Community Life; Sangha (Buddhism); Refuge (Buddhism); other, the
摘要
In my response to Rosemary Ruether's outline of the numerous types of community found in Christianity and her longer exposition of liberation-feminist church, I will not attempt a similar survey. Instead I will focus on the thesis that community is far more central in Buddhism and far more crucial to achieving Buddhism's goal of liberation from suffering than is commonly perceived either by Buddhists or non-Buddhists. "Safigha," the community, along with the Buddha, as model, and the Dharma, the teachings, constitute the three Refuges. These three refuges are so basic to Buddhism that the transition from being a non-Buddhist to being a Buddhist is made by "going for refuge" to these three. Nevertheless, both in academic and dharmic presentations of Buddhism, the Safgha often seems to come in a poor third, with far more attention being paid to the Buddha and the Dharma. My comments are a critique of that slighting of Safigha and an exploration of what Sanigha is and should be in Buddhism.
