Sangha: The Ideal World Community Ajahn Prayudh Payutto

Sangha means Community (Amaranatho)

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The Real Mission of the Sangha 

There is no doubt that peace and freedom are the supreme goals of Buddhism. Both of them are synonyms of Nibbana or Nirvana. Peace can be realized, and freedom can be achieved, if the Sangha of monks exerts itself unfalteringly to maintain and universalize the Noble Sangha of disciples.

Freedom is threefold or can be distinguished at three levels. First, people should enjoy the basic freedom of life in absence of the fundamental insecurities and dangers that threaten their existence, such as poverty, diseases and calamities like drought and famine. Without the minimum of this basic freedom, no one can proceed to enjoy any other more sublime freedom. At the second level is social freedom, in absence of human oppression and exploitation. Included here are tolerance, friendliness and benevolence. With the lack of this freedom, not to speak of the final freedom, even the basic freedom will never be realized or, if the latter has been prevailing, it will surely be lost. The third and last is the final freedom of man's inner life, that is, freedom from mental suffering and from the greed, hatred and delusion that corrupt the mind and cause people to commit all kinds of evils. With the achievement of this level of freedom, real happiness can be attained to and social freedom can be assured. It is also the firm foundation on which to work out any plan or program to overcome the basic insecurities and dangers of life, as otherwise people with corrupted mind will ever increase those dangers and insecurities.

In another classification, freedom is said to be fourfold. There, the final inner or individual freedom is divided into the two levels of emotional freedom, or freedom of the heart, and intellectual freedom, or freedom of wisdom through true knowledge. The four levels of freedom are thus distinguished as basic physical freedom, social freedom, emotional freedom and intellectual freedom.

By teaching and encouraging people to realize the three graded goals and the three phases of good as enunciated by the Buddha, the Sangha of monks works both directly and indirectly to achieve the threefold freedom.

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