Seven Kinds of Gifts to the Sangha (Saṅghika-dāna)

(1) Offering made to the community of both bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs led by the Buddha, while He is still living.

(2) Offering made to the community of both bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs after the Parinibbāna of the Buddha.

(3) Offering made to the community of bhikkhus only.

(4) Offering made to the community of bhikkhunīs only.

(5) Offering made (with the whole Sangha in mind) to a group of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs as nominated by the Order. Such an offering is made when the donor could not afford to give offerings to all the bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs and requests the Order to nominate a certain number (he could afford to give) of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs to receive the offerings. The Sangha nominates the required number of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs and the donor makes the offerings to that group of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs (with the whole Sangha in mind).

(6) Offering made to a group of bhikkhus only (with the whole Sangha in mind) after requesting the Sangha to nominate the number he could afford to give.

(7) Offering made (with the whole of Sangha in mind) to a group of bhikkhunīs only after requesting the Sangha to nominate the number he could afford to give.

Of these seven kinds of saṅghika-dāna, it may be asked, if it is possible to make an offering of the first kind, namely, an offering made to the community of both bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs led by the Buddha, after the Parinibbāna of the Buddha. The answer is “Yes, it is possible” and the offer should be made in this manner: after placing a statue of the Buddha containing relics in front of the community of both bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs who have gathered for the ceremony, the offering should be made, saying: “I make this offering to the community of both bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs led by the Buddha”.

Having done an offering of the first kind, the question arises as to what happens to the objects of offering which was intended for the Buddha. Just as the property of the father customarily goes to the son, so too should the offerings intended for the Buddha go to the bhikkhu who does devotional duties to the Buddha or to the community of bhikkhus. Especially, if the objects offered include such materials as oil, ghee, etc. which should be utilized in offering of lights by oil lamps to the Buddha;pieces of cloth included in the offering should be made into banners and streamers to be offered in worship.

During the Buddha’s lifetime, people were generally not disposed to form attachment to, or concerning themselves with individual personalities; they had their mind bent on the Order of Bhikkhus as a whole, and thus were able to make much offering of the noble saṅghika-dāna kind. Consequently, the needs of the members of the Order were mostly met by the distributions made by the Order; they had little need to rely on lay man and lay woman donors and, therefore, had little attachment to them as ‘the donors of my monastery, the donors of my robes, etc.’ Thus, the bhikkhu could be free of bonds of attachments.