As a religion and philosophy dealing with the welfare of “all beings” (sabbe satt) Buddhism is certainly concerned with Social Justice. Its concern finds expression through the value system it upholds and considers salutary for mankind.
If law and religion are viewed narrowly—law as rules of conduct promulgated and enforced by political authorities, and religion as beliefs and practices relating to the supernatural—the two may be treated as largely independent of each other, at least in most cultures.
If, however, each is viewed more broadly, they will be seen to be closely interrelated. In virtually all societies the established legal processes of allocating rights and duties, resolving conflicts, and creating channels of cooperation are inevitably connected with the community's sense of, and commitment to, ultimate values and purposes.
Social Justice confronts economic life necessities and political factors, which are often contradictory, although Justice, generally speaking is righteousness and does not imply any human or moral consideration.
Is social justice then comparable to humanism? No, because humanism, besides being a philosophy obeying to various understandings and historical contexts, implies a far too wide perimeter of activity. But we can imagine that the concept of human rights could fit, since in a liberal democratic perception, these are inherent rights to human nature, older and superior to State, leading to the welfare of mankind.
Though not expressed, the concepts and concerns of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10th December 1948 are enshrined in the teachings of the Buddha. The basic principles of the Declaration are fully supported and reinforced by Buddhist Canonical and historical literature. And it has been rightly observed that ""few religious teachers had been as eloquent and explicit as the Buddha was in upholding values so akin to the modern concepts of Human Rights”. He expressed them in greater depth and in a richer tone.
