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Visions of the Dharmarãja:

Conceptualizations of ‘Just Ruler’

in Theravãda Buddhist Societies

in South and Southeast Asia

Mahinda Deegalle*

I Introduction

The Mahãva sa, the sixth century (CE) Sri Lankan Buddhist Pãli
chronicle, which intended to write both the history of Sri Lankan
Buddhism and the way Sri Lankan rulers supported Buddhism and
Buddhist activities encapsulated in a cumulative idea of the
Buddhasãsana (Buddhism as an institutionalized religion) that early on
and subsequently became the uncontested state religion of the nation
like in many other Asian countries such as Japan, from a critical
perspective, compared kingship to “sweet food mixed with poison”
and maintained by “reflecting that sovereignty, being the source of
manifold works of merit, is at the same time the source of many an
injustice, a man of pious heart will never enjoy it (Mahãnãma Thera
1950: 266, ch. 36: 133). This critical attitude of the chronicler shaped
by a very strong notion of justice and injustice illustrated both
weaknesses and advantages of kingship as well as its practical
necessity for Buddhists as a guarantor of protection for Buddhism’s
survival as an institutionalized religion. This unusual and rather negative
comparison with an important critical and balanced insight
demonstrates ambivalent attitudes towards kingship and politics in
Buddhist societies that most practising Buddhists held in the past.

Buddhists had noted, nevertheless, the absolute necessity of
kingship, as the most important requirement for the protection and
prosperity of Buddhism, throughout Sri Lankan history and made
constant innovations in its religious ideology of the state and
relationships with the state to make kingship more relevant and
effective for the growth of the religion in the nation.

* Teaching and Learning Certificate of Advanced Professional Studies of Higher
Education, Bath Spa University, 2005