"Holy" People
We might think of sangha as a bunch of monks or nuns sitting around, just being good. Like that…. “Holy beings.” However this idea only lasts a short time. When we really get to know monks and nuns, we think, ‘Oh, that guy wears dirty socks. She farts. She doesn’t prostrate properly’. I take refuge in the sangha, but not that person.” Like that. So, this is a superficial understanding of sangha. The “AHA” comes when we realize that there is a universal sangha. In other words, we can say from a Christian view, that maybe there is a heavenly sangha. This heavenly sangha is not limited by the grossness of the body. They do not have to be in human form. In some ways, we already think of ourselves as sangha – the White Conch sangha. The “AHA” comes again when we realize the continuity of saints which goes from a smaller human sangha of practitioners all the way to the transformed, transcendent enlightened sangha. The enlightened sangha is the proof of the pudding! If Buddha’s teachings