Nagarjuna replies that nowadays many people deceive, cheat, and harm each other. To simply allow people who do evil actions to carry on will cause problems for law-abiding, virtuous subjects and make them unhappy and fearful. In addition, the people who harm others will continue to accrue great destructive karma that will lead them to take lower rebirths. So to help these people and to protect the public, it is necessary to enforce the law and punish, fine, imprison, or beat offenders. However, the purpose of this is to stop them from engaging in these actions in the future and to encourage them to change their behavior and engage in beneficial actions. The people who enforce the punishments must do so without malice or anger, but rather with compassion. You must think clearly how to run the kingdom without contradicting the Dharma.
329.May you always be accompanied by many [advisors]
who are mature in knowledge, of good family,
well versed in public policy, afraid of misdeeds,
not contentious, and able to see what should be done.
Gather People of Unusual Qualities and Give Them Power
Don’t empower just anyone to enforce the law. If administrators do not have certain qualities, they will punish innocent people but look the other way when friends and relatives commit crimes. Such capricious justice will harm the kingdom and turn people against you. People who are responsible for enforcing the law must be mature, knowledgeable, able to assess situations accurately, and understand when and how to punish someone so that it benefits the offender.
It is better if these officials are older — not so elderly that their memory is affected, but old enough so that they know life well, and are not brash, impulsive, or power hungry. They should also be from a good family so that they are educated, understand politics, and know what is good policy. They should be familiar with the customs of the world, cooperate with each other, refrain from negativity, and not be contentious. It is crucial that they understand the special purpose of retribution. The king will benefit from assembling many administrators with these qualities.
DEAL COMPASSIONATELY WITH WRONGDOERS
330.Even if they rightly fine, imprison,
or corporally punish [wrongdoers],
you, being always moistened by compassion,
should show kindness.
As long as they act with fairness, administrators with the above qualities may fine, incarcerate, beat, or scold offenders. They must assign these punishments judiciously, to the proper extent without being cruel. Although as the king you have given people the power to do this, you should never punish people yourself. Rather, out of compassion, listen to those who defend a lawbreaker, ask you to pardon him, and guarantee he will not repeat the misdeed. Even if the administrator has rightly and legally incarcerated the person or confiscated a portion of his property, have compassion — if you believe the person will not reoffend, lighten the punishment or pardon him.
331.King, out of compassion
you should always make your mind focused upon benefiting all beings,
even those that have committed
the most serious misdeeds.
Some people do atrocious actions of intolerable evil, such as the five heinous crimes — killing their mother, their father, or an arhat, causing schism in the sangha, or wounding a buddha. Such actions will result in horrific suffering for that person in future lives. Knowing this, have compassion for this person and only wish to benefit him, even though he must be imprisoned in order to protect your subjects and to prevent him from creating more destructive karma.
332.You should particularly have compassion for
those that have committed the serious negativity of murder;
these ones who have ruined themselves are indeed
worthy of great persons’ compassion.
Murderers and others who have done appalling, reprehensible actions are said to be the ultimate objects of compassion for bodhisattvas. With never-flagging love, bodhisattvas look upon them with special compassion because they have ruined their lives as well as the lives of others. Be like a bodhisattva and never abandon the attitude wishing to aid them. Never think that any person is too despicable to help or that anyone deserves to suffer. Such malevolent thoughts that wish to harm others will only lead to your having an unfortunate rebirth.
The reason to have great compassion for them is that they have brought about their own downfall. They have completely ruined their present life — which is the basis for attaining higher rebirth and the highest good — and have become their own worst enemy by creating the causes to experience so much pain and suffering in lower realms in future lives.
In the Four Hundred Stanzas, Aryadeva says that if a mother has many children, she feels more compassion and cares more for the child who is less intelligent. Those who are sharp and skillful will be able to manage in life, but the one who is less so will not. This is the way you should approach people who have committed the most despicable actions.
333.Either every day or every five days
release the weakest prisoners,
and see that it is not the case that the remaining ones
are never released, as is appropriate.
334.From thinking that some should never be released,
you develop [behaviors and attitudes] that contradict your precepts.
From contradicting your precepts,
you continually accumulate more negativity.
Free Prisoners
Every day or every few days, observe the inmates to see who is physically weak or feeble and then free them. Though some of the remaining prisoners may be strong and healthy, do not use that as a reason to refuse to ever release them. Never think that you will keep even the worst offenders incarcerated for the rest of their lives with no chance of parole. However long they remain imprisoned, recognize that they can change.
If you vow with hatred never to release them, you will generate what is called an “anti-vow” in your mindstream due to having this strong negative intention. As long as you have this anti-vow, the ethical restraints you have — be it the five precepts of a lay Buddhist or monastic precepts — will not remain in your mindstream.
When you take ethical restraints, from that moment onward your virtue continually increases due to the power of keeping the precepts. Similarly, when you generate an anti-vow, from that moment onward you continually accumulate nonvirtue.
335.Until they are released,
those prisoners should be made content
by providing them with barbers, baths, food, drink,
clothing, and medical care.
336.As if you have the intention of making
unruly children behave properly,
you should discipline them out of compassion —
not out of anger or the desire for material gain.
Make the Prisons Pleasant
At Nagarjuna’s time, prisons were especially horrible places where people were not only restricted in movement but also starved, tortured, and forced to live in filth. Nagarjuna instructs the king to do what hate-filled, revenge-seeking people shirk from doing — to supply the incarcerated with some of life’s basic necessities and conveniences such as food, drink, clothing, medical care, baths, barbers — who doubled as dentists in ancient India — and so on.
Someone asks, “Isn’t prison supposed to make them suffer? What’s the sense of keeping them incarcerated if they are comfortable?” Nagarjuna responds by explaining that when parents discipline a child with obnoxious behavior, they don’t do so for the sake of beating the child. Rather, knowing that objectionable behavior won’t serve but will harm the child in this life, they want to help the child give up the bad behavior and punish him for that reason. Similarly, we should not imprison people for the purpose of harming them and making them miserable. Instead, discipline them out of compassion — as a means to help them examine their behavior, accept responsibility for their actions, and refrain from destructive deeds in the future. In this way, they will c
hange and have a better life later. Imprisoning them due to anger or with the intention to confiscate their wealth is not correct.
337.Having properly examined
and identified particularly hateful murderers,
you should send them into exile
without killing or harming them.
Send Those Who Cannot Be Reformed Elsewhere
People must be imprisoned if they are full of rage and viciously murder others or steal or destroy their property. After they have been incarcerated for some time, examine if they have changed. Do they regret their behavior? Have they learned to work with their anger and destructive impulses so that they no longer harm others? If so, release them, but monitor them to see that they don’t offend again. If they are unable to adjust to society — if they repeat their bad behavior and there is no way to stop them — then banish them to another place. Since no one likes to be socially ostracized, hopefully he will examine his actions and change his behavior. Then he can start anew in another place.
REIGN SKILLFULLY
338.Independently survey all lands
through the eyes of agents;
always vigilant and mindful,
do what should be done in accord with the Dharma.
Send Out Agents
In ancient India there were no systems of mass communication, so it was difficult for the king to know what was happening in distant parts of the land. To rule well and to act for the benefit of the people throughout the kingdom, he needed to know if there was fighting anywhere, if the harvest was sufficient, if an epidemic had broken out, and if people were happy or dissatisfied with government policies.
Unable to go everywhere himself, the king must send out agents who observe what is happening in different parts of the kingdom and report back to him. Independently may mean in this verse that only agents that agree to go should be sent; they shouldn’t be forced to go. It may also mean that agents are sent to places that the king controls.
Here Nagarjuna indicates the qualities the king should look for when selecting agents: they should be conscientious, vigilant, and act correctly. They do not need to let others know that they are the king’s agents, but rather they should observe with open eyes and return immediately to deliver an honest report to the king. When the king has accurate information concerning the goings-on throughout the kingdom, he will be able to govern well and in accordance with the Dharma.
339.Through extensive and suitable generosity,
respect, and service, devote yourself always
to those who are the foundation of good qualities.
Do the same for the rest as is appropriate.
The sangha — meaning the monastics — is the foundation of good qualities, and it is appropriate to offer them requisites and to respect and serve them. As the leader of the country, encourage those who are close to you, as well as prominent families and common folks under your dominion, to make offerings to the sangha. In addition, help other people who are honorable as much as you can in whatever ways are suitable.
This topic follows the instruction to send out agents because agents will be able to see which sangha communities are in need. The agents will also be able to report on other sectors of the populace so the king may take care of them accordingly.
340.If the tree of kingship offers the shade of tolerance,
the open flowers of respect,
and the great fruit of generosity,
then the birds, your subjects, will flock to it.
341.A munificent but majestic king
will be beloved like a sugar candy
with a hard crust made
from cardamom and black pepper.
342.If you reign properly in this way,
your kingdom will not be chaotic.
It will not proceed improperly nor contradict the Dharma
but will be in harmony with the Dharma.
The Relationship between the King and the Populace
The king is like a grand fruit tree. His tolerance is similar to the shade of a tree, where people can sit, enjoy, and be free from the heat. His respect for the honorable resembles beautiful flowers, and his vast generosity is likened to an abundance of fruit on the tree. In short, the king is both generous and tolerant, and his subjects will respond by respecting and trusting him.
Someone asks, “Must the king always be tolerant?” While he needs to be tolerant and generous in general, out of compassion he must sometimes look fierce. When he sees something that is extremely harmful, wrong, or destructive, for the benefit of the people he must forcefully show that it is not acceptable. When they see his power and strength in those situations, people know they can rely on his ability to protect and guide them with a strong hand when needed. The king has to be like a delicious candy that is soft and smooth on the inside, and hard and rough on the outside. He must be gentle inside but harsh on the outside when the situation calls for it. In this way, his rule will be meaningful and the kingdom will operate in accord with the Dharma.
343.You have not brought your kingdom with you from the previous life,
nor will you bring it to the next.
You obtained it through Dharma,
so it is not right to violate Dharma for its sake.
344.King, through your efforts
see to it that you do not end up
perpetuating the stockpiling of suffering
through your kingship’s stockpiles.
345.King, through your efforts
see to it that you manage
to perpetuate your stockpiling of kingship
through your kingship’s stockpiles.
Cease Non-Dharma Activities
You didn’t bring your marvelous kingdom with you from your past life, and you cannot take it with you to the future life. Since you have obtained this marvelous kingdom by practicing the Dharma in the past, do not engage in destructive, non-Dharma actions for its sake now.
At the moment you have the resources to procure what you need. If you use the kingdom’s resources respectfully, wisely, and for good purposes, the kingdom will benefit now, and in future lives you will continually experience happiness. However, if you squander them or rule in a way that is not in accordance with the Dharma, affairs will proceed badly now, and these resources will become like a stockpile of suffering for you to experience in future lives. Don’t use your resources to “buy” suffering for yourself and others.
This is similar to our currently having a precious human rebirth due to our having practiced the Dharma in previous lives. If we indulge in the ten nonvirtues and don’t use our life in accordance with the Dharma, this wonderful life that we worked so hard to acquire will become meaningless. If we use it well, it will create a future life that is even better, and we will go from one life to the next continuously improving until we attain full awakening.
11. Spiritual Wisdom for Powerful People
THE EMPTINESS OF PAIN AND PLEASURE
While all sentient beings seek to have happiness and to avoid pain, very few recognize the illusory nature of these feelings. Thinking they exist inherently, we cling to pleasure and fear pain, this attachment and aversion adding a layer of mental suffering onto whatever physical suffering we may experience. In this chapter Nagarjuna examines samsaric happiness and pain closely and concludes that they are not trustworthy. He recommends that we put our energy into Dharma practice — specifically into realizing emptiness and dependent arising — in order to realize the illusory nature of happiness and pain. This way we free ourselves from the intense craving for pleasure and strong fear of pain that permeate so much of our lives. It is therefore crucial to realize the subtle emptiness of all persons and phenomena according to the Prasangika view. Hearers and solitary realizers — who practice the fundamental vehicle — realize the same emptiness as bodhisattvas, who practice the universal vehicle.
346.Even after a wheel-turning monarch attains
[governance over] the whole world with its four cont
inents,
pleasure for him is still considered
to be only twofold: physical and mental.
347.A pleasurable physical sensation
is just comparatively less pain.
Mental pleasure — by nature an attitude —
is just conceptually created.
The Nature of Pleasure and Pain
In chapter 6, Nagarjuna analyzed lust and its object to help us overcome clinging and the sexual desire that distracts us from the path. Now that the king and we too are more mature in the Dharma, he goes deeper, analyzing the ultimate nature of pleasure and pain to demonstrate that they are both empty of inherent existence. He approaches this in several different ways.
In the following discussion, “happiness” and “pleasure” are varying translations of the Sanskrit word sukha; suffering, pain, and discomfort are all translations of the Sanskrit word duhkha, which in other contexts is translated as unsatisfactory. Happy, painful, and neutral feelings form the aggregate of feelings, which is one of the five aggregates that are the basis of designation of the person.
Even a wheel-turning monarch with control over the four continents definitely experiences only two kinds of pleasure: pleasant physical feelings and pleasant mental feelings. There is nothing more than these two, no grandiose states of happiness that are his privilege as a king.
Upon close examination we find that when physical pain and discomfort diminish, there is an appearance of happiness — this is what we call “pleasant physical feeling.” This is a feeling of satisfaction or happiness that is derived from our sense consciousnesses, especially the tactile consciousness. It is not actual happiness; it is simply called happiness in dependence on the decrease of discomfort.
For example, when we are very cold and sit next to a heater, the suffering of cold diminishes and the appearance of happiness ensues. But if we continue to sit there, we will become too hot. If that original happiness was genuine happiness, the longer we sat there, the greater our pleasure should be. However, that is not the case. We can make many such examples in our life, from the happiness of a good meal to the happiness of a relationship or career satisfaction.
Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness Page 32