The relationship between Buddhism and democracy has a long history with many scholars claiming the very foundations of Buddhist society were democratic. Though some historic Buddhist societies have been categorized as feudalistic, the relationship between peasants and land owners was often voluntary. Free-thinking Buddhist societies supported autonomy; peasants had mobility and could own land themselves.

Modern views

The father of the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ri ...

and a pioneer of India's democracy,

B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...

believed

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

to be a Democratic religion which led to his conversion and founding of the

Navayana Navayana (Devanagari: नवयान, IAST: ''Navayāna'') means "new vehicle" and refers to the re-interpretation of Buddhism by Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar; it is also called Neo-Buddhism and Ambedkarite Buddhism. Ambedkar was a polymath, theol ...

school of Buddhism. In an All-India Radio broadcast speech on 3 October 1954 Ambedkar declared: Ambedkar also reminds of the existence of Democratic practices in Buddhist brotherhood.

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

believes that both Buddhism and Democracy share a common viewpoint saying "not only are Buddhism and democracy compatible, they are rooted in a common understanding of the equality and potential of every individual." He believes that the ancient Sangha functioned democratically.

Mipham Chokyi Lodro Mipham Chokyi Lodro (27 October 1952 – 11 June 2014), also known as Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche, was the fourteenth Shamarpa of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Shamarpa is the second-most important teacher of the Karma Kagyu school, ...

, the 14th Shamar Rinpoche, wrote a book, "Creating a Transparent Democracy" in 2006. Shamarpa proposes a transparent democracy where each citizen has self reliance and empowerment through a decentralized government system. Rather than a top-down control system, in which power flows down from national, to state to city, the system builds from village level up. Local units on the village level, combine to form the higher levels of government as well. The system relies on the banning of all propaganda, the dissolving of political parties and an education system that teaches competence in governance to all citizens. Transparency and self-reliance are indeed Buddhist values, but also universal... Where Shamarpa's proposal becomes distinctly Buddhist is his definition of the function of law. Protections are provided to the (1) Earth, natural environment, (2) human beings, and (3) animals. The Earth itself serves as the model for an ideal government, and it is the international community's responsibility to protect the natural environment.

David Kaczynski David Richard Kaczynski (born October 3, 1949) is the younger brother of Ted Kaczynski, the serial bomber dubbed the "Unabomber" by the FBI before his arrest in 1996. His memoir, ''Every Last Tie: The Story of the Unabomber and His Family'', detai ...

believes that Buddhism and Democracy need each other saying:

History

Early Buddhism

The spread of Buddhism led to the spread of Democratic values throughout Asia.

Kurt Kankan Spellmeyer Kurt Spellmeyer is a Zen teacher and professor in the English Department at Rutgers University. Zen lineage Kurt Spellmeyer, Kankan Roshi, trained with Takabayashi Genki and Kangan Glenn Webb, founders of the Seattle Zen Center. In 1985, Spel ...

stated Buddhism and Democracy have gone hand-in-hand since the beginning.

Egon Flaig Egon Flaig in 2012 Egon Flaig (born 16 May 1949 in Gronau, Baden-Württemberg) is a German ancient historian and public intellectual, currently Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at the University of Rostock. Flaig's research has ranged from ...

concurs claiming that early Buddhist practices were an outgrowth from

republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

s of

ancient India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...

. He describes them as "often governed by a council of nobles (sabha) made up of male aristocrats, ruling either on its own or with the help of an assembly (samiti)." Ajahn Brahm claims "the longest sustaining democracy in the world is the Buddhist sangha."

Mahāsammata

The

Aggañña Sutta Aggañña Sutta is the 27th Sutta of the Digha Nikaya collection (Pāli version). The sutta describes a discourse imparted by the Lord Buddha to two brahmins, Bharadvaja and Vasettha, who left their family and vanna to become monks. The two brahm ...

of the

Pali Canon The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During th ...

introduces a figure named "

Mahāsammata Mahāsammata (; also spelled Maha Samrat; lit. "the Great Elect"), also known as Khattiya and Rāja, was the first monarch of the world according to Buddhist tradition. The chronicles of Theravada Buddhist tradition such as ''Mahāvaṃsa'' and ...

" (

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...

; lit. "the Great Elect") as the first monarch. The scripture elaborates on the formation of civilization that occurred with the adoption of

ownership Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

. As theft became a major societal concern, it was decided that a ruler should be elected to ensure the punishment of evil and preservation of righteousness. Mahāsammata is also said to have been responsible for the establishment of

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

and law.

Later Buddhism

German historian Markus Rüttermann has found in the 12th through the 14th centuries "several Japanese monasteries were making decisions by majority vote."

Tibetan Buddhism

After the 16th century in Tibet, Buddhist leaders were inseparable from government administrators. The concept of samayas, vows to the guru, became a tool for suppressing people's rights and manipulating political authority.

Shamar Rinpoche The Shamarpa (; literally, "Person (i.e. Holder) of the Red Crown"), also known as ''Shamar Rinpoche'', or more formally Künzig Shamar Rinpoche, is a lineage holder of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism and is regarded to be the mind ma ...

of the Karma Kagyu Lineage saw religion and politics as working against each other in Tibet. Lamas as a ruling class gave the country enduring structure and order, but as many people put unquestioning faith in their spiritual leaders, it left very little room for critical judgement of political decisions. These concerns were put forward by Shamarpa at a meeting in Varanasi India in 1998, called by the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

. The meeting was attended by heads of Tibetan schools as an effort to better the future of Tibetans.Yeshe Dronma, "The Reincarnations of the Kunzig Shamarpa the Red Crown Lama of Tibet". Dorje and Bell Publication (1992) pp.50-51

References

External links

Influence of Buddhism on Indian Constitution and Indian democracy by Dr. S.H. Hosamani