V
Going for Refuge to the Sangha
The Sangha as a refuge cannot be identified with any human institution or any particular school or tradition. The Sangha Refuge is a basis for complete confidence because it consists of all those men and women down the ages who have gained transcendental insight. Only they can be fully trusted as infallible sources of guidance and example, by virtue of their having seen the way things truly are. When we say, ‘To the Sangha for Refuge I Go’, it is the Sangha of those who have attained Stream Entry or beyond, the members of the Arya or Bodhisattva Sangha, to which we are committing ourselves. In going for Refuge to the Bodhisattva or Arya Sangha, we are: • Drawing on the guidance and example of its members; • Deriving confidence that the Dharma is a true Path to Liberation because there are people who have trodden the Path and realised its goal; • Gaining inspiration to create the kind of ideal and harmonious society the Sangha represents – a pattern for all human collective life. All Buddhists today would probably share this understanding of the Sangha Jewel, at least theoretically. However, in some areas of the Buddhist world, the Sangha has come to be identified almost
23 / GOING FOR REFUGE TO THE SANGHA