Saṃgha (or saṅgha) is a common noun meaning "multitude" or "assemblage" in Sanskrit, Pali, and the various prakrit languages. Buddhists have adopted the word to describe their religious community; followers of Jainism and other contemporary religious groups also use the term in this sense.

The Buddhist saṃgha consists of four "assemblies" (Skt., pariṣad; Pali, parisā); they are the monks (bhikṣu; Pali, bhikkhu), the nuns (bhikṣuṇī; Pali, bhikkhunī, the male lay followers (upāsaka), and the female lay followers (upāsikā). Jain sources also include a similar wider understanding of the term "fourfold saṃgha." In the narrower sense of the word, saṃgha refers to the community of monks and nuns only.

The first Buddhist saṃgha was established by the Buddha himself, Siddhārtha Gautama (c. 563–c. 483 BCE), when he accepted as his disciples five men before whom he...