The Chulalongkorn Journal of Buddhist Studies

From Wealth to Wellbeing and Finally Nibbtina: A Transcendence from Traditional to Buddhist Economics

Apichai Puntasen — 2018-12-30

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.

NegotiatingDhamma amid Uncertain Democratization: A Perspective on Myanmar’s Buddhist Responses to Sociopolitical Change

Lowell Skar — 2018-12-30

This essay examines some ways that the Buddhist monastic community (sangha) in Myanmar has been part of the political transition in that country after 2010. It relates these recent Buddhist-state interactions to deeper developments in Myanmar society and culture, especially those from the early 20th century. It argues that current developments in the Buddhist sangha and Myanmar’s political transition toward democracy are part of an ongoing and uncertain negotiation process. These negotiations are between a new, hybrid, and still embryonic democratically-elected government constrained by military power and diverse evolving forms of Buddhist organization and practice. Both arc entangled within an anxious and fractious society that is experiencing uncertain socioeconomic changes and conflicted transnational forces. The negotiations of a diverse Buddhist community thus have complex and unresolved relations to Myanmar’s society and its fledgling democratization.

Justice in the Tipitaka

Channarong Boonnoon — 2018-12-30

The objective of this research is to study concepts of “justice” and “social justice” in Pali Tipitaka, Theravada's essential texts, under two main directions: (1) a study of the concept “moral justice” that appears in the teachings on the law of karma and rebirth to find out whether it can be a basis of “social justice”; (2) an inquiry into the concept “social justice” from Buddhist teachings on society and state in the Sulfas, and the Vinayas, which formally govern the monastery (the sangha).

The study indicates that Buddhism accepts two conceptions of justice, i.e. universal and social. The former, based on the Buddha's teachings on karma, states that a moral law exists and governs the realization of sequences of behavior in proportion to their deeds. This law functions dynamically and causally beyond human’s understandings. Descriptive orientation and theoretical complexity of the teachings impedes its explanatory and evaluative application to social relations. The latter, founded on the Buddha’s sociopolitical teachings, focuses on immediate life situations. Believing that individual and society, as well as citizens and state-power structure, are interrelated; and that “AH humans desire a good life that is made possible in a just society,” Buddhism employs human basic features as main criteria for an arrangement of systems to distribute goods and wrongs. The study proposes that justice rooted in sociopolitical context leading itself to application to general society is more applicable and beneficial than justice defined by the law of karma.