What the Buddha hid well : Buddhist social contract theory in the Dīgha Nikāya

• Main Author: R Daminisree
• Other Authors: Christopher Holman
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology::Phenomenology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/75894
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Using the phenomenological method, this paper traces a Buddhist social contract theory in the Dīgha Nikāya and compares it with the social contract theories of Hobbes’ Leviathan and Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, revealing a moderate and sophisticated understanding of human nature, equality and liberty in the state of nature. In the process, the Buddha brings the ruler’s duty to his people further than in the Western conception. Once humans leave a state of nature, what is the Buddha’s ideal political regime? Using the esoteric method, this paper extracts two readings: the direct interpretation calling for an enlightened monarchy, and the obscure interpretation calling for a republic practising deliberative democracy. While the obscure interpretation is argued to be the Buddha’s real ideal political regime, the direct interpretation is crucial in our understanding of why Theravada Buddhist-majority states remain largely undemocratic. Subsequently, this is applied to Myanmar as a case example.