Sangha

 승가 승단

"Sangha" has two meanings: the fourfold Buddhist community in a wider sense and the Buddhist community of ordained monks and nuns in a narrower sense. Here, we fill focus on the latter. The Buddha advised many people on ways to avoid being distracted from following the spiritual path. One was to have spiritual friends and a group of spiritual friends named the Sangha. The Sangha's importance is explained in the Upaddha Sutta. Ven. Ananda said to the Buddha, 
"This is half of the holy life, World-Honored-One - admirable friendship."

The Buddha replied, "Don't say that... Admirable friendship is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk has admirable people as friends... he can be expected to develop and practice the Noble Eightfold Path."
 

​- excerpt from Buddhist English (Elementary 1) published in 2014 by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism​​​