Buddhism and Politics

　　佛教与政治

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

　　佛教关心世间的一切福利，他是最好的政治顾问。

　　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，他自然与王公大臣有密切的关系，可是，佛陀从来不用政治力量来弘扬佛教。可是，今天的许多政治家，却把佛陀牵扯到政治里面，以佛教的名义，宣扬自己的政纲，他们把佛陀渲染成共产主义者、资本主义者、帝国主义者，为了他们自己的利益，损坏了佛陀的形象。要清楚的是，佛陀是一位超越世间一切的觉者，佛陀从来没有不让其他宗教并存的观念，佛陀也从来没有抱怨过那些不奉行他的教义的人。

　　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.

　　使人非常关心一个敏感的问题，就是佛教与政治的关系。佛教是一个德行兼备、纯净和值得信任的宗教，而政治讲求的是权力。在历史，宗教经常被政治利用来达到某些政治目的，如：发动战争、征服、残杀、暴行、造反、摧毁文明和艺术。

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

　　当宗教一被政治家利用来达到某些政治目的时，就失去了宗教的神圣性。

　　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.

　　根据佛法，佛教是不介入或参与任何政治活动的。当发现社会问题时，也只能透过向政治家建议，如何改善和处理问题。佛教关心社会的发展，关心人性的发展，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.

　　佛教希望能够透过建议，让政治家制定能保护人民，让人民幸福、繁荣的政策。当人民陷入贪、嗔、痴等种种恶行时，没有任何一种政治理想能成功的实现。如果政策本身就出了问题，那就更不能渴求人民能为它做些什么了。善业和恶业的果报，是导致幸福与否的真正因素，真的幸福是建立在对「苦」、「无常」和「无我」的真正理解。对佛教徒而言，生死轮回是无法获得真正的幸福，就算是重生于大梵天也一样。

　　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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