Buddhist Political Thought Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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As the world’s third largest religion (with an estimated 400 million adherents), Buddhism is an important political force from Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia to Taiwan and Japan. Theological differences, however, make Buddhist political thought quite different from that of either Christianity or Islam. Those religions demand that believers bring the material world into line with a supernatural truth, producing calls for a government to tailor its policies by divine commandments, for example, to ban birth control or regulate marriage. Buddhism argues that actions flow organically from a state of being. Proper behavior is the result of being in harmony with the universe, not from consciously following a written code of laws.

The Character Of The Ruler

Applied to the political realm, this belief suggests that the important questions are ones about the state of government, not about policy choice. If society is properly governed, then the government’s policies will, by definition, be proper. To assess the state of government, Buddhist political thought focuses on two things: the character of the ruler and the relationship between the ruler and the Sangha (the community of monks).

The first of these must be seen in the context of Buddhism’s long association with kingly rulers. While Guatama started the faith by rejecting his princely inheritance, the subsequent reign of King Ashoka (274–236 BCE) laid the foundations for Buddhist governance. Scriptures remember him for the way he ended his wars of conquest after converting to Buddhism and the respect he is said to have shown for his subjects. As the faith spread across Asia, other regions absorbed this model of society ruled by a devout and compassionate king as ideal.

In theory, this makes Buddhist political thought sympathetic to arguments for social justice and nonviolence, but in practice, Buddhist teachings are used to support a variety of contingent preferences. For example, scholars have struggled for decades to identify a coherent political agenda behind the Japanese political party Komeito, which was founded as an explicitly Buddhist party and advertises itself as promulgating a “middle way” in politics. Even the basic insistence on respecting all life is subject to change, as in the violent rhetoric of contemporary Sri Lankan Buddhism or the way Japanese Buddhist sects of the 1920s justified their country’s militarism. Some Buddhist sects explicitly avoid any hint of politics, like the Compassionate Relief Society, one of Taiwan’s most visible Buddhist sects. In other words, knowing an individual is Buddhist does not help us predict what policy preferences that person will carry into a voting booth.

The Sangha And Buddhist Nationalism

Most Buddhist sects do not share the current Sri Lankan willingness to accept violence, but feelings of nationalism are widespread among Buddhists across Asia. This comes from the second component of Buddhist political thought, its call for a close relationship between ruler and the Sangha. After converting, King Ashoka patronized Buddhist temples extensively, paying for their establishment throughout his territory. In return, the monks he supported glorified his rule to the peasants in their communities. Not only did this meet the needs of both king and Sangha, it also resonates with Buddhist cosmology. A belief in karma and rebirth implies a society in which lay people improve their karma by supporting monks; the Sangha, in turn, guide the people by their progress toward enlightenment. In this schema, the king’s responsibility is to ensure that both sides fulfill their roles: By collecting taxes and supporting religious institutions, he helps peasants do their duty, by keeping order in the Sangha, he prevents the disunity that robs the people of guidance.

Following this model, Buddhist organizations and the state evolved in symbiosis throughout Asia; the Sangha legitimized the state in prayer and sermon in return for support and protection from political rulers. Rulers co-opted Buddhist organizations with a mix of coercion and rewards, razing recalcitrant temples and subsidizing cooperative ones, offering them authority over the lay population and over rival monks. This bargain served both parties: The monks enjoyed financial support from the government and protection against the rise of competing temples, and their sermons legitimized rulers’ places at the top of social hierarchies.

This integration of Buddhist thinkers into the state also roots their politics to a sense of place, strengthening its nationalist flavor. Monks in as diverse contexts as Nichiren in thirteenth century Japan and Soma in the twentieth-century Sri Lanka have made parallel arguments that their nation is a chosen vehicle for embodying the “true” Buddhist path. Doing so, they argue, will cure the nation of its existing weaknesses and fend off foreign dangers.

This close relationship between Buddhists and the state is still true in the modern world. During the period of authoritarian rule in Taiwan, for example, the Nationalist Party coopted Buddhist political activity by forcing temples to operate in the context of a state-created umbrella organization. When the government was considering the end of martial law (and incidentally allowing religious freedom), the official Buddhist association weighed in against the idea. The unsuccessful protest against state repression by Burmese monks, compared to the strength of Catholic liberation movements in Poland and Latin America or Islamic opposition to secular rule in the Middle East, is another example of how Buddhist political thought lacks external truths from which to sustain criticism of the state. Similarly, Buddhism remains a powerful force for government legitimization in Thailand and Cambodia. In short, while predicting individual policy preferences among Buddhists, it is possible to predict a willingness to support their rulers.

Conclusion

Buddhist political thought, however, has struggled with the emergence of democracy. Its conservative beliefs in hierarchy and support for the state offer little guidance to voters comparing the policy agendas of competing parties. In both Thailand and Sri Lanka, explicitly Buddhist political parties collapsed under a public backlash; the Japanese Komeito party officially disowned its religious heritage under public pressure in 1970. Strains of engaged Buddhism, which stress compassionate public service instead of withdrawal or obedience, are spreading across East Asia. If their growth continues, they may provide a new Buddhist perspective on politics, but that remains to be seen.

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