The Dharma and Socially Engaged Buddhist Economics

This book defends and articulates an "Engaged Buddhist" approach to economics as a response to the destructive effects of global capitalism. The author posits that Buddhist understandings of the distortions of greed, aversion, and ignorance can be read to apply not only to mental states but also to socio-political ones, and that such a reading suggests rational responses to current social and environmental challenges. The book proposes that we engage both 'inner and outer' modes of transformation through which to free ourselves from our current human-made, dysfunctional systems: the former, by examining the workings of our own minds, the latter by criticizing and reforming our economic systems. Since traditional Buddhism provides few sources to build a Buddhist economic vision, this work brings together Buddhist notions of skillful practice, John Dewey's pragmatic principles for social provisioning, and institutional economics. The author provides two case studies for experiments in Buddhist-based socioeconomic policies, Thailand and Bhutan. Of special interest is the implied parallel between worldviews emerging from modern socially-engaged Buddhism and Dewey's notion of a human existential drive to shape the world in collectively beneficial ways. Joel Magnuson is an Affiliated Professor of Economics at Portland State University. He is the author of many books, as well as numerous articles in journals and anthologies in the United States, Europe, and Japan. His research interests include mindful economics, Buddhist economics, and institutional reform Contents 7 List of Figures 8 1 Introduction 9 Reference 17 2 Socially Engaged Buddhism and Economics 18 Peace Activism 20 Economics and the Buddha 26 Engaged Buddhism and Economics 30 References 36 3 Greed, Hatred, and Delusion 38 Destructive Mental States 40 The Institutionalization of Greed 47 The Commercial Revolution, Religion, and the Sanctification of Greed 49 The Corporation and the Institutionalization of Greed 57 Dharma Talk 64 References 66 4 Paradigm Shifts 68 Whitehead’s Speculative Philosophy 72 The Mechanico-Corpuscular Paradigm and Social Atomism 75 Social Atomism and Neoclassical Economics 83 A Second Paradigm Shift 87 The Second Shift and Buddhism 93 Dharma Talk 97 References 98 5 Institutional Economics, Pragmatism, and Buddhism 100 Peirce and James 103 Holism and the Individual in Pragmatism and Institutional Economics 110 Buddhism and Moral Necessity 123 Dharma Talk 130 References 131 6 Eye of the Heart 134 The Eye of the Heart 136 Meta-Economists 141 John Ruskin 143 William Morris 147 Patrick Geddes 148 Lewis Mumford 151 Schumacher’s Technology with a Human Face 154 Schumacherian Ontology 155 Schumacherian Epistemology 158 Dharma Talk 165 References 168 7 Ecodharma and Economics 169 Pathological System Condition: Global Warming 171 IPCC Reports—2018, 2021 173 Unheeded Warnings 177 “New Economics” 182 The Social Self and Consumerism 184 Ecodharma and Economics 187 Dharma Talk 192 References 193 8 Mindfulness and the Outer Work of Social Change 195 Cultural Hegemony and the Pathology of Normalcy 199 Mindfulness 204 Silent Illumination 210 Capitalism and the Assimilation of Mindfulness 213 McMindfulness 217 Dharma Talk 223 References 224 9 Right Livelihood Institutions 226 Socially Engaged Buddhist Economics and Right Livelihood 229 Localism 233 A System of Lived Ethics 237 Right View 237 Right Thinking 238 Right Speech 238 Right Action 238 Right Livelihood 239 Right Diligence 239 Right Mindfulness 240 Right Concentration 240 Dharma Talk 241 References 244 Appendix 245 Thailand and Bhutan 245 Thailand’s Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 246 Thailand’s Economic Crisis of the Late 1990s 247 Sufficiency Economy Philosophy 250 Bhutan and Gross National Happiness 253 Dharma Talk 260 References 260 Index 262