From Wealth to Wellbeing and Finally Nibbtina: A Transcendence from Traditional to Buddhist Economics
Keywords:
good life, wellbeing, sustainable development, GNH, Sufficiency Economy, sukha, Buddhist economics, nibbanaAbstract
This paper traces the origin of Western economics from the time of Greek civilization to the present. It discusses the ultimate goal of economic activities from Aritotlc's “good life” or “moral life” to the search for wealth during the emergence of the Nation States in Europe, to capitalism and mercantilism in the 16"’ century, to trade monopoly facilitated by colonialism, to national wealth and aggregate production, culminating in the systematic calculation of gross national product (GNP) or gross domestic product (GDP) in the present.
The rapid growth of GN P which has become the development objective of many nations resulted in a rapid deterioration of natural resources and environment - a condition not suitable for the nourishing of all living things, especially human beings. Alternative paradigms of sustainable development were proposed by various parties such as the United Nations in 1987 and the former King of Bhutan in the 1970s through the concept of gross national happiness (GNH) of which good governance is a key component. In the Kingdom of Thailand, the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej advanced his concept of “sufficiency economy” in 1974 as an alternative to the growth-led approach. Together with GNH, sufficiency economy brings the systems analysis for sustainable development into a complete form, consisting of inputs, process output, outcome and impact, taking into account the Buddhist notion of sukha or wellbeing. Sukha is the state of mind completely liberated from all defilements - the ultimate goal of Buddhist economics which is not widely known or clearly understood. Therefore, sustainable development, GNH and sufficiency economy may serve as the bridge between the two main modes of development, and may help us gain a deeper understanding of Buddhist economics.
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