Justice in the Tipitaka
Keywords:
social justice, moral justice, karmaAbstract
The objective of this research is to study concepts of “justice” and “social justice” in Pali Tipitaka, Theravada's essential texts, under two main directions: (1) a study of the concept “moral justice” that appears in the teachings on the law of karma and rebirth to find out whether it can be a basis of “social justice”; (2) an inquiry into the concept “social justice” from Buddhist teachings on society and state in the Sulfas, and the Vinayas, which formally govern the monastery (the sangha).
The study indicates that Buddhism accepts two conceptions of justice, i.e. universal and social. The former, based on the Buddha's teachings on karma, states that a moral law exists and governs the realization of sequences of behavior in proportion to their deeds. This law functions dynamically and causally beyond human’s understandings. Descriptive orientation and theoretical complexity of the teachings impedes its explanatory and evaluative application to social relations. The latter, founded on the Buddha’s sociopolitical teachings, focuses on immediate life situations. Believing that individual and society, as well as citizens and state-power structure, are interrelated; and that “AH humans desire a good life that is made possible in a just society,” Buddhism employs human basic features as main criteria for an arrangement of systems to distribute goods and wrongs. The study proposes that justice rooted in sociopolitical context leading itself to application to general society is more applicable and beneficial than justice defined by the law of karma.
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