According
to Gunawardana (1979:170):"The Buddhist tradition placed great emphasis on
the importance of the king as a leader of men. The stability of the social
system as well as the proper functioning of the whole universe depend on the
conduct of the king". This essay describes two ideal leadership
types, the Cakkavatti and Bodhisattva kings,
from the Buddhist literature. Each of these Buddhist kings will be shown
to have unique ethical approaches to the issue of wealth. Following a general discussion of wealth from the Buddhist
perspective, the Cakkavatti and Bodhisattva leadership
types will be argued to capture the process of wealth generation and
distribution, respectively, together providing a complete ethical approach to
wealth. Thus, a particular leader may enact a particular mix of these two ideal
leadership types to formulate a comprehensive ethical approach to wealth.
Material from this essay has been incorporated into The
Essence of Leadership: A Cross-Cultural Foundation, which is available
in print and as an ebook at Amazon.