Buddha taught that hatred is to be repaid by love, that life is to be filled with kindness and compassion, that the widest toleration is to be practised. The teachings of Buddha engendered a delicate social consciousness regarding the relation of the individual to his fellows. The precepts were strong enough to break down rigid class barriers. The underlying conception was broadly human.
Additional light is thrown on the social thought of Buddha by the following sayings which are credited to him:
Pity and sympathy is the Buddha’s mind.
Pity to his parents is the Supreme Law.
Honesty is the Paradise of the Bodhisattva.
O my Disciples, flee from fornication, know how to be content with your own wife, and do not even for a single moment lust after another woman.
A state without a ruler is like a body without a head; it cannot exist very long.
The king looks upon his subjects with a heart of mercy, as if they were his children; and the people regard the king as their father.
If there is no Buddha in the world, be good to your parents; for to be good to one’s parents is to minister unto Buddha.
Nursing a sick man is the great field where the righteous tree of mind grows.