Recently someone brought to my attention a book called A Constitution for Living, written by a Thai monk named P. A. Payutto and translated into English by Bruce Evans. I haven't read it yet, but it looks great as it summarizes a lot of stuff from the Tipitaka.
From the introduction:
Many people today look on life in all sectors as a struggle between conflicting interests—the "bosses" against the "workers," the "government" against the "people," the "rich" against the "poor," and even the "women" against the "men," or the "children" against the "parents." When the aim of life is seen as material wealth or power, society becomes a struggle between conflicting personal interests, and we are in need of an ethic to protect those interests. It is a "negative ethic": society is based on selfish interests—"the right of each and every person to pursue happiness"—and an ethic, such as "human rights," is needed to keep everybody from cutting each other's throats in the process.
The Buddhist teachings are a "positive ethic": well-being, rather than power or riches, is the aim; society is seen as a medium through which all people have equal opportunity to maximize self-development and well-being, and ethics are used to facilitate those ends.
So this sounds like it should be a good book for getting out of the negative political mindset, and for researching the political implications of the Tipitaka. I'm sure that I'll be drawing on this book for inspiration quite frequently.
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