[Buddha-l] Sangha model for running a country? Possible?

[Piya Tan]

There is a vast difference between seniority and heirarchy. Seniority is the
acceptence of the virtuous who those who have arrived before us. Heirarchy
is superimposed by a group more powerful than other for that sake.

Comparison can be odious, esp when it is mistaken for identity. The
opportunity for all to speak for themselves or as representatives is what is
highlighted here not other aspects of Greek democracy (after all we know
that there is slavery in ancient Greec which gave their master time to
debate and muse around).

Piya

On 8/30/06, jkirk <jkirk at spro.net> wrote:
>
>  Basically, I think the sangha system is a sort of republican (res
> publica) system, very much like the early Greek democracy where the common
> people, not just the rich, has a chance to speak and change things.
>
> Piya
> ===============
> How can this be the case when any sangha one can observe is a hierarchy,
> where high clerics rule over low clerics, and the higher the cleric the more
> dana he gets and the greater the merit to the donor of the greater dana to
> the higher or highest clerics.
> Nothing "democratic" about this system at all, and I don't see how it can
> be compared to the "ideal" ancient Greek system of agora politics, either.
> Best, Joanna
>
> _______________________________________________
> buddha-l mailing list
> buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com
> http://mailman.swcp.com/mailman/listinfo/buddha-l
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.swcp.com/mailman/private/buddha-l/attachments/20060830/7e777787/attachment.html