An Aspect of Indian Buddhist Views of Capital Punishment and Severe Physical Punishment

By: SUGIKI Tsunehiko

According to Indian classics in general, punishment (daṇḍa, etc.) is a principal function of a king and it is the reason kingship was created. The same is said in Indian Buddhism, which is typically represented in the narrative on the origin of kingship in the Aggaññasutta1)

There are various forms of punishment, from the light ones, such as verbal reprimand, to the more severe ones, such as capital punishment. The more severe forms of punishment are carried out in the form of killing or wounding criminals. However, in Buddhism, killing or wounding others intentionally is an unwholesome karma or action, which has negative karmic effects on the killer. The Mūgapakkhajātaka says that a king who punished robbers by death, prison, physical torture, and impalement suffers rebirth in hell, even though he ordered the punishment as part of his duties.2)

This paper investigates discourses on royal punishment found in two Pāli texts (Kūṭadantasutta and Milindapañha) and three Mahāyāna texts (Nāgārjunaʼs Ratnāvalī, Satyakaparivarta, and Candrakīrtiʼs Catuḥśatakaṭīkā) and elucidates an aspect of Buddhist views of royal punishment in ancient India.3)

Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies Vol. 68, No. 3, March 2020