REFLECTION OF DEMOCRACY IN BUDDHISM

Despite the rapid advances made by civilization in this century, the most immediate cause of our present dilemma is our undue emphasis solely on material development. Today we have abandoned to foster the most basic human needs of love, kindness, cooperation and caring. We have lost the essential humanity that is our foundation. Buddhism is a way of life. Buddhism is not thinkable without the towering figure of the Buddha. It is also an attitude. From these two features stems the uniqueness of Buddhism in the world. It has flourished in a diversity of forms, while repeatedly renewing, through study and practice, its roots in the teachings of the Buddha. This kind of pluralistic approach, in which individuals themselves are responsible, is very much in accord with a democratic outlook. As a spiritual community its cohesion has sprung from a unifying sense of brotherhood and sisterhood. This paper is an attempt to draw attention to democracy and democratic values in Buddhism and also to bring forth the remarkable contributions of Buddhism in this aspect.