Imagine a legal system with no place for punishment...
In researching my PhD I spent 6 Months in Dharamsala, India studying in the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives - part of the Tibetan Government In Exile.
I can still see the prayer flags - each time the wind blows, they send prayers to Buddhas past present and future - may all beings be happy.
The Tibetan legal system prior to invasion in 1949 was based upon the Tibetan Buddhist worldview, which is best introduced through a few interconnected Buddhist principles:
- Emptiness
** Nothing inherently exists.
** There is nothing that does not change, therefore all phenomena lack inherent existence
** Everything lacks inherent existence
** Phenomina only exist in total dependence on all other phenomena. For example:
*** the sun's gravity -without it the earth would float away, would never have been created
*** the earth's gravity- without it we would float away, would never have been created
*** the earth itself
*** trees - without them there would be no air to breathe
*** dirt - without it no plants
*** plants - without plants no animals
** And so on, and on
** And on - Buddhists call this interconnectedness - All things are connected to all other things. More specifically, all phenomena are connected to all other phenomena.
- And because most people, most beings, don't see this, we are in a constant state of suffering - wishing things to be what they are not.
Tibetan Buddhists see the creation of the causes and conditions for happiness in the people as the greatest mission for government for it is through happiness based on compassion - for others and oneself - and through understanding the causes of the suffering we are all trapped in - that we enter the path to Buddhahood.
So the Tibetan legal system was about Restoring harmony and maximising the potential happiness of all those effected by transgressions, including the transgressor.
The primary motive of the legal system wasn't to punish, it was to restore harmony - may all beings be happy.
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