Giving Yourself Away

From Karen Armstrong's biography of the Buddha (159):

"The Sangha is one of the oldest surviving voluntary institutions on earth: only the Jain order can boast a similar antiquity. It's endurance tells us something important about humanity and human life. The great empires, manned by vast armies of soldiers, have all crumbled, but the community of bhikkhus has lasted some 2,500 years... The message seems to be that it is not by protecting and defending yourself that you survivie, but by giving yourself away."