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Some Buddhist Thoughts on Good Governance Venerable U Bodhinyana Governance is now one of the most frequently discussed issues among academicians, policy makers, civil society, governance analysts and international development communities even though as a system of exercising authority in individual and collective activities it is as old as human society. There are differences in the interpretations of governance, but the core content of the term remains almost similar that refers to “the process of decision making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented)”. The phrase ‘good governance’ may be literally defined as the system of ‘good control’, ‘good administration’ or ‘good management’, which is universally accepted by all as an ideology for running a government or a state. In a wider term, the ‘good governance’ can be defined in terms of eight major characteristics: (i) participation; (ii) adherence to the rule of law; (iii) transparency; (iv) responsiveness; (v) a consensus oriented approach; (vi) equity and inclusiveness; (vii) effectiveness and efficiency; and (viii) accountability. The website of the ESCAP provides the following chart, showing the eight characteristics of ‘good governance’ thus: The present paper makes an attempt to develop a framework of good governance from Buddhist  perspective based on the salient features from Tipitaka (Tripitak). Buddhism appeared as a revolt against rigid class and caste based society in India, Buddha was the crown prince and was at the apex of the authority structure. While he discovered the disparity and sufferings of the people, he left the palace in search of an alternative way for the salvation of the suffering beings and after  being endowed with enlightenment he propagated his doctrine which he named as  Dhamma Vinaya now we call it Buddhism after the name of Buddha. Dhamma means truth, righteous and Vinaya means rules, ideals and standard of behavior. I think the appropriate Pali word for ‘good governance’ in English is ‘ dhammappasasana (dharmaprasasana in Sanskrit and Shushasan in Bangla), a compound, which comes from two words: dhamma (virtue/law/ righteous) + pasasana (governance). The word pasasana in Pali or  prasasana in Skt. is equivalent to ‘governance or administration’ in English, so the word

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