Buddhism and Politics

　　佛教與政治

　　The Buddha had gone beyond all worldly affairs, but still gave advice on good government.

　　佛教關心世間的一切福利，他是最好的政治顧問。

　　The Buddha came from a warrior caste and was naturally brought into association with kings, princes and ministers. Despite His origin and association, He never resorted to the influence of political power to introduce His teaching, nor allowed His Teaching to be misused for gaining political power. But today, many politicians try to drag the Buddha”s name into politics by introducing Him as a communist, capitalist, or even an imperialist. They have forgotten that the new political philosophy as we know it really developed in the West long after the Buddha”s time. Those who try to make use of the good name of the Buddha for their own personal advantage must remember that the Buddha was the Supremely Enlightened One who had gone beyond all worldly concerns.

　　佛陀出身于帝王家庭，他自然與王公大臣有密切的關系，可是，佛陀從來不用政治力量來弘揚佛教。可是，今天的許多政治家，卻把佛陀牽扯到政治裏面，以佛教的名義，宣揚自己的政綱，他們把佛陀渲染成共産主義者、資本主義者、帝國主義者，爲了他們自己的利益，損壞了佛陀的形象。要清楚的是，佛陀是一位超越世間一切的覺者，佛陀從來沒有不讓其他宗教並存的觀念，佛陀也從來沒有抱怨過那些不奉行他的教義的人。

　　There is an inherent problem of trying to intermingle religion with politics. The basis of religion is morality, purity and faith, while that for politics is power. In the course of history, religion has often been used to give legitimacy to those in power and their exercise of that power. Religion was used to justify wars and conquests, persecutions, atrocities, rebellions, destruction of works of art and culture.

　　使人非常關心一個敏感的問題，就是佛教與政治的關系。佛教是一個德行兼備、純淨和值得信任的宗教，而政治講求的是權力。在曆史，宗教經常被政治利用來達到某些政治目的，如：發動戰爭、征服、殘殺、暴行、造反、摧毀文明和藝術。

　　When religion is used to pander to political whims, it has to forego its high moral ideals and become debased by worldly political demands.

　　當宗教一被政治家利用來達到某些政治目的時，就失去了宗教的神聖性。

　　The thrust of the Buddha Dhamma is not directed to the creation of new political institutions and establishing political arrangements. Basically, it seeks to approach the problems of society by reforming the inpiduals constituting that society and by suggesting some general principles through which the society can be guided towards greater humanism, improved welfare of its members, and more equitable sharing of resources.

　　根據佛法，佛教是不介入或參與任何政治活動的。當發現社會問題時，也只能透過向政治家建議，如何改善和處理問題。佛教關心社會的發展，關心人性的發展，以及如何提升人民的福利、安全和保障。

　　There is a limit to the extent to which a political system can safeguard the happiness and prosperity of its people. No political system, no matter how ideal it may appear to be, can bring about peace and happiness as long as the people in the system are dominated by greed, hatred and delusion. In addition, no matter what political system is adopted, there are certain universal factors which the members of that society will have to experience: the effects of good and bad kamma, the lack of real satisfaction or everlasting happiness in the world characterized by dukkha (unsatisfactoriness), anicca (impermanence), and anatta (egolessness). To the Buddhist, nowhere in Samsara is there real freedom, not even in the heavens or the world of Brahama.

　　佛教希望能夠透過建議，讓政治家製定能保護人民，讓人民幸福、繁榮的政策。當人民陷入貪、嗔、癡等種種惡行時，沒有任何一種政治理想能成功的實現。如果政策本身就出了問題，那就更不能渴求人民能爲它做些什麼了。善業和惡業的果報，是導致幸福與否的真正因素，真的幸福是建立在對「苦」、「無常」和「無我」的真正理解。對佛教徒而言，生死輪回是無法獲得真正的幸福，就算是重生于大梵天也一樣。

　　Although a good and just political system which guarantees basic human rights and contains checks and balances to the use of power is an important condition for a happy in society, people should not fritter away their time by endlessly searching for the ultimate political system where men can be completely free, because complete freedom cannot be found in any system but only in minds which are free. To be free, people will have to look within their own minds and work towards freeing themselves from the chains of ign…

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