The Qualities of the Sangha

An authentic member of sangha has one or more of the eight qualities of recognizing/realizing either the state of realization or the state of cessation. There are some significant technicalities here, but basically this means that one must have a direct insight or realization of emptiness. The sangha as conventional object of refuge contains all ordained sangha who are arya beings, but not yet fully enlightened buddhas. The dharma as conventional object of refuge is the scriptural dharma. Once a boddhisattva has achieved a direct realization of reality, the scriptural dharma becomes superfluous. However, even if a he/she has attained the 10th bumi, he/she still suffers from obscurations to omniscience, and does not yet possess absolute dharma. This presentation closes with a discussion of the benefits of refuge, and of what true refuge requires.

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This Sunday webcast, September 14, 2014 was sponsored anonymously.

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