All Buddhists pay respect to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. The Buddha is the person who discovered and taught the Dharma, which is the Buddhist path. The people who follow the The Buddhist way is the Sangha, which is the Buddhist community. Some people follow the Dharma and want to dedicate their lives to it. Many of them become monks. This is because the monks do not have to worry about other things, like their family or career in the monasteries. Instead, they can dedicate themselves to understanding and following the Dharma. The Buddha, however, did not want to separate the monks from society. He wanted the monks to be involved in their community. The monks, therefore, perform important ceremonies and teach the Dharma to the people. The people are grateful to the monks because of their teaching and, in return, are careful to feed and look after them properly. In this way, everyone follows the Buddhist path: the monks help the people and support the monks. However, the way Buddhism is followed is not exactly the same in every society. This is because religions are influenced by the communities in which they are practiced. Before any differences began to appear in Buddhism, people had been following it in different societies for many years. Hinduism, however, has influenced Buddhism from the time of the Buddha, because previously people had been following Hinduism in the Buddha's own society. However, all Buddhists in every community pay respect to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.