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การประชุมวิชาการ
สถาบันพระปกเกล้า ครั้งที่ 15

the constitutional monarch of Thailand, who is considered today by most Thai
Buddhists at large as a Dhammarãja of this modern age.

Over several decades, King Adulyadej has legitimated his symbolic leadership
as the head of the state of Thailand, in the most preeminent Theravãda Buddhist
nation in Southeast Asia. His moral authority as an exemplary and preeminent
Buddhist king has inspired many. Through the use of Buddhist concepts and
implementation of Buddhism inspired ideals of social well-being and good governance
and with such concrete social-welfare plans such as the ‘sufficiency economy’
(Deegalle 2008: 104-110), he is still in public eye. He defined ‘sufficiency economy’
as a “philosophy that stresses the middle path as the overriding principle of
appropriate conduct.” He further elaborated ‘sufficiency’ as “moderation and due
consideration to all modes of conduct” (Deegalle 2008: 106). In his last phase of the
reign, he still continues to project an image of a just and righteous ruler as envisaged
in the Buddhist literature. His persona makes him particularly revered in Thailand.

(v) A Twenty-first Century Sri Lankan Buddhist Articulation of an

Aspiration for a Dharmarajya

In electing candidates for the Sri Lankan parliament at the general election held
in April 2004, the Jãtika Hela Urumaya (‘National Sinhala Heritage Party,’ JHU)
at that time exclusively consisted of Buddhist monks only fielded over 200 candidates
by declaring a desire to establish a Dharmarãjya (Just Rule) in Sri Lanka (Deegalle
2006). As explained in detail below with an examination of the JHU political
manifesto, this radical and activist Buddhist move can be viewed perhaps as a
modern instance to emulate Emperor A oka’s model of good governance in
contemporary Sri Lanka. The JHU introduced fashionable religious terms with
overwhelming Buddhist connotations as its political rhetoric to attract voters. One
visible and important term was the pratipatti pUjãva, which can be translated as ‘an
เอกสารประกอบการอภิปรายร่วมระหว่างผู้แทนจากต่างประเทศ
offering of principles.’ This was the term used to identify the JHU political manifesto.
The Sinhala term pUjãva is strictly speaking liturgical in its connotations and
exclusively used in religious contexts rather than in the political platform. The JHU,
however, employed it self-consciously in the highly charged expression pratipattipUjãva
in order to introduce its political manifesto in religious terms connoting its ambition of
establishing a dharmarãjya in Sri Lanka.

Among the Sri Lankan political parties, the election manifesto of the Jãtika Hela
Urumaya was rather unique. The JHU introduced it to the Sri Lankan public by
invoking religious sentiment. As election results demonstrated its religious content was
appealing to urban voters. Unlike other political parties, the JHU offered its political
manifesto, designed as twelve principles (pratipatti pUjãva) to the Tooth Relic of the
Gotama Buddha in Kandy.