Turning to society at large, the Buddha sets out basic social relationships in terms of different classes of people, such as between friends, between employer and employee, teacher and pupil and monk and layman.

The Buddha places special emphasis on the relationship between the Buddhist monk and householder. The bhikku or the Buddhist monk is not an intermediary between the laity and a higher spiritual being such as a god or a deity. The monk is a person who has left the household life to practice the teaching of the Buddha and to help to sustain the teaching, to keep it alive in the world.

The Buddha teaches that these two have to co-operate to preserve and to propagate the Dhamma, to make the liberating truth available in the world. For this, each has a set of obligations to the other.

The laity should provide the material needs of the Sangha. The monks do not work at a job; they are not expected to be earning money and buying things. They live in dependence on others for their material requisites. Hence the layman has to provide them with their material needs, to show them respect and encourage them in their effort to practice and teach Dhamma.

The monks in turn, on the basis of their knowledge and experience, should teach the laity, guide them and advise them to practice the Dhamma. The monk also has a duty to give the layman opportunities for more intensive practice of Dhamma, so that both will be able to cross Samsara and reach the far shore of Nibbana.

Specific duties laid down by Buddha between monk and layman are as follows:

Layman towards Monk:

1.Do lovable deeds.
2.Speak lovable words.
3.Think lovable thoughts.
4.Be hospitable towards them.
5.Supply their material needs.

Monk towards Layman:

1.Restrain him from evil.
2.Persuade him to do good.
3.Love him with a kind heart.
4.Teach him what he has not learned before.
5.Clarify what is not clear to him.
6.Point out the path to a heavenly state.