[Buddha-l] ?????

[James A Stroble]

On Friday 10 October 2008 09:22, jkirk wrote:

> The only Buddhist reference I can think of right now is that in
> his time kings only conquered territories, they didn't use armies
> to put their own people under the yoke (as we are now threatened
> with here). 

I am not so sure of this!  The Arthasastra of Kautilya paints a different 
picture!   But the Buddhist ideal of government was the chakravartin, the 
king who spun the wheel of Dharma,  not the king who just spun. In the 
progression down from ideal government we find the balachakravartin, the 
armed dharma king, but the necessity of resort to force is already a failure.  
By the time we get to only relying on force, well, welcome to Mappo?
-- 
James Andy Stroble
University of Hawai'i, Leeward Community College