South Dovani

[Wu Han]

The Wheel and the Umbrella
August 5645
By the Venerable Somdet Phra Ajaan Hansadhamma Tanthira

---

In these days, the very air of Hansan feels heavy and thick with the putrid scent of unseen rot which runs deep into our ancestral soil, and the social tensions tearing at the fabric of our society. This past September, as the monsoon clouds receded, they revealed not the lush vitality that has sustained this land for untold generations, but a sight that pierced the heart of every Hansai with cold despair: the Srimahabodhi Suriyan stood barren and ghostly white. This venerable descendant of King Chakraphan's founding sapling, a palladium of state authority and a weathervane of our collective karmic path, has withered.

To a heart which has contemplated the Dharma, the spectral branches of this holy tree are the outward manifestations of a far deeper illness infecting our land, a spiritual drought within the very soul and soil of this nation. The scientists speak of hypoxia and root rot, of stagnant groundwater polluted by the broken pipes of a decaying infrastructure. They are correct in the mundane sense, but they only seek to understand the manifestations and symptoms of the tree's malady, not its cause. The tree's crisis is a clarion call for the restoration of the "Righteous Shade" of which King Chakraphan spoke when he first rescued that struggling sapling, clinging to the mud – a shade that can only be provided by the White Umbrella of a true Dhammaraja.

Corruption scandals, relentless violence and bloodshed, unceasing political discord, hardship. All are but manifestations of dukkha arising from a fundamental misplacement of our collective aspiration. We have sought stability in the fluctuations of the market and the ever shifting sands of secular ideology. We have placed our faith in leaders chosen by systems designed to distribute power rather than to cultivate virtue. Yet the Bodhita himself taught that when human greed and the perception of "mine" lead us to chaos, the people will, in their wisdom, seek a Mahasammata, a "Great Elect."

Despite this title, the Mahasammata is not an elected official, who is invariably a creature of the moment, tethered to election cycles and the demands of donors. Rather, the Mahasammata was the very first King in this world. A simple farmer, he was elevated by his fellow farmers to be their leader, and chosen not to dominate, but to provide order, justice, and to protect the necessary conditions for all beings to live in harmony without fear and to practice the Dharma. Such an "Elect" is a creature of vamsa (lineage); his horizon is generations, and his heart is bound by a vow of pariccaga (self-sacrifice) that no privatization scheme can buy. He holds the wheel of power (anachakka) and turns it only in service to the wheel of dharma (dhammachakka).

The legitimacy of a Daenist ruler is never derived from temporal power alone, but from an unwavering adherence to the Tenfold Virtues of Kingship: Dana (generosity), Sila (morality), Pariccaga (self-sacrifice), Ajjava (integrity), Maddava (gentleness), Tapa (self-control), Akkodha (non-anger), Avihimsa (non-violence), Khanti (forbearance), and Avirodhana (non-opposition to the will of the people and the Dharma). These are not mere suggestions or qualities one might hope for from a politician, but rather, the very constitution of a Dhammaraja. The King's authority is legitimate only insofar as it adheres to this higher law, ensuring Dhammika-rakkha, or the righteous protection that allows all beings to live in accordance with their nature. Unlike a politician, unmoored from these timeless and eternal virtues, a King is trained from birth to embody them, for his personal Kamma is inextricably tied to the welfare of his realm.

We must also acknowledge the symbiotic link between the Sangha and the Throne, which has existed for millennia prior to its forcible severing in the Communist and Republican periods. The King was the Sasana Upathambhak, the Supreme Patron who protects religion from the winds of materialism and passing fetishes and fashions. Without a King to serve as the helmsman holding steady the wheel of power, to champion the sacred over the secular, the wheel spins out of control, crushing the very people it was meant to defend. The monasteries become vulnerable, and the profound wisdom of the Bodhita is reduced to mere philosophy, stripped of its living context.

The sacred Srimahabodhi Suriyan, now concealed behind high walls and guarded by police with firearms, has withered in reflection of the soul of the nation. This is the truth that the Srimahabodhi Suriyan silently screams from its barren branches. Its suffering is our suffering; its sickness is the sickness of a nation whose spiritual roots are choked by a secular leadership that has forgotten its duty to provide the "righteous shade" of the Dharma.

Let us heed the Srimahabodhi Suriyan's profound wisdom and omen. Let us return the Crown to Hansan, not for the sake of nationalist fervour and pomp, nor the pursuit of a singular man's power, but for the sake of the very soul of our nation, and to restore the balance of the elements. Only when the White Umbrella is raised again can the Wheel of Dharma turn without friction, clearing the stagnant waters so that they may once again run clear and pure.

---

Chai Jai (ใจใจ, "Head/Heart") is a monthly Daenist magazine published in South Dovani. The magazine is non-profit, though it receives a substantial annual endowment from the Jantarapong family.

OOC Note: the arguments (and doctrinal support for the arguments) made in this piece are drawn heavily from the book Royal Virtues by Thai monk P.A. Payutto (pictured above as "Somdet Phra Ajaan Hansadhamma Tanthira"). While the text is original and conforms to the Hansan context, it should nevertheless be noted that the overarching argument and references to Buddhist scripture, terminology, and doctrine are not entirely original, derived as they are from Payutto's work.