The Sangha Treasure

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 08/28/2022 - From the Mahayana teaching The Uttaratantra Shastra - The Sangha Treasure - Shugen Roshi encourages us to look deeply and realize the three treasures as our own nature, our own body and mind. And although we manifest them (how we relate to the ancestors, how we receive the teachings, how we practice, how we gather together as a community, etc.) in terms particular to the Buddhist path, when we truly take refuge in the three treasures we are realizing them as the nature of all of humanity. No boundaries. Sangha is community. We can think of it as "the sangha of one"; i.e. you and the many beings that populate your mind and body. We can think of it as this community practicing together. Sangha is the virtue of harmony. Sangha is the Three Treasures.