According to Buddhism, what are the duties of the King? Provide services? Keep order?

Answer 1

It is said that the ideal King provides good life quality, and teaches his citizens the 'ten good acts.' (1) not killing; (2) not stealing; (3) not committing adultery; (4) not lying; (5) not speaking harshly; (6) not speaking divisively; (7) not speaking idly; (8) not being greedy (9) not being angry; (10) not having wrong views. There is no poverty and no crime under the ruling of such King.

Answer 2

Democracy is a basic rule for the kings but this is only about ancient time. The first king of the humans was elected by society. They needed somebody to manage their society as the population getting larger and some property disputes happened.

Now things have changed but the laws for governance are still relevant. The rulers must not get angry even.


The Fourteen Laws for Kings and Rulers4

The fourteen laws for kings and rulers are the following:

First, a king must appoint honest, industrious, attentive, and charismatic personages to be his
assistants and ministers.

Second, a king must call regular meetings with his assistants and ministers to administer the
city so that it will flourish.

Third, a king must follow the Ten Royal Virtues: dana--charity, liberality, generosity; sila--high
moral character; pariccaga--self-sacrifice; ajjava--honesty, integrity; maddava--kindness and
gentleness; tapa--austerity, self-control, non-indulgence; akkodha--non-anger, non-fury;
avihimsa--non-violence, non-oppression; khanti--patience, forbearance, tolerance;
andavirodhana--non-opposition, non-deviation from righteousness, conformity to the law.5

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Answer 3

Buddhism has the tradition of the chakravartin or "Wheel-turning Dharma King." This is a Buddhist King who creates the Peace in which Buddhists can practice to Enlightenment. The archtypical example was Ashoka.

Of course, this world of stinging red dust and five pollutions being the pit of delusion and profound suffering that it is, we rarely see that. So then we prefer a King or government who, albeit not Buddhist and probably violent, still preserves the Peace in which we can practice to Enlightenment. Shakyamuni's family, the royal house of what is now Nepal, were examples of this, as is the present American government. In this case, we will definitely bless our government and attempt to both preserve it and convert its members to Buddhism.

The Buddha was silent about kings and government. He did not want us to spend our lives on political issues and fights. But, again, the world being what it is, somtimes the conscious results of our practices compel us to get involved. Recent events in Burma were an example of that.

Namu Amida Butsu, Xing Ping

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Answer 4

The duties of a king are the same as the duties of all laymen. THey are contained in the 5 precepts

1) Refrain from killing any living creature
2) refrain from stealing
3) refrain from illicit sex
4) refrain from lying
5) refrain from harmful intoxicants


Duties of Kings is a better subject for Hindus.

Answer 5

Early Buddhist scriptures speak of a "World-Turning Monarch" in a Utopian sense. Their responsibilities include supporting the poor, imparting justice, providing protection to the people, and modeling morally correct living.

Answer 6

enforce the laws of buddha that life IS suffering and we are the recipients until we are ready to move on