achherjee ich bin raus, merk ich. Es geht bei mir schon los, dass ich fast lache, wenn ich vom 'aufgeklärten Westen' lese.
Aufklärung sollte keine Himmelsrichtung haben.
Auch zu Buddha Shakyamunis Zeiten gab es unterschiedliche Gesellschaftsformen. Die Adelsförderation in der er aufwuchs wurde von einer Versammlung (Santhagara) geführt, in der auch Shakymuni ab einem 20 Lebensjahr teilnahm (sein Vater war also wohl ein gewählter "Raja") . So eine Santhagara konnte ein raffinierte Sache sein:
The minimum age to become member of Shakya Santhagara was twenty years. The assembly had strong sentiments against hereditary privileges and supported the principle of free election by the Gana to all-important posts, including that of Commander-in-chief known as Ganapati, Ganajyestha, Ganaraja, or Sanghamukhya which was the highest authority in state.
In the assembly, there were different posts known as Vargya, Grihya and Pakshya who clashed from time to time for power. The term Dvandva was used to denote the rival parties and the term Vyutkramana to their rivalry. Transaction of the Assembly business strictly required a Quorum without which it was considered invalid. Panini refers to gana-titha as the person whose attendance completed the quorum in a Gana and to Sangha-titha as one who completed the quorum of the Sangha. The person who acted as a “whip” Whip (politics) to secure the “quorum” was known as “Ganapuraka”. The seat regulator whose main job was to allot the seats to persons on dais, front seats and other places depending on their position was known as “Asanapannapaka”. Voting was done with pieces of wood known as salaka. The collector of votes was the Salaka-Grahapaka, chosen for this job on account of his reputation of his honesty and impartiality. The word used for votes was “Chhanda” which meant free choice. The president of the state who was known as “Samghyamukhya” was responsible for presiding the assembly and regulating the debates. He was expected to observe strict impartiality and if he failed, he was furiously criticized. The voting methodology was of three types – by Guthaka (secret method), by Sakarnajapakam (whispering method) and by Vivatakam (Open method). Generally the assembly contains four to twenty executive members. The Raja (King), Upa-Raja (Sub-ordinate king), Senapati (military commanders) and Bhandagarika (treasurers) seem to be the designation of four executive members.
...
Gautama Buddha was very pleased to see the functioning of Lichchhavi Santhagara and he directed his pupils to pattern the Buddhist monastic order (Buddhist sangha) on the Lichchhavis sangha polities.
...Santhagara started to disappear with the fall of republican states like Malla, Shakya, and Lichchhavis. Malla lost their independence to Magadha Empire soon after Buddha’s death.
Shakaymuni war also mit einer Institution aufgewachsen, die für eine gewisse Demokratie (Oligarchie) unter der (privelgierten) Teilnehmer sorgte und er übernahm diese Modell der Gleichheit explizit für seine Sangha. Von daher war in der Sangha ein tiefes Ideal der Gleichheit verankert. Buddha installierte auch keinen "buddhitischen Patriarchen" als seinen Nachfolger sondern die Sangha als Gemeinschaft.
Das politische Modell des Santhagara geriet aber durch die aufstrebenden Reiche unter Besschuss . Gleichzeitg wurde die indische Gesellschaft immer patriarchaler und ich denke, das das miteinander zu tun hat. So wurde auch der Palikanon zunehmend patriarchaler ausgelegt.
Um die Demokratie im jetzigen Indern zu befördern ist es wahrschienlich zweckdienlicher so etwas wie Santhagara zu betonen, statt Demokratie und Aufklärung als etwas inhärent westlich/christlich/griechisches zu sehen, was ihnen von den englischen Kolonialherrn andressiert und reingeprügelt wurde.
