Buddhist Economics
The presentation of the Buddhist ethics on economics was over all a good summary of the major ideas and principles involved with economics within Buddhism. They touched on some of the important themes involved with economics, and gave a westerner a general idea of the influence, which Buddhism has on both the layperson and the monk. Yet, they also left out some important principles, which could have lead to a more complete understanding of the Buddhist view on Economics. The presenters started their presentation of by discussing the idea of the Middle Way. This was a good topic to begin their presentation because this idea has a large effect on a Buddhist's view of economics. "Economics are in agreement that man has limitless or endless desires, but Buddhists believe that fulfilling all desires of demand may not be beneficial." (Outline) This idea is very important because it contrasts the western way of capitalism and endless desire with the Buddhist view of the Middle Way. In both capitalism and in Buddhist Economics, they acknowledge that limitless desire is instinctual, but in capitalism desire is welcomed, and the fact that humans always desire more is what makes capitalism successful. On the ot
her hand, in Buddhism, desire is exactly what they want to rid themselves of. Finally I would like to discuss the presenter's representation of a monk relating to economics. On their outline they simply listed the basic possessions of a monk which were, "the upper, lower and over robe, belt bowl, razor, needle, water-strainer, staff, and tooth-pick." (Outline) They then added a quotation, which described a monk's basic outlook of material possessions, and lead the audience to believe that monks, still to this day are not economically active. The truth is that recently monasteries have begun to become active in an economic sense. In some sects of Buddhism individual monks were actually allowed to keep money, and monasteries were allowed to sell or use for profit goods donated to them, as well as lend out money and collect interest-as long as the profits went to the benefit of the Three Treasures, i.e., the Sangha, the Buddha, and the Dharma. Economic activities undertaken by individual monks for personal profit, however, continued to be prohibited. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This brings us to the next major point, which the presenters left out entirely. This was the idea of Karma. Buddhists believe that wealth was never an evil in it
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 872
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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