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KPI Congress 15 th 3

Conclusion

The idea whether any ruler of any of the Buddhist nations in Asia in the past
fully embraced all aspects of the entire concept of the righteous ruler as proposed by
the ideal of cakkavatti is debatable on the grounds of empirical evidence that
furnishes the fact that most of the eminent Buddhist ‘just’ rulers including the
Emperor A oka had to fight many wars (e.g., war in Kãli ga) in the first place in
order to establish their rule of authority. This delicate connection between the
establishment of political power and military conquest on the one hand and the notion
of the ‘just’ ruler and Buddhism on the other are quite fascinating to explore as done
here. Excluding cases of ‘just’ rulership in the Mahãyãna countries such as Japan and
China, this paper had a limited focus on the examination of the concept of dharmarãja
with a concentration on Theravãda Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia. With a
greater depth on South Asia, this paper has examined two historical cases—Emperor
A oka and King Sirisangabo—both had some involvement with violence prior to the
establishment of power and a strong historical record of non-violence after establishing
the rule of governance, of course, the former was exceedingly successful as an
eminent ‘just’ ruler whereas the latter (King Sirisangabo) became a notable failure in
political terms because of the very fact of king’s Buddhist convictions on the
abandonment of the use of violence and punishment when required for wrong doers
as a means of statecraft. This again highlights the perennial tension between the use
of violent means in the statecraft and the Buddhist position of the necessity of non-
violence for the governance of the just ruler. In the history of Buddhism in Asian
countries for most rulers the notion of just ruler became an attractive political and
religious ideology as a guiding principle of good governance. With the use of Buddhist
ideas such as the king is an embodiment of an enlightenment seeking person, who is
on the path of perfection as a bodhisattva, some prominent pious kings projected
themselves in public realm as righteous rulers. With an examination of concrete ideas
recorded in the Pãli canon, Pãli chronicles and inscriptions, this paper has shed some
light on the very idea of just ruler. It has demonstrated how imaginations of just ruler
might have influenced self-perception of Buddhist kings as dharmarãja in South and
Southeast Asia. Though not intended to be comprehensive by any means, it has taken
into account at least one case in relation to the JHU how contemporary Buddhists in
Sri Lanka even in the absence of royalty for nearly two decades still attempt today to
present and evoke their desire to establish righteous rulership in Sri Lanka with a
fully-fledged political and religious ideology of dharmarãjya (just rule).

International panel discussion