Why was the Sangha established by the Buddha?

There are some who believe that Buddhism is so lofty
and sublime a system that it cannot be practised by
ordinary men and women in this workaday world of ours,
and that one has to retire from it to a monastery, or to
some quiet place, if one desires to be a true Buddhist.

This is a sad misconception, due evidently to a lack of
understanding of the teaching of the Buddha. People run
to such hasty and wrong conclusions as a result of their
hearing, or reading casually, something about Buddhism
written by someone, who, as he has not understood the
subject in all its aspect, gives only a partial and lopsided
view of it. The Buddha's teaching is meant not only for a
monks in monasteries, but also for ordinary men and
women living at home with their families. The Noble
Eightfold Path, which is the Buddhist way of life, is meant
for all, without distinction of any kind.

The vast majority of people in the world cannot turn monk,
or retire into caves or forest. However noble and pure
Buddhism may be, it would be useless to the masses of
mankind if they could not follow it in their daily life in the
world of today. But if you understand the spirit of Buddhism
correctly ( and not only its letter) , you can surely follow and
practise it while living the life of an ordinary man.

There may be some who find it easier and more convenient
to accept Buddhism, if they do live in a remote place, cut off
from the society of other. Others may find that that kind of
retirement dulls and depresses their whole being both phys-
ically and mentally, and it may not therefore be conducive
to the development of their spiritual and intellectual life.

True renunciation does not mean running away physically from
the world. Sariputta, the chief disciple of the Buddha, said that
one man might live in a forest devoting himself to ascetic
practices, but might be full of impure thoughts and 'defilements';
another might live in a village or town, practising no ascetic disc-
ipline, but his mind might be pure, and free from 'deflements'.
Of these two, said Sariputta, the one who lives a pure life in the
village or town is definitely far superior to, and greater than, the
one who lives in the forest.

The common belief that to follow the Buddha's teaching one has
to retire from life is a misconception. It is really an unconscious
defence against practising it. There are numerous references in
Buddhist literature to men and women living ordinary, normal
family lives who successfully practised what the Buddha taught,
and realized Nirvana. Vacchagotta the Wanderer, (whom we met
earlier in the chapter on Anatta), once asked the Buddha straight
forwardly whether there were laymen and women leading the
family life who followed his teaching successfully and attained to
high spiritual states. The Buddha categorically stated that there
were not one or two, not a hundred or two hundred or five hun-
dred, but many more laymen leading the family life who followed
his teaching successfully and attained to high spiritual states.

It may be agreeable for certain people to live a retired life in a
quiet place away from noise and disturbance. But it is certainly
more praise worthy and courageous to practise Buddhism living
among your fellow beings, helping them and being of service to
them. It may perhaps be useful in some cases for a man to live
in retirement for a time in order to improve his mind and char-
acter, as preliminary moral, spiritual and intellectual training, to
be strong enough to come out later and help other. But if a man
lives all his life in solitude, thinking only of his own happiness and
'salvation', without caring for his fellows, this surely is not in kee-
ping with the Buddha's teaching which is based on love, compas-
sion, and service to others.

One might now ask: If a man can follow Buddhism while living
the life of an ordinary layman, why was the Sangha, the Order
of monks, established by the Buddha? The Order provides opp-
ortunity for those who are willing to devote their lives not only to
their own spiritual and intellectual development, but also to the
service of others. An ordinary layman with a family cannot be
expected to devote his whole life to the service of other,
whereas a monk, who has no family responsibilities or any other
worldly ties, is in a position to devote his whole life ' for the good
of the many, for the happiness of the many' according to the
Buddha's advice. That is how in the course of history, the Buddhist
monastery became not only a spiritual center, but also a center
of learning and culture.

Venerable Prof. Dr Walpola Sri Rahula Maha Thera


( ဆရာေတာ္ ေဒါက္တာ ဝါလ္ပိုလာရာဟုလာ၏ "WHAT THE BUDDHA
TAUGHT" စာအုပ္မွ ကူးယူေဖာ္ျပပါသည္)