19. Unity in the Sangha (ITI19)

This was said by the Lord…

“There is one thing, bhikkhus, which, when it appears in the world, appears for the welfare of many people, for the happiness of many people, for the good, welfare, and happiness of devas and humans. What is that one thing? It is unity in the Sangha. When the Sangha is united there are no mutual quarrels, mutual recriminations, mutual denigrations, and mutual expulsions. In this situation those who are unsympathetic are converted and those who are sympathetic increase in faith.”

Pleasant is unity in the Sangha.
One who helps those in unity,
Who delights in unity and is righteous,
Is not deprived of security from bondage.
By making the Sangha united
He rejoices in heaven for an aeon.

Translated from the Pali by John D. Ireland.

Digital Transcription Source: BPS Transcription Project

Extracted from The Udāna & the Itivuttaka, translated and introduced by John D. Ireland. Published in 1997.

The complete book, including introduction and notes by the translator, is available from the Buddhist Publication Society.

ISBN 955–24-0164-X

Copyright © 1997 by John D. Ireland.

This text has been made available by the kind permission of the Buddhist Publication Society. It was released under the following licence terms:

For free distribution. This work may be republished, reformatted, reprinted and redistributed in any medium. However, any such republication and redistribution is to be made available to the public on a free and unrestricted basis, and translations and other derivative works are to be clearly marked as such.

Buddhist Publication Society P.O. Box. 61 54, Sangharaja Mawatha Kandy, Sri Lanka

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.