Setting an Agenda for the Socio-Legal Study of Contemporary Buddhism

Schonthal, Benjamin; Ginsburg, Tom

doi:10.1017/als.2016.3

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…As the chapters in this volume demonstrate, Buddhism plays a major role in Asia's constitutional cultures. Buddhist monks and lay activists have been central agents of constitutional change, engaging in "Buddhist legal activism" and "Buddhist-interest litigation" throughout the continent (Schonthal and Ginsburg 2016). Monk-led groups like the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) in Sri Lanka or the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion (Ma Ba Tha) 8 in Myanmar have made legal activism and constitutional politics a key feature of their nationalist agendas (Frydenlund 2017;Walton andAung Tun 2017-2018;Schonthal 2016b).…”

Section: Buddhism and Constitutional Law Todaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction

Ginsburg

Schonthal

2022

Buddhism and Comparative Constitutional Law

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In 2011, the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso announced his intention to complete a major legal transformation that would redefine the government of the Tibetan community-in-exile. In a speech given from his headquarters in Dharamshala, the world's most well-known Buddhist monk confirmed that he would be retiring as the political leader of the Tibetan people. That event would catalyze a dramatic constitutional change: from a system based on the "rule by kings and religious figures," the Tibetan Government-in-Exile was to follow a new Charter that provided for democratically elected leaders, whose authority would be constrained by law (Mills 2018, 155 and passim; see also Brox 2016). 1 The preamble to the new 2011 constitutional text explained that, in spite of the Tibetan people's willingness to accept the continuation of theocracy, "His Holiness the Dalai Lama decided that the time had now come to complete the process of full democratization and that the Tibetan people should no longer remain dependent on a single individual" (Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile 2011, 2). The chapters of the Charter that followed laid out this vision. The "Tibetan People" would continue to promote "the noble Buddhist faith" and respect the Dalai Lama as "the manifestation of [the bodhisattva] Avalokiteshwara in human form . . . the master of all Buddhist teachings" (Article 17(11); Article 1). 2 But they would also uphold fundamental rights and hold elections, maintain a judiciary and bureaucracy, limit executive power, and follow standardized procedures for promulgating laws. Theocracy, in short, would give way to constitutional democracy.This episodewhich attracted more attention among Tibetologists than among scholars of comparative constitutional lawprovides one tantalizing example of the * The authors are particularly appreciative of D. Christian Lammerts and Levi McLaughlin for their comments on a draft of this chapter. 1 A "Constitution for a Future Tibet" had appeared as early as 1963, with another major iteration coming in 1991. 2 We use the spelling of the original. The more common spelling is the Sanskrit, Avalokiteshvara.

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Section: Buddhism and Constitutional Law Todaymentioning

confidence: 99%