Buddha, Sangha & Dharma
On the Spiritual path there are three factors: Buddha, the Master or the presence of the Enlightened, Sangha, the commune or the group, and Dharma, your true nature. Life blossoms naturally when there is a balance among these three.
The Buddha or Master is a doorway. When you are out in the street in hot sun or if you are stuck in rain and thunder, you feel the need for a shelter or a doorway. Once you come to the doorway and enter the door, the world looks so much more beautiful; it is a place filled with love, joy, cooperation, compassion and all virtues. Looking through the doorway there is no fear. From inside your home, you can look at the thunder, you can look at the storm and the bright sun too; yet be relaxed as you are in the shelter. Such a sense of security, fullness and joy comes. That is the purpose of having a Master.
The second factor is Sangha, the group. The group is very charming from a distance, but the closer you get, it pushes all your buttons and brings out all the unwanted elements from within you. When you are totally part of that group, you will find that some bickering will come up. But you are the one who makes the group – so if you are good, your group will also be good. Sangha has a reverse nature to Buddha.
Buddha makes your mind one-pointed; Sangha, because it is of so many people, can scatter your mind, fragment it. Once you are used to it, it loses its charm. This is the nature of Sangha. Still it is very supportive. If it were repulsive all the time, then nobody would be part of the Sangha.
Do not crave or be averse. Often you crave for Buddha and are averse to the Sangha, and you try to change; but by changing Sangha or Buddha, you are not going to change.
The main purpose is to come to the centre deep within you, which means to find your Dharma. This is the third factor. What is Dharma? The Dharma is to be in the middle. Not going to the extremes is your nature. Your nature is to be in balance, to smile from the depth of your heart, to accept this entire existence totally as it is. Knowing that this moment is what has been offered to me, and that is how I take it. A sense of deep acceptance for this moment, for every moment, is Dharma.
When this comes up then there is no problem at all. All the problems generate from our mind; all negativity comes in from our mind. The world is not bad; we make our world ugly or beautiful. So when you are in your Dharma, in your nature, you will not blame the world and you will not blame the Divine.
The difficulty of the human mind is that it cannot be part of the world totally, and it cannot be part of the Divine as well. It feels a distance from the Divine. Dharma is that which puts you in the middle and makes you comfortable with the world. It allows you to contribute to the world, be at ease with the Divine, and feel that you are a part of the Divine. That is true Dharma.