebirths again. In this endless cycle of rebirths, which is known as samsara, one cannot hope to find lasting happiness, because everything is impermanent. In fact, Buddhists argue that, with enhanced perspicacity achieved through meditation (and not philosophical pessimism), one will discern the nature of samsara as one of pervasive suffering.

All Buddhists would say that those who renounce samsara and its temporary seeming pleasures are wiser than those who merely look for a comfortable rebirth. Those Buddhists who, due to their intense urge to renounce samsara, seek liberation from samsara for themselves only, are seen by those who aspire to liberate all sentient beings as less spiritually advanced than they themselves are. The latter group calls the former the Hinayana sangha (“community of the Small Vehicle”), because their vehicle to liberation is only large enough to accommodate themselves, and they refer to themselves as the Mahayana sangha (“community of the Greater Vehicle”). Surviving Buddhist traditions of the former type reject the term Hinayana and call their tradition Theravada (“the way of the elders”). However, according to what Buddha himself stated (in the Lotus Sutra and in many other instances), the Hinayana sangha will give rise to Bodhicitta—aspiring to [Page 109]achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. Ultimately, then, the Hinayana sangha are not different from the Mahayana sangha.

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