If a ruler does not observe the principle of “non-opposition”, but goes against his own people, they will hate him and, finding a leader to their own mind, will bring down that ruler. If he is a ruler too powerful for his people to bring him down, they will leave for another country and their own country will be diminished . 

It is not possible to calculate how much has been lost by going against the people of the country. It will mostly be found in the 550 Jātakas and in the Chronicles. We can even see for ourselves pretty well too.

The most Excellent Lord formed the intention of showing that, out of the ten rules for the behaviour of kings, that of conciliation, called khantī, is not only observed by tributary kings, sole rulers and emperors, but that in the spirit world too, its king, Cakka,gives it the highest importance. Accordingly, while he was leading his religious life in the Jetavana Monastery in the Sravasti country, the Lord uttered the words:

Bhutapubbaµ bhikkave devā sūrasangāmo samūpabyuh¹o ahosi followed by the rest of the story, which is: Monks, in times long ago, the Devas and the Asūrās were at war and were attacking each other. At this time the king of the Asūrās set aside his plans for a direct attack on sakka and said: “We will gain victory in this war with pleasant speech.”

Sakka replied to Vepacitti, the leader of the Asūrās, “Very well, then; win this war with pleasant speech!” and he gave him leave to start. On both sides the soldiers, the devas’ officers and generals, crowded in together to find out who was going to say what and Vepacitti, the king of the Asūrās, said to sakka “Go ahead, you speak first.” sakka replied, “You, the Asūrās, came before we, the Devas, did. Will you please speak first!” Vepacitti, king of the Asūrās then, intending to speak well, recited

“Bhiyyo bālā pabhijjheyyum,

no cassa patisedhako;

tasamā bhūsena dandena,

dhīro bālam nisedhaye” ti.

That is to say: -- “When fools go wild and cannot be dissuaded from their folly, then the wise must restrain them with the heaviest punishments.” Monks! When the Asūrās heard the gāthā pronounced by Vepacitti, their king, they were delighted and gave him much praise. The Devas on the other hand were quiet.

Vepacitti, the Asūrā king, then said, “Go on, sakka, and say your piece!” After he had spoken, sakka recited his best gāthā

“Etadeva aham maññe,

bālassa patisedhanam;

param sankupitam ñatvā,

yo sato upasammatī”ti.

That is to say:-- “If he be mindful, the wise man in face of a fool who is angry recognizes that the fool is angry and does not respond with anger on his side, but tries for a peaceful conciliation. Such peaceful conciliation without anger, he believes, will admonish and restrain the fool.”

Monks! When sakka had recited this gāthā, the Devas praised him while the Asūrās stayed quiet. sakka invited Vepacitti, the Asūrā king, to recite another gāthā and the Asūrā king responded

“Etadeva titikkhāya,

vajjam passāmi vāsava;

yadā nam maññati bālo,

bhayāmyāyam titikkhati;

ajjhāruhati dummedho,

gova bhiyyo palāyinan’ ti.

That is to say: -- “sakka fears our power and so is conciliatory. Whenever some fool sees him in this light, just as the herd-leader runs ahead of a runaway cow and makes her follow in line, so that fool will get ahead of him and give him a rough time. Our Asūrā King sees it a fault to accept insult from trying to conciliate a fool.” After this, to resolve the matter sakka recited another gāthā:

That is to say: “Whether or not you believe that it is because we are afraid of you that we are conciliatory, you still think that your good is yours and yours only. (This means believing that between the good of another and one's own good, one's own is to be preferred). But among all the benefits that you yourself gain, there is not one that is better than the benefit of reconciliation.” (This means that the benefit of reconciliation is greater than any of your personal benefits.)

“In truth, if one who has great strength concedes to one who has less strength, that concession of the stronger to the weaker is the more valuable concession, so the Lord and other good men have told us. The weaker will always be in his debt.” 

(This means that, since if the stronger overbears the weaker, the weaker who submits to being thus overborne cannot reverse the situation; he will have to submit to being permanently overborne. Even if he does not want to submit, there is nothing that he can do about it.

And so, if there is reconciliation, it will not be for khantī. If he actually has any strength, any reconciliation will be reconciliation with the violence and rebellion of the weaker. Reconciliation through goodwill and khantī is better.) 

“A fool with strength is still a fool. Since none of the five strengths of a king and none of the seven strengths of the virtuous enter into his strength, he has no real strength -so the Lord and other good men have told us. Only one who has great power of wisdom and who follows the Religion has real strength, which will never grow less.”

“One who loses his temper in response to one who has lost his, since his loss of temper is a reaction, will be ruled by the one who grew angry first - he will be his inferior. The one who does not lose his temper in response to a loss of temper by the other will be the winner in the battle.”

“A wise man watches himself and he will recognise when the fool he is dealing with is losing his temper and will not lose his in return, but quietly accept the situation. Only by such quiet acceptance of another's anger can the well-being of both, his own and the others, be saved.” 

“There are fools who know nothing of the rules of conduct of the virtuous. Such people consider foolish the good men who have regard for the well-being both of themselves and of others.” 

(To act upon the principle that one's own benefit and the benefit of another can both be secured is the basis of conciliation. Fools think those are foolish who work to secure both - this is the meaning)

Thus sakka and the Asūrā King, witnessed by the generals and soldiers of their armies, contested which of them could speak best. They swore oaths and made their speeches. That of the Asūrā King concerned punishments; it concerned weapons; it concerned how resistance could not be ended except by force. 

sakka’s speech brought in no punishments; no weaponry, no forceful attack upon resistance; it concerned ideas of bringing enmity to an end by conciliation. The leading warriors on both sides drew their conclusions.

The most Excellent Lord thus told how in this way the King of the Asūrās was defeated. “Monks! It was thus that the ruler of the Devas, sakka, gained the victory, by his good speech.”

On the strength of this text we must realise that tributary kings, monarchs, emperors, the Supreme Lord himself, all possible ranks of royalty from sakka down must hold conciliation as of the greatest importance. 

သဂါထာဝဂၢပါဠိ။ ၁၁။ သကၠသံယုတ္၊ ၄။ ေဝပစိတၱိသုတ္၊ ႏွာ-၁-၂၂၃-၆