--- Ong Yong Peng <pali.smith@...> skrev:

> Dear Gunnar,
>
> I think you have carried my message beyond its
> intention. I did not
> intend to link Asoka or any other historical person
> to be a
> cakkavatti.

I didn't say _you_ did. I said it has often been done
in Buddhist history.

> There also isn't any discussion to
> nominate the monks to
> any award.

There is some - see

http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/EdOp/2007/Oct/01-Oct-07.html

Unfortunately Mr Corso, who wrote the article, managed
to do about everything wrong:

1. He thought he is entitled to nominate, which he
probably isn't.

2. He nominated for the wrong year - nominations for a
certain year must be presented no later than February
1:st that year.

3. He tried to nominate through a public article,
which the committee wouldn't accept - it abhors public
campaigns.

4. He didn't define exactly whom he wanted to
nominate.

That's why I would like to know if there actually is
any person or organization who could, realistically,
be nominated, or not.

(I have sent a e-mail to Mizzima pointing these things
out, but they haven't answered.)

> It is true that Myanmar is not constitutionally
> Buddhist, but it is
> still by and large culturally Buddhist.

Now we are coming into problems of definitions. In
Thailand, Buddhism is officially state religion; but
that doesn't guarantee it is always ruled according to
Buddhist ideals. (For example, it still has the death
penalty, which many Non-Buddhist countries manage to
do without.)

I person becomes a Buddhist by taking the three
refuges; but a country can't do that.

> The
> cakkavatti is an ideal,
> something for any Buddhist political leader to work
> towards. I am not
> arguing for despotism but democracy.

True.

> I am also not aware of any part of Asian culture
> which supports
> tyranny, if you could enlighten us.

I don't think it is possible to speak about "Asian
culture" in singular, nor "European culture" in
singular. There are several cultures in both parts of
the Eurasian continent.

A recent example of one of the Asian cultures
supporting tyranny is State Shinto during the time
prior to World War Two, and the Shogunate before that.
Also, the Pali texts contain many stories about evil
rulers, so I think there must have been some in India
as well; and let's not forget that Prince Siddhattha
actually ran away from home not to risk becoming one.
(And note: we often end our recitations with "raajaa
bhavat_u_ dhammiko" - but never with "bhavat_i_"...)

The culture of any region, whether Asia or some other,
is not only its lofty treatises, but also the actions
actually done, which is often something quite
different. In that respect, I think the distinctions
between continents are negligible.

Gunnar

http://metrobloggen.se/esperanto


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