Buddhism, Democracy and the Rule of Law

POSTED ON - Sep 4th, 2026

Bringing together perspectives on Buddhist traditions, governance and the rule of law, the JSW Law Research Centre today organised “Buddhism, Democracy and the Rule of Law”, an interactive international seminar held on campus. The seminar brought together distinguished scholars from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark; the University of Vienna, Austria; the Universidad de Sevilla, Spain; Kyoto University, Japan; and the University of Otago, New Zealand, who presented their current research to the faculty and students of JSW Law and the Royal Academy.

The seminar examined how Buddhist traditions of governance are translated into the institutions of the modern state, and how the older ideal of chos srid zung ’brel, the union of religion and politics, has been reinterpreted in that process. One paper questioned the assumption that societies follow a single, linear path from religion to secular rationality, arguing that it is ill-suited to non-Western contexts; another examined the distinction the Constitution of Bhutan draws between Buddhism as the spiritual heritage of the nation and Buddhism as a matter of individual belief. A close reading of a nineteenth-century treatise on the conduct of rulers identified principles familiar to modern lawyers: that royal authority is conditional upon the just administration of law, that the law binds prince and pauper alike, and that punishment must be proportionate. A concluding paper set these themes in comparative perspective, contrasting the constitutional treatment of Buddhism in Bhutan with that of Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The seminar was attended by faculty and students of JSW Law and the Royal Academy, as well as representatives of the Druk Gyalpo’s Institute. The programme was supported by the University of Otago, New Zealand.

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