..续本文上一页ject to be tortured°‚to be subject to a variety of punishment by the people, because, being unfit and unworthy, he has placed himself unrighteously in the seat of sovereignty. The ruler, like others who violate and transgress moral codes and basic rules of all social laws of mankind, is equally subject to punishment; and moreover, to be censured is the ruler who conducts himself as a robber of the public.” In a Jataka story, it is mentioned that a ruler who punishes innocent people and does not punish the culprit is not suitable to rule a country.
佛陀说：「假如一个人不适合、不能胜任、没有足够的德性、没有能力、没有资格做统治者时，他将受到全国人民的指责……将受到人民的责备。因为他不能胜任，他不配占据那统治者的地位。统治者有如一般人，如果触犯或违背道德和人类社会的法律规范时，一样要受到惩罚。统治者掠夺或私吞公产，也一样要受到惩罚。」《Milinda Panha Sutta》
一个统治者应该时时关注自己的身、语、意的行为，接受民众的意见，反省和检讨自己。如果他有不正确的行为时，如：不正确的惩罚、贪污、压迫和高税收等等，民众将指责他、反对他。如果他很公正的管理国家，人民将祝福他，祝他万寿无疆。
The king always improves himself and carefully examines his own conduct in deeds, words and thoughts, trying to discover and listen to public opinion as to whether or not he had been guilty of any faults and mistakes in ruling the kingdom. If it is found that he rules unrighteously, the public will complain that they are ruined by the wicked ruler with unjust treatment, punishment, taxation, or other oppressions including corruption of any kind, and they will react against him in one way or another. On the contrary, if he rules righteously they will bless him: ”Long live His Majesty.” (Majjhima Nikaya)
The Buddha”s emphasis on the moral duty of a ruler to use public power to improve the welfare of the people had inspired Emperor Asoka in the Third Century B.C. to do likewise. Emperor Asoka, a sparkling example of this principle, resolved to live according to and preach the Dhamma and to serve his subjects and all humanity. He declared his non-aggressive intentions to his neighbors, assuring them of his goodwill and sending envoys to distant kings bearing his message of peace and non-aggression. He promoted the energetic practice of the socio-moral virtues of honesty, truthfulness, compassion, benevolence, non-violence, considerate behavior towards all, non-extravagance, non-a, cquisitiveness, and non-injury to animals. He encouraged religious freedom and mutual respect for each other”s creed. He went on periodic tours preaching the Dhamma to the rural people. He undertook works of public utility, such as founding of hospitals for men and animals, supplying of medicine, planting of roadside trees and groves, digging of wells, and construction of watering sheds and rest houses. He expressly forbade cruelty to animals.
佛陀指出，当一个统治者正确的运用他的职权时，人民将会因此而获得幸福。公元三世纪的阿首咖(Asoka)就是一个铁证。他遵循佛陀的教义而生活和统治国家，为国家带来了空前的安定和幸福。他声明不再侵犯邻国，派使臣出使外国宣扬他和平的政策。他致力于推行社会道德，如：诚实、慈悲、仁爱、无暴戾、关怀、不奢侈、不贪婪、不伤害动物等等。他鼓励信仰自由和互相尊重。他亲自到偏远的地方去弘扬佛法，他极力从事基层建设，如：为人类和动物兴建医院、施赠药物、广植树木，掘井和发展水力工程和歇脚亭。不允许人们虐待动物。
Sometimes the Buddha is said to be a social reformer. Among other things, He condemned the caste system, recognized the equality of people, spoke on the need to improve socio-economic conditions, recognized the importance of a more equitable distribution of wealth among the rich and the poor, raised the status of women, recommended the incorporation of humanism in government and administration, and taught that a society should not be run by greed but with consideration and compassion for the people. Despite all these, His contribution to mankind is much greater because He took off at a point which no other social reformer before or ever since had done, that is, by going to the deepest roots of human ill which are found in the human mind. It is only in the human mind that true reform can be effected. Reforms imposed by force upon the external world have a very short life because they have no roots. But those reforms which spring as a result of the t…
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