Buddhist Economics

The first thing, which many associate with Buddhism, is the image of a monk. This image doesn'€™t comply with our €˜traditional€™ thoughts about economics. Skyscrapers, malls, stock market on the other hand though would conjure up an image of Economics. This mainly happens because while talking about economics we conform to Western standards and vocabularies, hence it has been difficult in the past to avoid these while talking about Buddhist economies. The term "Buddhist economics" may evoke the image of an ideal society where all economic activity -- buying and selling, production and consumption -- conforms to strict ethical standards. But such an idealized image, attractive as it may sound, does not convey the full depth of the Buddha's teachings.

The concept of Buddhist economies arises from one of the Buddha’s eightfold noble paths, which states €œRight Livelihood”.

Ernst Schumacher coined the term “Buddhist Economics€ in the year 1955 when he travelled to Burma as an economic consultant to Prime Minister U Nu. He was one of the first to integrate Buddha’s teachings with Economics and his book €œ"Small is Beautiful"€ is considered to be the treatise for the same. Mr. Schumacher's point that the existence of Right Livelihood as one of the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path necessitates a Buddhist economics has a number of implications. Firstly, it indicates the importance given to Right Livelihood (or economics) in Buddhism. Secondly, and conversely, it means that economics is taken to be merely one amongst a number of factors (traditionally eight) that comprise a right way of life, that is, one capable of solving the problems of life.

 

 

Role of religion and ethics in shaping Buddhist Economics

 

Economics and all the Social Sciences according to Buddhist economists is completely removed from reality and based solely on man made truths. Buddhist economics takes a spiritual approach, as such it does not delve into the technical aspect of Economics but it examines the basic fears, emotions and desires that motivate our economic activity. Hence ethics play a major role in Buddhist economics and it tries to move away from the objectivity of Modern economics and delve into the subjective aspect of Economics and takes into consideration both the absolute and also the abstract.

Buddhist economics departs from the Modern economic principles in a lot of areas, which include resources like labour, acquisition of wealth, distribution of wealth. It seeks to be socially just and counts on people to be ethical in dealings amongst themselves and not resort to economic exploitation, which is on display everywhere today. Hence it seeks to obtain the €œMiddle Way€ which can be best explained through this verse, "Don't eat just because you feel like it, eat when you feel hungry . . ."

 

 

Problems with modern economic concepts

Like other sciences in this age of specialization, economics has become a narrow and rarefied discipline; an isolated, almost stunted, body of knowledge, having little to do with other disciplines or human activities. Ideally, the sciences should provide solutions to the complex, interrelated problems that face humanity, but cut off as it is from other disciplines and the larger sphere of human activity, economics can do little to ease the ethical, social and environmental problems that face us today. And given the tremendous influence it exerts on our market-driven societies, narrow economic thinking may, in fact, be the primary cause of some of our most pressing social and environmental troubles.

    Like other sciences, economics strives for objectivity. In the process, however, subjective values, such as ethics, are excluded. With no consideration of subjective, moral values, an economist may say, for instance, that a bottle of whiskey and a Chinese dinner have the same economic value, or that drinking in a night club contributes more to the economy than listening to a religious talk or volunteering for humanitarian work. These are truths according to economics.

    But the objectivity of economics is shortsighted. Economists look at just one short phase of the natural causal process and single out the part that interests them, ignoring the wider implications. Thus, modern economists take no account of the ethical consequences of economic activity. Neither the vices associated with the frequenting of nightclubs, nor the wisdom arising from listening to a religious teaching, are its concern. Hence for an example ethically it might be a good thing if a student reads a book but for an ‘objective’ economist it might be a waste of resources, having no productive effect whatsoever.

The Buddha's teachings point to Dhamma, or truth. In Buddhism the term Dhamma is used to convey different levels of truth, both relative truths and ultimate truth.

Yet this is precisely the trouble with modern economic thinking. It is found lacking in any holistic and spirituality and fails to give a comprehensive insight into the events and this happens largely due to the narrowness of their specialized view.

    Modern economics has been said to be the most scientific of all the social sciences. Indeed, priding themselves on their scientific methodology, economists take only measurable quantities into consideration. Some even assert that economics is purely a science of numbers, a matter of mathematical equations. In its efforts to be scientific, economics ignores all non-quantifiable, abstract values.

But a simple fact needs to be realized that economic process begins with want, continues with choice, and ends with satisfaction, all of which are functions of mind. Abstract values are thus the beginning, the middle and the end of economics, and so it is impossible for economics to be value-free. Yet as it stands, many economists avoid any consideration of values, ethics, or mental qualities, despite the fact that these will always have a bearing on economic concerns.

 

 

Distinguishing features of Buddhist Economics

 

Thus Buddhist economics strives to create a more humanistic approach to economics where men are considered above goods, creativity on part of men to be over production and considering material goods over humans would be evil for a Buddhist economist, as it would imply shifting of focus from the human to the subhuman. The Buddhist point of view takes the function of work to be at least threefold:

1)     To give man a chance to utilise and develop his faculties

2)      To enable him to overcome his ego-centeredness by joining with other people in a common task;

3)      And to bring forth the goods and services needed for a becoming existence.

To organise work in such a manner that it becomes meaningless, boring, stultifying, or nerve-racking for the worker would not be accepted by a Buddhist economist as it would indicate a greater concern with goods than with people, a lack of compassion which is evil in nature and a soul-destroying degree of craving to the most primitive side of this worldly existence i.e. inhumane lust for wealth. Equally, only striving for leisure as an alternative to work would be considered a complete misunderstanding of one of the basic truths of human existence, namely that work and leisure are complementary parts of the same living process and cannot be separated without destroying the joy of work and the bliss of leisure.

From the Buddhist point of view, there are therefore two types of mechanisation which must be clearly distinguished: one that enhances a man’s skill and power and one that turns the work of man over to a mechanical slave, leaving man in a position of having to serve the slave. An example of this can be handloom and the power loom.

The very start of Buddhist economic planning would be a planning for full employment, irrespective of the face that underemployed economy would lead to a greater output and the primary purpose of this would in fact be employment for everyone who needs an "outside" job: it would not be the maximisation of employment nor the maximisation of production.

The keynote of Buddhist economics, therefore, is simplicity and non-violence. From an economist’s point of view, the marvel of the Buddhist way of life is the utter rationality of its pattern—amazingly small means leading to extraordinarily satisfactory results.

For the modern economist this is very difficult to understand. He is used to measuring the "standard of living" by the amount of annual consumption, assuming all the time that a man who consumes more is "better off" than a man who consumes less. A Buddhist economist would consider this approach excessively irrational: since consumption is merely a means to human well - being, the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption.

Buddhist economics is different from the economics of modern materialism, since the Buddhist sees the essence of civilization not in a multiplication of wants but in the purification of human character. While the materialist is mainly interested in goods, the Buddhist is mainly interested in liberation. But Buddhism is “The Middle Way” and therefore in no way antagonistic to physical well - being. It is not wealth that stands in the way of liberation but the attachment to wealth; not the enjoyment of pleasurable things but the craving for them. Thus the underlying stress of Buddhist Economics is on simplicity and non-violence and it is in no way against physical well - being. According to it Spiritual health and material well - being need not be contradictory to one another, rather they can be natural allies.

Thus the study of Buddhist economics can be suggested even to the one who believes in “high growth” because it is according to the Buddhist economists the question of choosing the right way of development, “Middle Way.”

 

 

Relevance of Buddhist Economics today

 

Today we live in an increasingly complex and an ever-changing environment. Sheer greed and poor regulation by a few western governments has rocked the entire world and jeopardized the economic and thus social well being of millions of people. Around the globe people are being laid off as a measure of ‘cost cuts’ by the companies and in order to offset their losses. Financial markets have been bearish all over thus robbing the investors of their hard earned money. Major world economies have gone into a recession and as a result trade has declined, exporters and business are suffering. A question needs to be asked that why has all this happened? What was the fault of those thousands of hard working people who are being laid off and being rendered unemployed in this ruthless age of survival?

The answer is not as straightforward as it seems. Bubbles and recession are a part of the highly flawed, ‘self correcting’ capitalist system hence the problem lies in the deeper rut which mankind has got into. Sheer greed and the lust of money have made people forget the humanistic values, which were so highly cherished during the formation of our great nation.

The preamble of our constitution proudly declares India as a “Socialist” nation. Acute concentration of wealth and 33% of our population i.e. about 465 million people living below the poverty line (according to World Bank) would hardly serve as a good indicator of this fact.

Worldwide today there are about 1 billion people in the world subsisting on $1 a day or less. These people typically spend 80% of their income on food thus the economics slowdown compounded with the food crisis spells catastrophe for them. Thus its evident that the mechanisms put into place by the bourgeoisie as Marx referred to the influential and the rich have failed mankind and a way needs to be found out from this mess.

 

The answers to all these problems might lie in Buddhist economics. With its stress on according respect to labour and aiming for full employment, it would effectively eliminate a large part of the problems arising out of unemployment. Buddhist economics stresses on purification of human character and combines the social justice of communism while stressing on non-violence along with progressive model of capitalism while stressing on respectability of resources including labour. Hence it seeks to achieve a judicious mix development both in terms of wealth and spirit.

A relevant example of this would be Bhutan or ‘Druk Yul’ (the land of thunder dragon) as its commonly called by the locals. Effective implementation of policies of Buddhist economics lead to the Business Weekly ranking it as the 8th happiest country in the world and in the same year it managed to achieve a GDP growth rate of a whopping 14%.

Due to its thrust on sustainable living, rampant destruction of the environment has been avoided and Bhutan has successfully retained its rich environmental and cultural beauty. Gross National Happiness index is given paramount importance there and strictly adhering to it has ensured a holistic lifestyle for the citizens of Bhutan.

 

Thus it is evident that model of Buddhist economics has been applied successfully and has great scope to be replicated across various economies where a balance needs to be found between materialism and spiritualism. Gandhiji has famously quoted that, “ There is enough in this world for a man’s need but net enough for his greed.” In this regard Buddhist economics might just be the way forward.