The Foundations of Buddhism

The Buddhist Community 103

'Householders continually provide you with gifts of material

goods, and in return you must· provide them with the gift of

Dharma. '^45 To an extent just living the life of a monk is a teach-

ing in itself, a gift of Dharma to society. But the Sangha'& gift of

Dharma is conceived in broader terms.

As a 'field of merit' the Sangha is under some obligation

simply to make itself available to the laity. One of the principal

ways in which the Vinaya brings this about is by requiring monks

to receive food from the laity every day. Moreover, the Vinaya

stipulates that the Sangha is normally bound to accept the laity's

invitations, especially when a building or land is being offered

to the Sangha, or when a lay follower has built a new house, gets

married, or dies. In such circumstances the Sangha should send

some representative. A monk's presence on such occasions has

the effect of rendering them auspicious; they become opportun-

ities for acts of merit. In the first place a monk can be offered

food and simply act as a field of merit, but they became, and in

the countries of Theravada Buddhism continue to be, primary

occasions for members of the Sangha to offer the· gift of Dharma

to the laity by preaching the Dharma directly to them and
chanting 'blessings of protection' (rak#ilparitta) to ward off the
dangers of accident and disease (see pp. 168-9). It should be noted
in this context, however, that the Buddhist monk does not tra-
ditionally act as a 'priest' on these occasions: marriages and

funerals do not involve rituals or 'sacraments' that require the

participation of an ordained member of the Sangha to consecrate
them.^46 Again blessings chanted by the laity are still effective,
although, in line with the kind of thinking outlined above, those
chanted by a group of spiritually accomplished monks are likely
to be considered more auspicious and potent.

For a member of the Sangha, the basis of merit that consists

in ethical conduct centres on his following the prescriptions
of the Vinaya, and this I have already discussed. What of the

Sangha's practice of 'meditation'? In the ancient period it is

tempting to associate serious devotion to the practice of medita-·

tion with the forest-dwelling tradition, but not all 'forest-dwellers'

lived in the remote jungle, and (as our story illustrated) it is not