Luang Por Liem: The Ways of the Peaceful - Wat Pah Nanachat

person that is accomplished and pure in the qualities and virtues
of a true Sangha member.
Speaking of ‘Sangha’; it is worth mentioning that Sangha
doesn’t have anything to do with specific, individual monks.
When speaking about the Sangha in its conventional sense
(sammuti-sangha), the Buddha didn’t refer to certain monks.
Sammuti-sangha merely means a group of four or more monks; a
sufficient number to be able to perform communal duties. This is
one way the Buddha defined ‘Sangha’. But in what the Buddha
called the ariya-sangha, the group of the Noble Enlightened
Beings, the word ‘Sangha’ is related to their realisations of the
Dhamma. In that context the Buddha did refer to certain
individuals: those that no longer fall under the power of the
Worldly Dhammas, or those that are not prone to agati and
therefore progress with right practice – namely: those who walk
the Middle Way. The Middle Way doesn’t follow the course of
Worldly Dhammas. These are the paths of householders and
ordinary unenlightened beings. If our behaviour is not yet
accomplished in the Dhamma, there will always be elements of
agati. So in this matter of changing one’s behaviour, what we
should do is have a look at ourselves and evaluate our own
feelings. Observing other people can take us far away from
relating to ourselves in a way where we can see the Dhamma.
This is an interesting aspect of Dhamma: how is it possible
that good and bad feelings arise, or happiness and suffering?
Happiness, according to our way of thinking, is positive, and for
us who haven’t yet reached the level where one truly feels
content, anything that is dukkha is undesirable. But those who are
accomplished and free from the mind states of worldly,
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