..续本文上一页mmunity leadership where and when their specific services are required. They also give counsel, especially in matters related to religion and spirituality, to the lay community and help maintain peace and harmony in society. But these may be considered natural ramifications of their foremost duties to study and practice the Dhamma, and to attain the highest liberation, which is Nibbana.

　　Monks and novices lead a different life-style from that of laymen. They live in monasteries in an environment especially structured for scriptural studies and religious training. They follow strict rules of conduct, much more numerous and detailed than those of lay devotees. They sacrifice the life of comfort and pleasure of a layman for the life of austerity and service of a monastic order. Such a sacrifice calls for a deep sense of self-negation, altruism, and compassion. It is a life dedicated to personal enlightenment as well as social well-being.

　　Despite their different way of life, however, monastic members do not cut themselves off entirely from the mainstream of society. Although social interaction and participation is limited, there is enough to maintain a certain level of cooperation between them and the laity. In Thailand, a strong Buddhist country, the Department of Religious Affairs within the Ministry of Education provides a regular channel of communications between the Sangha and the state. His Majesty the King, himself a devout Buddhist, and the Royal Family take a strong interest in religious affairs. They are an important factor for the growth and prosperity of the religion in the country.

　　Buddhism and God

　　The concept of God is not common to all religions. Even in theistic religions, ideas about God and his attributes differ from one religious tradition to another, giving rise to conflicts as to whose God is the one and true God. Of course, each claims its God to be the only one, but that has hardly solved the problem.

　　Buddhism has been defined as a non-theistic religion. Some scholars do not agree with this definition, pointing to Dhamma, the eternally universal principle, as an impersonal God. This is rather a matter of interpretation. But all Buddhists unanimously agree that the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, collectively called the Triple Gem, are the objects of supreme veneration.

　　The Buddha, the historical personality who lived almost 2,600 years ago, is the founder of the religion; the Dhamma, as the objective manifestation of Truth, is his teachings; and the Sangha is the Holy Order of noble disciples who realized the Truth after the Buddha.

　　As a person, the Buddha is the embodiment of all virtues, having discovered the Dhamma or Truth. One can attain to the same state of enlightenment by walking the path of Dhamma. The Sangha are those who have traveled the path of spiritual practice by following the Buddha”s teachings, have realized the Dhamma, and are therefore in a position to help others along the same spiritual path.

　　In essence the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha are one and the same. The sole element that constitutes the quality of being the Buddha and the Sangha is none other than the Dhamma itself. Just as a person is not a physician simply on account of his being a person, but rather by virtue of having certain qualities, such as knowledge in medicine and the ability to cure diseases, even so one is not a Buddha because of one”s birth into a certain royal family, but rather on the condition of having attained the quality of Buddhahood, which is the Dhamma. The same is true with regard to the Sangha, the difference being that the Buddha was the first to discover the Dhamma, while the Sangha became enlightened by walking the spiritual path after him.

　　It was the Buddha who first realized the Dhamma…

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