Leadership and Buddhism

 Reading the Cakkavattisihananda Sutta, I am reminded that leadership as a topic is not ignored in Buddhism. There is a tendency to think that Buddhism does not intersect politics, and to leave it at that, yet the Buddha did have a lot to say about the role of monarchs and leaders in general. The sutra I just referred to uses a term known as "chakravartin", which literally means a 'wheel turning' ruler or someone who turns the wheel. Yet, what does 'turning the Dharma wheel' actually mean? From my understanding, it means to act and lead in accordance with the principles, precepts and edicts of Buddhadharma, such as the 12 links of conditioned arising, 4 Noble truths, and 10 precepts. This also represents the individual 'spokes' on the Dharma wheel, all of which require each other to maintain the circle.
   The Cakkavattisihananda Sutta also includes ideas about what happens  when monarchs fail to follow the laws of Dharma, and use their own judgments and opinions to rule the state. In one example, the king is said to follow the rule to protect all his subjects, yet he overlooks the edict against theft. The result is having to punish thieves, which in turn leads to people imitating the violence of the king and killing each other as a result. The chain of misdeeds continues downward, to the point where the entire moral state degenerates. It's evident to me that this 'slipping' of the Dharma wheel represents the suffering that arises when rulers choose to overlook the Dharma in favor of their own judgments, which are often limited by experience and not informed by principles.
   All of this sounds very abstract, but there's a lot to say about leaders here. For one, a good leader does not just take his own decision into account, but needs to study ways outside of himself to understand the nature of the universe. I almost think of this as similar to the idea that there is a 'science' which governs how rulers succeed. Rather than just going according to reason or their own self-referential opinions, leaders need to study the patterns of karma, cause/condition and arising of various afflictive states, before they can properly care for their people and even advise the spiritual practitioners (sramanas, ascetics, Brahmins etc.) in their midst.
   Another aspect that interests me is that this sutra begins and ends with the Buddha instructing his monastic disciples to be 'islands onto themselves.' What's the significance of this framing, and why does the Buddha use a monarch (of all people) to demonstrate this principle? I think that the text is suggesting that the highest leader is one who, rather than looking outside of her or himself to understand the needs of her or his people, is ruling according to principles which can only be known through an inner cultivation. In a sense, this is similar to a Platonic idea of the charioteer (which is a parallel image common to both this sutta and The Republic), where the latter represents human inclinations, instincts, and so on, and the charioteer represents the mind, or in some cases, reasoning.The charioteer effectively learns to reign in the wild energies of the unruly horses, in order to be the master of the situation and her or himself. Similarly, perhaps the Cakkavattisihananda Sutta is similarly suggesting that leaders learn to be sufficient unto themselves, not by exerting their own opinions but by becoming self-made students of an eternal law or rhythm in nature. The notion of a leader as a 'student' of life and Dharma is perhaps a useful bridging metaphor between leaders as strict autocrats and the idea that leaders should give into every whim of the people.