SUNDAY PUNCH 3

well versed, like the devil, in quoting the scriptures off the cuff.

But if Ranil was wrong on Angulimala, was Sajith right as to who exactly constitutes the Sangha. He seems to suffer the mistaken notion that the Sangha comprises monks as well.

Do ‘Aragalaya’s rebel monks or political monks like Muruttettuwe Ananda or farming monks like Samanthabadra or financial monks like Borelle Sirisumana or Parliamentary monks like Athuraliye Rathana or even chief monks of iconic or village temples constitute the Sangha?

Unless they have attained arahant status or become stream winners who have entered, at least, the first state of sovan, they certainly do not. They are indeed Bhikkus but are not the Sangha the Buddha held as the third refuge of all Buddhists.

The Buddha, in the Ratana Sutta or Jewel Discourse, describes the Sangha as those who have Become stream winners, one of the eight persons praised by the wise constitute four pairs (verse 6) attained Nirvana (verse 7: free from defilements, attained the deathless state) realized the Four Noble Truths (verses 8-9), and abandoned the first three fetters that bind all to samsara (verse 10: self-illusion, doubt and indulgence in meaningless rites and rituals) It makes clear, the Sangha are the monks who have followed the path of the Buddha and thus become arahants or have entered the stream and are worthy, along with the Buddha and the Dhamma as being a refuge to all Buddhists. The monks belonging to the Order of Bhikkus do not fall into this exalted category of the Sangha, as they are still not even on the path and become stream winners but mere aspirants yet to step on the first rung, sovan.

That doesn’t mean that monks are unworthy of respect. Far from it. But before the people pay due worship to the saffron robed monk, the monk must first respect the revered robe he dons.