Sangha

The Sangha in Metta Tantra is not exclusively the celibates that wear robes of various shades of khaki, orange or burgundy, though those these people are included in the definition. The Sangha in Metta Tantra is everyone who has ever taught us something, even if what they have taught us is how not to do something and our fellow Dhamma practitioners. Thus your parents, friends, lovers, your children (if you have them) the perfectionist arsehole who rode your ass until you did your job properly are Sangha. So are people like Krishnamurti, Osho, and the author of your favourite manuals of sexual athletics and the person you practice this Tantra with.

This clearly has precious little in common with what traditional Theravada practices. For traditional Theravada the definition of Sangha begins and ends with a group of people who are aberrant at best. One reason why I left traditional Theravada, apart from my Metta running out of places to go, was the functional deification of people who did little more than pursue their own self interests in the form of solitude and meditation and would opine on subjects that they genuinely had no clue about. Frequently skilled and qualified at nothing more than an inability to function normally, these people are treated like Gods and Goddesses. Their opinions, no matter how ill-informed or plain silly are viewed with an utterly disproportionate respect. Some members of the monastic Sangha are worthy of supporting and paying respect to, not a lot and it is up to you to decide which ones you have in mind when you do the traditional chanting that Metta Tantra encourages the use of.

In Metta Tantra we pay respect where it is due and frequently earned. If Krishnamurti and the other Teachers, most of whom I haven’t read yet (I intend to), were completely full of shit and their teachings unworkable, then they wouldn’t be as popular as they are...decades after their deaths. Thus these teachers are included in a definition of Sangha in this Tantra.
This is who and what we pay respect to when we chant our respect to the Sangha and not just a group of celibates who have, an at times childish sense of self entitlement. So if you want to place photo’s of these Teachers on your altar, there is no reason why you shouldn’t.