signifies friendship in the Dharma: whether between more experienced and less so or between those of more or less equal experience. Teacher and pupil should be friends – the Dharma can only truly be taught and practised in this context. Friendship is a rich and highly desirable human experience that is made all the more precious by being practised in the context of the Dharma. It has a number of components: shared values and ideals, deep sympathy and liking, mutual knowledge and understanding, cooperation and helping one another, and faithfulness. The quality that makes it possible is communication – which is more than the mere exchange of information: it is a mutual awareness and responsiveness, which can take one very far indeed beyond self-attachment. Indeed communication and friendship are among the most powerful Dharma methods we have – as well as being among the most important and delightful fruits of Dharma practice. The experience of friendship and the development of communication are the basis for Sangha. Although organisation is vitally important for the spreading of the Dharma, organisation is secondary to friendship and Sangha. Organisations will only be Dharmically effective if they are formed out of Sangha. The very active work that is needed to make the Dharma much more widely known in the modern world needs to be done on the basis of Sangha in a spirit of friendship. SPIRITUAL COMMITMENT NOT LIFESTYLE IS THE TEST OF SANGHA
Throughout the Buddhist world, the principal distinction within the community is between monastics and householders. But this is not really the most important issue. The key question is the degree to which an individual Goes for Refuge to the Three Jewels – to what extent they are genuinely committed to the Buddhist Path. We have
27 / GOING FOR REFUGE TO THE SANGHA