Sangha

Sangha (Pali: सङ्घ saṅgha; Sanskrit: संघ saṃgha; Chinese: 僧伽; pinyin: Sēngjiā; Tibetan: དགེ་འདུན་ dge 'dun) is a word in Pali and Sanskrit meaning "association", "assembly," "company" or "community" and most commonly refers in Buddhism to the monastic community of ordained Buddhist monks or nuns. This community is traditionally referred to as the bhikkhu-sangha or bhikkhuni-sangha. As a separate category, those who have attained any of the four stages of enlightenment, whether or not they are members of the bhikkhu-sangha or bhikkhuni-sangha, are referred to as the ariya-sangha or "noble Sangha".

The Sangha according to Theravada does not refer to the community of lay followers, nor the community of Buddhists as a whole.

Definitions

In a glossary of Buddhist terms, Richard Robinson et al. define Sangha as:

Some lay practitioners in the West these days use the word "Sangha" as a collective term for all Buddhists, but the Pali Canon uses the word parisā (Sanskrit, parisad) for the larger Buddhist community — the monks, nuns, lay men, and lay women who have taken the Three Refuges — reserving ‘Sangha’ for a more restricted use.”

Jain community

The Jains in India are the last direct representatives of the ancient Śramaṇa tradition. They follow Jainism, the religion taught by the twenty-four propagators of faith called tirthankaras.

Sangha

Jainism has a fourfold order of male monastics (muni), female monastics (aryika), Śrāvaka (layman) and sravika (laywoman). This order is known as a sangha.

Cultural influence

The Jains have higher literacy rate, 94.1.% compared with the national average of 65.38%. They have the higher female literacy rate, 90.6.% compared with the national average of 54.16%. It is believed that the Jains also have the Higher per capita income in India. Jain community though very small in numbers, contributes a significant percent of Income tax revenue of India.

Communities

There are about 110 different Jain communities in India and overseas. They can be divided into six groups based on historical and current residence.

Central India

Western India

Sangha Department (Republic of the Congo)

Sangha is a department of the Republic of the Congo in the northern part of the country. It borders the departments of Cuvette, Cuvette-Ouest, and Likouala, and internationally, Cameroon, Gabon and the Central African Republic. The regional capital is Ouésso. Principal towns include Sembé and Souanké.

Sangha is divided into one commune and five districts:

External links