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The Sangha in Buddhist History1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

D. N. De L. Young
Affiliation:
Lecturer in Comparative Religion in the University of Manchester

Extract

Of all the distinctive features of the Buddhist religion, one of the most neglected is the sangha. Scholars give much attention to the study of texts and commentaries, the analysis of doctrines and the classification of schools. But the core of the Buddhist religion is the sangha, the community of bhikkhus around whose corporate life the religion is moulded. It is the existence and structure of the sangha which has shaped the history of Buddhism, enabled it to take root in new countries, and given it the customs and rituals which have made it a religion rather than a small sect.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1970

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References

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page 244 note 1 Vinaya, i. 7.

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