Buddhism and human rights

Abstract

This article follows on certain thoughts about the compatibility of human rights theory and traditional theistic religion by Martin Prozesky. The problem of reconciling human rights theory with the Buddhist doctrine of anatta¿ is discussed. Buddhists have supported human rights campaigns apparently unaware of the secularist and legal‑political presuppositions underlying this concept and the logical contradictions that it introduces when it is used within the Buddhist paradigm. The author concludes that one possible solution to this problem may be found in the Buddhist teaching of "skillful means".