Faith in Buddhism centers on the understanding that the Buddha is an Awakened being, on his superior role as teacher, in the truth of his Dharma ( spiritual teachings ), and in his Sangha ( community of spiritually developed followers ).

Sangha ( Pali: सन ् घ ; Sanskrit: स ं घ ; Wylie: ' dus sde ) is a word in Pali and Sanskrit meaning " association ", " assembly ," " company " or " community " and most commonly refers in Buddhism to the monastic community of ordained Buddhist monks or nuns.

Within this community those who have attained a higher level of realisation are referred to as the ariya-sangha or " noble Sangha ".

Some lay practitioners in the West these days use the word " Sangha " as a collective term for all Buddhists, but the Pali Canon uses the word parisā ( Sanskrit, parisad ) for the larger Buddhist community — the monks, nuns, lay men, and lay women who have taken the Three Refuges — reserving ‘ Sangha ’ for a more restricted use .”

The distinction between Sangha and lay persons has always been important and forms the Parisa, Buddhist community.

— were initially seen as too extreme, being liable to either upset the social values of the surrounding community or as likely to create schisms among the Sangha by encouraging monks to compete in austerity.

Some friends of the Order may have little, if any, other involvement in its activities, but friendship, Sangha and community are encouraged at all levels as essential contexts for meditation.

* Sangha, the community of the enlightened and enlightenment-seekers, who help a practicing Buddhist to do the same.

A bhikkhu has taken a vow to enter the Sangha ( Buddhist monastic community ) and is expected to obey the Patimokkha, rules of monastic conduct ( typically around 227 for a male and 311 for a female ) as set out in the Vinaya, although there are considerable local variations in the interpretations of these rules.

:" We are fortunate to be established as part of the Scottish community and wanted a tartan for our Sangha to show how much appreciation we have for the people, culture and tradition of Scotland "

* the Sangha, the community of ( at least partially ) enlightened beings, often approximated to community of monks and nuns ( Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis ).

The community that gathered at this zendo were then named the Diamond Sangha by the two.

At that time the Sangha, the community of the enlightened ones, was founded.

In Buddhism " the conventional Sangha of monks has been entrusted by the Buddha with the task of leading all people in creating the ideal world community of noble disciples or truly civilized people.

Following his departure from the San Francisco Zen Center in 1984, Baker relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico where he founded a new community known as Dharma Sangha.

Sangharaja ( Pāli: sangha religious community + raja ruler, king, or prince ) is the title given in many Theravada Buddhist countries to a senior monk who is the titular head either of a monastic fraternity ( nikaya ), or of the Sangha throughout the country.

Sangharama ( स ँ घ ा र ा म ) is a Sanskrit word meaning " temple " or " monastery ", the place, including its garden or grove, where dwells the Buddhist monastic community ( Sangha ).

* Bringing the true and proper teachings of the Buddha to the West and establishing a proper monastic community of the fully ordained Sangha here

In addition, several ancient epigraphic inscriptions found in a cave in Anuradhapura refer to Kamboja corporations and a Grand Kamboja Sangha ( community ) in ancient Sinhala, as early as the 3rd century BC.

Some members of the ideal Sangha are not ordained ; some monastics have yet to acquire the Dharma-eye ”

Abbess Vayama together with Venerables Nirodha, Seri, and Hasapanna were ordained as Bhikkhunis by a dual Sangha act of Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis in full accordance with the Pali Vinaya.

King Chulalongkorn needed a reliable person such as Vajirañana in the Sangha, and he tried to persuade him to remain in the monkhood after he would have ordained as a monk according to the custom.

He had originally ordained within a monastery recognized by the Thai Sangha, but soon left with a small following in order to create this heterodox group, which he sees as a mixture of both Therevada and Mahayana Buddhism.

" The fact that the 80th Defendant has been ordained as a monk of Thammayutika Nikai Sect ... and ... later, a monk of Maha Nikai Sect, indicates his agreement to comply with the Sangha Act, BE 2505 ( 1962 ), and the regulations of the Supreme Sangha Council.

Over the years several people have taken voice vows and members of the other monasteries have moved to Deer Park in which the ordained Sangha has been growing.

But, citing the belief that the Theravada Bhikkhuni Sangha died out centuries earlier, the Prince commanded that any Thai monk who ordained a female " is said to conduct what the Buddha has not prescribed, to revoke what the Buddha has laid down, and to be an enemy of the holy Religion ...".

The Sangha also fulfils the function of preserving the Buddha ’ s original teachings and of providing spiritual support for the Buddhist lay-community.

Before the modern era, the Bhikkhuni Sangha spread to most Buddhist countries including Burma ( also known as Myanmar ), with the notable exceptions being Tibet and Thailand.

* World Buddhist Sangha Council

* The World Buddhist Sangha Council is convened by Theravadins in Sri Lanka, with the hope of bridging differences and working together.

Buddhist clergy are often referred to as the Sangha and consists of the order of monks ( bhikshus ) and nuns ( bhikshunis ) founded by Gautama Buddha during the 5th century BC, as well as lay priests in the modern era and ngagpas of the Tibetan tradition.

On Vesākha day, devout Buddhists and followers alike are expected and requested to assemble in their various temples before dawn for the ceremonial, and honorable, hoisting of the Buddhist flag and the singing of hymns in praise of the holy triple gem: The Buddha, The Dharma ( his teachings ), and The Sangha ( his disciples ).

The August 2007 International Congress on Buddhist Women's Role in the Sangha, with the support of H. H. XIVth Dalai Lama, reinstated the Gelongma ( Dharmaguptaka vinaya bhikkhuni ) lineage, having been lost, in India and Tibet, for centuries.

Emperor Ashoka the Great erected the capital to mark the spot where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma and where the Buddhist Sangha was founded.

* 1966: The World Buddhist Sangha Council is convened by Theravadins in Sri Lanka with the hope of bridging differences and working together.

* 1967: Friends of the Western Sangha ( later Friends of the Western Buddhist Order founded by Urgyen Sangharakshita ( born Dennis Lingwood

The King also appointed the first Supreme Patriarch of Thai Buddhism, whose responsibilities included the duty of ensuring that Rama I's laws are maintained which was to ensure law and order within the Buddhist Sangha.

) From this time, Phoumi took a lively interest in the Buddhist Sangha, recognizing its potential as a propaganda organ for opposition to the Americanization of Lao society, but also as a vehicle for the propagation of Lao cultural values.

In the novel, Xuanzang is a Chinese Buddhist monk who had renounced his family to join the Sangha from childhood.

For Sangharakshita, as with other Buddhists, the factor that unites all Buddhist schools is not any particular teaching, but the act of " going for refuge " ( sarana-gamana ), which he regards " not simply as a formula but as a life-changing event " and as an ongoing " reorientation of one's life away from mundane concerns to the values embodied in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

" Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels " – meaning the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha – is considered to be what makes someone a Buddhist

* Tendai Buddhist Sangha of Australia-Tendai Sangha based in Australia

Starting in the 1950s, Syngman Rhee and others worked to further divide and weaken the Buddhist Sangha in the country.

In this form, the metaphors occur very frequently in the ancient Buddhist Texts, and here the Sangha is used more broadly to refer to either the Sangha of Bhikkhus, or the Sangha of Bhikkhunis.