Sangha
Also known as: Spiritual Community, Practice Community
Sanskrit and Pali: sangha, meaning assembly or community.
Sangha is a Buddhist and broader Indian spiritual term for a community of practitioners who support one another's practice through shared commitment, accountability, and companionship. Traditionally referring to the monastic community founded by the Buddha, the term is now also used more broadly for any committed meditation community.
In Buddhism, Sangha is one of the Three Jewels, alongside the Buddha, the teacher, and the Dharma, the teaching, reflecting the tradition's view that a supportive community is not incidental to practice but one of its essential supports. Contemporary research on meditation and group support consistently finds that people are more likely to sustain a regular practice within a community than in isolation, echoing this traditional emphasis on shared practice.
Sangha was originally one of the three jewels of Buddhism, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, referring specifically to the monastic community, though contemporary usage has broadened it to describe any committed community of practitioners supporting one another's path. Research on habit formation and behavior change consistently finds social accountability and shared practice significantly increase follow-through compared to solitary effort, a modern, secular echo of why community has always been considered a pillar of contemplative practice rather than an optional add-on.
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Related Terms
Satsang
Satsang is a gathering held in the company of a spiritual teacher or community for the shared exploration of truth, typically through dialogue, silence, and direct pointing to the nature of awareness. In the nondual traditions, it is less a lecture than a live inquiry into present-moment experience.
Guru
A guru is a teacher in Indian spiritual tradition who has direct, lived realization of the teaching they transmit and who guides a student's spiritual development through instruction, example, and relationship over time. The term is traditionally reserved for a teacher of significant depth, used more carefully than its casual modern use.