Buddha Quotes on Wisdom

“In the end these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go?” -Buddha

“Pain is certain, suffering is optional.” -Buddha

Inspirational Buddha Quotes

“One moment can change a day, one day can change a life and one life can change the world.” -Buddha

“If you are facing in the right direction, all you need to do is keep on walking.” -Buddha

Buddha Quotes on Happiness

“Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have.” -Buddha

“When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.” -Buddha

Buddha Quotes on Love

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” -Buddha

“Love is a gift of one’s inner most soul to another so both can be whole.” -Buddha

Quotes about Buddha

5 Fun Facts About Buddha

1. Buddha was not as chubby as many depictions of him make it seem – he was portrayed this way because, in the east, it was symbolic of happiness. Buddha practiced
   moderation, fasted regularly, and spent a lot of his time traveling by
   foot hundreds of miles, spreading his philosophy of enlightenment.
2. Just a few days after he was born, he was predicted to be
   a wise old man that would become a king or saint that would change the
   world.
3. Buddha’s spot of enlightenment underneath the bodhi tree is still preserved today.
4. In order to achieve enlightenment, Young Siddhartha sat under a fig tree and meditated until he transcended suffering. At the end of an extremely lengthy meditation and mental battle with Mara, the god of desire, he became awakened and was then known as the Buddha.
5. The first mention of Buddha in Western writing is in the writings of Clement of Alexandria, 2 AD.

Buddha’s spiritual words resonate with all
humans, teaching tolerance and love. I hope these famous Buddha quotes
bring you inner peace and your own personal enlightenment.

The 10 virtues of governance are:

Dana: It is the duty of the rulers to look after the
welfare of needy subjects and to give them food, clothing and other
necessities of life.

Sila: Beneficence or sharing – the rulers must conduct himself in private and public life in an exemplary manner.

Pariccaga: Donations – the grant of privileges by
the rulers to those who serve the nation loyally, acknowledging their
loyal service and encourage all servants of the public to perform in an
exemplary manner.

Ajjavan: Uprightness, the rulers must be absolutely
straightforward, never taking recourse to any crooked or doubtful means
to achieve their ends.

Majjavan: Impartiality, gentleness, the rulers’
straightforwardness and rectitude, will require firmness, but this
should be tempered with gentleness, and not be over harsh and cruel. A
harmonious balance is required between gentleness and firmness.

Tapan: Composure, the rulers must keep the five senses under control shunning excessive indulgence, follow the middle path.

Akkodha: Non hatred, rulers should not harbour grievances and act with forbearance and love.

Avihimsa: Non violence – rulers must practice non violence to the greatest extent that is reconcilable with the obligations of rulers.

Khanti: Forgiveness, patience, rulers must conduct
themselves with patience, courage and fortitude, in joy, in sorrow, in
victory and defeat, act with magnanimity, calmness and dignity.

Avirohata: Non revengefulness, non vindictiveness,
non enmity and friendship – rulers must not indulge in ‘bheda’ – divide
and rule – acting always in a spirit of amity and benevolence.

In Buddhist philosophy it is emphasised that the evil and the good of
a people depends on the behaviour of their rulers, and for the good of
the people the 10 Royal Virtues – Dasa Raja Dharma are to be practiced
by the rulers. Further a virtuous ruler should practice Priyavacana –
kindly speech and not use intemperate language. Artha Chariya – the
spirit of service must also be cultivated, this includes living a simple
life and not given to excesses –the Madyama Pravipadava – the middle
path so fundamental to the Buddha’s teaching. Samanatmata – equality,
while retaining the exalted position of being a ruler, a ruler must
consider him in no way superior to the ruled and dispense justice
fairly, without fear or favour.

No space to exercise absolute power

In the Buddhist tradition in particular, and in ancient Asian
governance in general, there was no space for the exercise of absolute
power by a ruler. Power was always limited, by convention, by tradition
and by philosophical belief and religious precept. Examples of abuse of
power and tyrannical rule are aberrations which reinforce the generality
of the situation that rulers were subject to conditionality of
governance, the violation of which created resentment, revolt and regime
change.

Indeed King Mahanama of Lanka, in 428 A.C., wrote to the Emperor of
the Middle Kingdom (China), ‘the Son of Heaven,’ in these terms, which
well reflects the philosophy and principles which govern the conduct of
the ideal Buddhist ruler: ‘Our ancient kings considered hitherto the
practice of virtue as their only duty; they knew how to rule without
being severe and honoured the Three Jewels; they governed and helped the
world, and were happy if men practiced righteousness. For myself I
desire respectfully, in concert with the Son of Heaven, to magnify the
good law in order to save beings from the evils of continued existence.’

The Marquess of Zetland, one time Viceroy of British India, in the
introduction to his book ‘Legacy of India’ says: ‘We know indeed that
political science – Arthashastra in Sanskrit – was a favourite subject
with Indian scholars some centuries before the Christian era. The Social
Contract as the origin of kinship is discussed in the now famous work
attributed to Kautilya, the Chief Minister of the Emperor Chandragupta,
about the year 300 B.C. And it would seem that the people who contracted
for a king in these early days did so in order that there should be
some external authority capable of ensuring that the laws and
regulations of the various corporate bodies which came into existence
were respected. “The King,” wrote Yajnavalkya, “must discipline and
establish again on the path of duty all such as have erred from their
own laws, whether families, castes, guilds or associations….” It is
notable that tendency towards self government evidenced by these various
forms of corporate activity received fresh impetus from the Buddhist
rejection of the authority of the (Brahmin) priesthood and further by
the doctrine of equality as exemplified by its repudiation of caste. It
is indeed to the Buddhist books that we have to turn, for an account, of
the manner in which the affairs of these early examples of
representative self governing institutions were conducted. And it may
come as a surprise to many to learn that in the Assemblies of the
Buddhists in India two thousand or more years ago are to be found the
rudiments of our parliamentary practice of the present day.’

Further the principles of good governance, which results in the right
thing being done the right way at the right time would include:
participation of all groups, including civil society, in the process of
government without exclusion or discrimination, the primacy of the Rule
of Law and equity in the process of investigation, dispute resolution
and adjudication, transparent access to information, responsiveness to
the needs of the governed within a reasonable timeframe, tolerance of
different points of view, consultation, compromise and consensus
oriented administration, effectiveness and efficiency in a sustainable
manner, the accountability of public, private and civil society
authorities to their respective stakeholders.

In Sri Lanka we are the fortunate heirs to a legal system which has
been enriched by the customs and traditions of legal and customary
practices from the world over. The religious influences of Buddhism,
Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, the personal laws of the Kandyans, the
Jaffna Tamils, the Muslims and the Mukkuwas and the legal rules of the
Roman Dutch law, English law and United Nations Treaties and
Conventions.
Rule of Law

The late Tom Bingham, who became a life peer as Baron Bingham of
Cornhill, accepted as the greatest English Judge since World War II, was
successively Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice of England and
Senior Law Lord of the United Kingdom, in his monumental work ‘The Rule
of Law’, suggested eight principles which form the core ingredients of
the Rule of Law. They are:

The law must be accessible and so far as possible intelligible, clear and predictable.

Questions of legal right and liability should ordinarily be resolved
by application of the law and not the exercise of discretion.

The laws of the land should apply equally to all, save to the extent that objective differences justify the differentiation.

Ministers and public officers at all levels must exercise the powers
conferred on them in good faith, fairly, for the purpose for which the
powers were conferred , without exceeding the limits of such powers and
not unreasonably.

The law must provide adequate protection of fundamental human rights.
Means must be provided for resolving, without prohibitive cost or
inordinate delay, bona fide civil disputes which the parties themselves
are unable to resolve.

Adjudicative procedures provided by the state should be fair.
The Rule of Law requires compliance by the state with its obligations in international law as in national law.

Lord Bingham succinctly defined the Rule of Law as follows:-’ all
persons and authorities within the state, whether public or private,
should be bound by and entitled to the benefit of laws publicly made…and
publicly administered in courts’.

On a plain reading of the above, it is clear that there is a common
golden thread running through the Dasa Raja Dharma, principles of good
governance and the Rule of Law. The thread is, plainly stated,
“limitations on the authority of the ruler and the protection and
strengthening of the rights of the subject”.

Prof .S.A. de Smith, Downing Professor of the Laws of England at
Cambridge University, in his leading work, Constitutional and
Administrative Law, says, on the Rule of Law: ‘One can at least say that
the concept is usually intended to imply (i) that the powers exercised
by politicians and officials must have a legitimate foundation; they
must be based on authority conferred by law; and (ii) that the law
should conform to certain minimum standards of justice, both substantive
and procedural. Sir Alfred Denning, later Justice Lord Denning Master
of the Rolls, of famous legal repute and intellect, in his Hamlyn
lecture, Freedom under the Law, dealing with the powers of the rulers,
says: ‘All that the courts can do is to see that the powers are not
exceeded or abused. But this is a most important task. “All power
corrupts. Total power corrupts absolutely.” And the trouble about is
that an official who is the possessor of power often does not realise
when he is abusing it. Its influence is so insidious that he may believe
that he is acting for the public good when, in truth, all he is doing
is to assert his own brief authority. The Jack-in-office never realises
that he is being a little tyrant.’

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a proud heir to all these strong legal traditions, which
give primacy to the Rule of Law and good governance. To have a person
who professes to hold high legal office to declare that he is not sure
that these things are ‘found’ anywhere surely only exposes the limits of
his knowledge and his dictatorial and lapdog tendencies.

There also has been some discussion, in Sri Lanka recently, of a
Sinhala Buddhist tradition of benevolent absolute rulers, with unlimited
power, in our past history. Is this tenable?

Prof. L.S. Dewaraja in her path-breaking book ‘The Kandyan Kingdom,
1707-1760,, says of the Sinhala Buddhist king, at Senkadagala Kande
Mahanuwara: ‘To foreigners the power of the king seemed unchallenged.
The king, Knox declared, “Ruleth Absolute and after his own Will and
Pleasure; His own Head being his only Counsellor.” D’Oyly remarked that
“the ministers advise but cannot control his Will”. In practice however,
the Kandyan monarchy was far from being an unfettered personal
despotism. It followed the traditions of the Indian monarchy which, in
spite of the quasi religious sanctity and the great authority vested in
the personality of the ruler, which was in no way and absolute monarchy.
The Kandyan king exercised supreme power, but his power was not
personal and it was hedged in, by safeguards against abuse. The most
relentless of these checks was sirit, the conventions of the country,
which every ruler had to follow, and which if violated would turn
popular opinion against him.’

The Dasa Raja Dharma and related rules were a very important part of these conventions.

Prof. Dewaraja further says: ‘The king was expected to avail himself
of the advice of his ministers and before any innovations of importance
were introduced it was customary to consult the chiefs and not
infrequently the chief monks also. The royal council consisted of the
two Adigars, the Disavas, the Maha Mohottala or chief secretary and the
Rate Ralas. …If on any occasion the members of the council made a
unanimous representation to the king, it was laid down that the king
should uphold their point of view.’
Even the present, much vilified, criticised, but most times,
unsurprisingly strengthened, used/abused and supported by its erstwhile
critics, when in power, the constitution of Sri Lanka, ends with the
following invocation:

‘Devo Vassatukalena
sassasampattihetu ca
phito bhavatu loko ca
raja bhavatu dhammiko’

(May the rains be on time, may the farmers have successful harvests,
may the ruler be just, and by these happenings may the people prosper.)

So, the conclusion is inevitably that power is never unlimited, nor
absolute; it is and always has been constrained by the Rule of Law and
the principles of good governance.

It certainly may be argued that it can be questioned whether good
governance and the Rule of Law can be reached to a 100% in any
jurisdiction at any given time. The reality and immaturity of the
democratic political process may certainly cause aberrations. But that
does not mean that we should not strive to achieve it and that those
whose duty it is to protect the ordinary citizens’ basic fundamental and
human rights from abuse by the Executive and the Legislature can go to
seats of higher learning and mock these concepts and express puerile
doubts as to whether they are ‘found anywhere in the world’. The
statement only exposes the speaker’s pathetic and slavish mindset. The
Dasa Raja Dharma, the principles of good governance and the Rule of Law
are entrenched into Sri Lanka’s constitutional practice, and must be
upheld.

It is in the natural order of things that,
everything is time-bound, even an autocrat’s power. Let’s give the last
word to undoubtedly the most successful strong man of Asia – retired
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, the veritable doyen of all
autocrats who ruled with an iron hand, with no concerns for principles
of good governance or the Rule of Law. Like Mahathir of Malaysia,
Suharto of Indonesia and Ne Win of Burma, he was a proponent of Asian
values, which gave priority to national issues over individual freedoms.
To them the Rule of Law and principles of good governance were Judeo
Christian values, which were not applicable to Asia.
Lee at the end of his days writes: ‘…What is next, I do not know. Nobody
has ever come back. I’m reaching 87, trying to keep fit, presenting a
vigorous figure, and it is an effort, and is it worth the effort? I just
laugh at myself trying to keep a bold front… I’m not saying that
everything I did was right, but everything I did was for an honourable
purpose. I had to do some nasty things, locking fellows up without
trial. Close the coffin, and then decide. Then you assess me, I may
still do something foolish before the lid is closed on me.’