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Taking Refuge in the Sangha

Thich Nhat Hanh · January 13, 2000 · Plum Village, France

Quietly rolling up her sleeves to wash the dishes after coming home from a day’s work, not out of obligation but out of simple, silent love, caring for the household and for the small sangha called family. When each person cooks rice or washes dishes as a way of caring for themselves and for the sangha, the happiness of husband, wife, and children is also one’s own happiness—there is no longer any distinction between work and responsibility. The future of the individual is small compared to the vast future of the sangha, where each member is ready to do what no one has done before, to nurture a shared dream and to help countless living beings.

The image of the wild geese evokes the sangha with its natural wisdom and harmony:

Each goose stretches its neck forward, feet tucked back, flying like an arrow.
Communication and transmission are smooth; they turn together in unison, without confusion.
Each individual is fully present, relying on the community to complete the journey of thousands of kilometers.

Practicing taking refuge in the sangha is to let go of personal boundaries; afflictions fall away by 80–90%, because when the separate self dissolves and merges into the sangha, the mass of sorrow, anger, fear, and jealousy also disappears. Preserving the three bodies:

Buddha body
Dharma body
Sangha body
is a way of living in harmony, lightness, and inclusiveness, taking refuge in the Three Jewels on the path of liberation.

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