as communities of monks, sometimes even including
members of the same nikaya. As for the historical
tantric communities, they are also largely an object of
speculation. Ronald Davidson has suggested tribal ori-
gins for some of them. It is likely that some tantric
san ̇ghas formed around charismatic tantric masters
(vajracarya) and held ritual meetings (ganacakra) and
other rites as a group. David Gellner has shown that
such groups still exist amongst the Newar Buddhists
of Nepal.
Modern Buddhist communities
There has been a tendency in European writing since
the end of the colonial period to associate Buddhist
san ̇ghas with the emergence and legitimization of the
nation-state. Thus it is customary to talk about the
Thai san ̇gha, Burmese san ̇gha, Tibetan Buddhists, Chi-
nese Buddhists, and so on. While this approach clearly
has some descriptive value, it is misleading if it sug-
gests a basic change from earlier nikayastructure. For
example, in modern Sri Lanka the three nikayasare di-
vided on the basis of caste and do not cross each other’s
boundaries; in Tibet nikayasare divided on the basis
of regions, monastic colleges, or sects that may have
strong antipathy to each other. Nevertheless, it is clear
that for the majority of Buddhists in those countries
such differences do not preclude the various commu-
nities from being perceived as equally authentic Bud-
dhist san ̇ghas; taken together in an undifferentiated
manner, each san ̇gha is esteemed as highly as the ide-
alized community of the eight noble beings itself.
Among new converts to Buddhism in Western
countries there are widely differing views about what
a Buddhist san ̇gha entails. It is probably best under-
stood as any group that meets together and that is
joined by a shared Buddhist faith, or any group linked
by its members’ devotion to a particular Buddhist
teacher. The British founder of the Friends of the West-
ern Buddhist Order is particularly insistent that his
group’s Aristotelian friendship between members of
the same sex is what makes his an authentic Buddhist
community. Groups strongly influenced by Western
Christian notions define the san ̇gha as a group with a
shared level of commitment to social action.
See also:Councils, Buddhist
Bibliography
Conze, Edward, ed. and trans. The Large Sutra on Perfect Wis-
dom, with the Divisions of the Abhisamayalan ̇kara.Berkeley
and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1975.
Davidson, Ronald. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of
the Tantric Movement.New York: Columbia University
Press, 2003.
Gellner, David N. Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar
Buddhism and Its Hierarchy of Ritual.Cambridge, UK: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1992.
Horner, I. B., trans. The Book of the Discipline (Vinaya Pitaka),
6 vols. London: Pali Text Society, 1938–1966.
Prebish, Charles. Buddhist Monastic Discipline: The Sanskrit
Pratimoksa Sutras of the Mahasamghikas and Mulasarvasti-
vadins.University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press,
1975.
GARETHSPARHAMSANJIE JIAO (THREE STAGES SCHOOL)The Sanjie jiao (Three “Levels” or “Stages”) movement
begun by the Chinese monk Xinxing (540–594 C.E.) is
perhaps best known because its teachings and practices
were suppressed as heretical numerous times over the
two-hundred-plus years of its history. Banned from the
official scriptural canon as apocryphal (weijing), San-
jie writings were lost until discoveries of numerous
manuscripts at DUNHUANGand elsewhere in the early
twentieth century. In spite of opposition, the move-
ment remained popular for several centuries, attract-
ing the aristocracy as well as throngs of commoners.
The movement takes its name from its central
teaching, which divides SENTIENT BEINGSinto three
levels of spiritual capacity: the “wise, the in-between,
and the stupid,” as the Wei-Shu(eighth century) put
it. Xinxing taught that the people of his era were en-
tirely of the third level, blinded by prejudice and ha-
tred and therefore incapable of a correct understanding
of the Buddha’s teachings. Whereas sentient beings of
superior capacity could benefit from the varied teach-
ings of the different schools (biefa), the degenerate be-
ings of the third level needed to rely on the universal
teachings (pufa) of ultimate truth that transcend dis-
tinctions of truth and falsity, purity and impurity.
Xinxing was also influenced by the doctrine of the DE-
CLINE OF THE DHARMA, according to which people’s ca-
pacity for practice decreases as the time from the
historical Buddha increases.
Equally important for Xinxing was the doctrine of
universal buddha-nature or TATHAGATAGARBHA. This
teaching asserts that all sentient beings are fundamen-
tally of the same nature as the fully awakened buddha
and will one day realize that nature. From these doc-
trines came the Sanjie practice of “recognizing the evil”SANJIEJIAO(THREESTAGESSCHOOL)