Sangha

Also called: Buddhist sangha · Topic: Buddhism, Jainism and Heterodox Traditions · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 7 "India's Cultural Roots"; Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"

Meaning

The sangha was the community of Buddhist monks, and later also nuns, that the Buddha founded. Its members lived on alms, followed shared rules, and taught the dhamma (the Buddha's teaching). In the wider sense, the word covers four groups: monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen [2].

It matters because the sangha spread Buddhism to new places. It also tried something new for its time: inside it, a person's birth, caste and wealth did not count.

Explanation

Background: why the sangha was set up, and why it grew

• People were unhappy with the religion of their day. Sacrifices were costly, and priests had a lot of control.
• Society was changing fast (c. 6th century BCE onward):
• New cities, coins, trade and kingdoms appeared.

• Old beliefs no longer felt certain, and many people were confused.

• Buddhism valued conduct over birth. A person was judged by what they did and believed, not by the family they were born into. This drew in traders, craftspeople and people of low birth.

• Kindness was at the centre of the teaching. It stressed:
• mettā (fellow feeling)

• karuṇā (compassion), especially for the young and the weak.

• The sangha spread the faith. Monks did not only learn. They were also teachers of dhamma, and they took it from place to place.

Main features: who joined and how they lived

• Part of the basic creed. The sangha is one part of the Threefold Refuge: Buddha, dhamma and sangha [2]. A follower says they "take refuge" in these three.
• Joining happened in two steps [2]:
• pabbajja (lower ordination): the person gives up worldly life and enters as a novice (beginner).

• upasampada (higher ordination): the person formally becomes a full monk.

• Monks lived simply. They owned only what they needed. Their key item was a bowl to receive food once a day from the laity (ordinary householders).

• The name bhikkhu. Monks lived on alms* (food given freely), so they were called bhikkhus***, meaning "those who beg" or "those who share".
• Followers came from every level of society:
• kings, the rulers of the new mahajanapadas (large states);
• wealthy men and gahapatis (heads of households who owned land and wealth);

• humbler people: workers, slaves and craftspeople.

• Everyone was equal inside the sangha. New members left their earlier social identity behind. This broke sharply with the varna order, where a person's rank came from birth.

How it worked: rules and decision-making

• Its working rules came from the gaṇas and saṁghas. These were the republics of the time, where a group of chiefs ruled together.
• How decisions were made:
• First, members discussed a matter and tried to reach consensus (everyone agreeing).

• If consensus failed, the matter was settled by a vote.

• The Vinaya Pitaka gave detailed rules for daily life. For example:

• A new felt blanket had to be kept for at least six years. This stopped needless buying.
• A monk could accept at most two or three bowlfuls of food, and had to share it.

• Bedding had to be put away before leaving a place.

• What these rules show: the community was built on simple living, on not piling up goods, and on members taking responsibility for one another.

Change over time: women join the sangha

• At first, only men were allowed in.
• Women were admitted later. Ānanda, one of the Buddha's dearest disciples, spoke up for them.
• Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the Buddha's foster mother, became the first bhikkhunī (woman monk).
• Many women became teachers of dhamma. Some became theris ("respected women"), meaning women who had reached liberation (freedom from rebirth and suffering).
• Buddhist texts agree that the Buddha first allowed only men and later let women take vows. The women's order never grew as large as the men's [2].

Time, place and evidence

• Period: c. 6th century BCE onward, in the age of the mahajanapadas, new cities and trade.
• Political setting: the sangha's way of working copied the gaṇa–saṁgha republics of that time.
• Key people:
• the Buddha, who founded the sangha;
• Ānanda, who spoke up for women's entry;
• Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the first bhikkhunī;

• Punna, a dāsī (slave) water-carrier whose verse appears in the Therigāthā.

• How we know about it (texts):

• The Vinaya Pitaka: the rules for monastic life and for the daily affairs of monks and nuns, said to come from the Buddha. It is the oldest and smallest of the three parts of the Pali Tipiṭaka ("Triple Basket") [3].

• The Therigāthā: a collection of verses composed by bhikkhunīs. It belongs to the Sutta Pitaka and, within it, to the Khuddaka Nikaya ("Short Collection"). The Khuddaka Nikaya is the fifth and last section of the Sutta Pitaka and holds the main poetic works of the Pali canon [4][5].

  • About 100 nuns speak in it. The paired Theragāthā has verses by 264 monks [4].
  • The verses use about 30 different metres (rhythm patterns) and tell us a lot about the position of women in ancient India [4].
  • Punna made fun of a Brahmana who was bathing in a river to wash away his sins. If water could free people from evil, she said, "all the frogs and turtles would go to heaven, and so would the water snakes and crocodiles!" Her point was that ritual alone does not make a person pure. It also matters that a slave woman is the one arguing with a Brahmana.

• NCERT: Class 6, Ch 7 "India's Cultural Roots"; Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings".

Don't confuse with

• Gaṇa / saṁgha (republics): these were political states ruled by a group of chiefs. The Buddhist sangha was a religious order that only borrowed their methods of discussion and voting.
• Vinaya Pitaka vs Sutta Pitaka: the Vinaya holds the rules for monks and nuns and is the oldest and smallest basket [3]. The Therigāthā is in the Sutta Pitaka (Khuddaka Nikaya), not in the Vinaya [4][5].
• Therigāthā vs Theragāthā: the Therigāthā has verses by nuns (about 100). The Theragāthā has verses by monks (264) [4].
• Pabbajja vs upasampada: pabbajja is the lower ordination (novice). Upasampada is the higher ordination (full monk) [2].

Prelims Hooks

• First bhikkhunī = Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the Buddha's foster mother. Women were admitted through Ānanda.
• Threefold Refuge = Buddha + dhamma + sangha. In the wide sense, the sangha = monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen [2].
• Sangha decisions: consensus through discussion first, then a vote if consensus fails. This was modelled on the gaṇas and *saṁghas*.
• Vinaya rules: keep a felt blanket for at least six years; accept at most two or three bowlfuls of food and share it; put bedding away before leaving.
• Therigāthā → Khuddaka Nikaya → Sutta Pitaka. The Khuddaka Nikaya is the fifth and last section [4][5]. Trap: it is not in the Vinaya Pitaka.
• Punna, a dāsī water-carrier, made the "frogs and turtles" jibe against ritual bathing.

Mains Points

• A social experiment, not just a religious order.
• Kings, gahapatis, craftspeople, workers and slaves all joined, and their old social identities were dropped inside the sangha. This stood against the birth-based varna order.

• The limit: this equality held only inside the sangha. Outside it, the old order carried on.

• Politics shaped religion; women got a real opening, but with limits.

• The sangha's system of consensus with a vote as fallback came from the gaṇa–saṁgha republics. This shows that a heterodox faith took its form of organisation from the political experiments of its time.

• Women needed Ānanda's help to get in, and their order stayed smaller [2]. Yet the Therigāthā preserves about 100 nuns' own voices [4], the earliest body of women's writing in South Asia. The best way to describe this is partial access, not full equality.

• Why it spread: link the causes to the setting.

• The second urbanisation brought new cities, trade and coins, and costly sacrificial religion began to feel empty.
• Buddhism's focus on conduct over birth, together with mettā and karuṇā, suited the new urban groups: traders, artisans and gahapatis.
• These groups paid for monasteries. Monks, as teachers, carried the dhamma along trade routes.

Related concepts

• Triratna of Buddhism
• Bhikshu and bhikshuni
• Majjhima Nikaya
• Ananda
• Mahapajapati Gotami
• Therigatha

Read more

• The sangha and its followers