Enlightened sort, a bowler perhaps restricting runs (5)

I haven't cracked this one yet — but the brilliant team at Times for the Times have:

R (runs) in A HAT; a somewhat (but not, I hope, over-vigorously) disputed concept in Buddhism; one rung below a buddha, basically, so pretty meritorious, which is what it means.  Scandinavians are about as close as you can get nearer to home.