Will the real Buddhist sangha stand up

Buddhism’s gradual transformation into a more monk dominated religion after the Buddha’s parinirvana at Kusinara was a change from what I shall term a “spiritual sangha” into an “episcopal sangha” in which the monastic community played the role of overseer (G., episkopos) not only guiding the sangha but molding Buddhism to fit the special needs of the monastic sangha and, indirectly, the lay Buddhist population. 

For anyone who has been involved with the monastic sangha it is a complex bureaucracy in many respects.  Those at the top oversee those on the bottom.  The monastic structure, in this regard, is rather totemic.  What is generally unknown by the monastic community and especially the Buddhist lay community is that the monastic sangha is not the same as the Triple Gem sangha (P., ti-ratana).  They are quite different.  Walpola Sri Rahula writes:

"The Sangha of the Triple-Jewel whcih is called sâvaka-sangha ("the Community of Disciples"), consisting of those eight holy persons indiscriminately from all four categories of the Buddha's disciples, both lay and monastic, male and female, may be considered as the "Spiritual Sangha".  This is not an organized body controlled by a set of rules.  This “Holy Community” exists in the world of the Dhamma, in the spiritual realm of our world.  This is the Sangha of the Triple-Jewel in the purest and the highest sense” (World Buddhism, Vol. XII, No. 11, July 1974, p. 330)

Monks who are not ariya-sâvakas (S., arya-sravaka) are naturally, puthujjanas, or worldlings.  They have not entered the stream, that is, seen nirvana.  

I have gone over this before in more detail in the blog: A sangha beyond the monastic sangha.  Much of it is based on what I found in the World Buddhism publication.  Edmund F. Perry & Shanta Ratnayaka did a great two article piece entitled, The Sangha of the Ti-Ratana appearing in the 1974 June and July World Buddhism publication.  To my knowledge the work of Perry and Ratnayaka, and even Rahula’s previously cited article, have been all but ignored.  This is not altogether amazing when we take into consideration the enormous power the Buddhist monastic sangha has over the minds of the lay population and especially the media.

Part of the reason modern Buddhism seems to be drifting towards secular materialism is that its spiritual side is being actively suppressed (along with the spiritual sangha) by some who wear the robe; who make up the monastic sangha.  They should be better educated but apparently they aren’t or don’t wish to be.  Chinese Buddhist monks and nuns, on the  other hand, seem to understand that after so many years of being a robe coat hanger they  have to go into retreat if they are truly seeking enlightenment.  Only by doing this can they hope to join the spiritual sangha.

 

Comments

[Azanshi]

A superior teacher in mountain climbing is essential if you wish to master this sport where the slightest mistake can cost your life. But there are too many bad teachers out there and far too many students learning the craft with far too many holes in their training. Many are rash, impatient, reckless and too prone in taking deadly risks. At the foot of a great mountain you can easily spot them by their frozen corpses scattered around various catches, rifts and icefields of the mountain.

Equally in Zen Buddhism it takes a superior teacher to attract and teach a student of superior qualities. What connects both here is the love of the dharma. In Buddhism,as in mountain climbing or even sciences, there are average students and superior ones.

It is not a question of an elite versus a lower cast, but more of who chose to do what during countless life times, and when encountering the right teacher, being prepared to put these virtues at test and maturation resulting in enlightenment versus the opposite of unprepared students trying to translate their inadequate virtues into anything but errors and suffering.

[Java Junkie]

there is NO sangha in earliest sutta. such religious constructs are post Gotamid. and circa 300 CE.