Response paper

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Buddhist Economics

An Enlightened Approach to the

Dismal Science

Clair Brown

BLOO M SB U RY PR E SS

NEW YORK · LONDON · OXFORD· NEW DEL H I • SYDNEY

INTRODUCTION

E CONOMICS AFFECTS HOW we live and how happy we are. Yet most people ignore economics even though it has a powerful impact on our lives and our future.

Take our two biggest worldwide challenges: global warming

and income inequality. United Nations climate scientists warn

that time is running out if we are to avoid destroying our planet

and our way oflife. Income inequality rivals that of the Gilded

Age, with economists predicting that inequality will continue

to grow, along with political turmoil.

Both of these challenges are profoundly influenced by

economics. Overcoming them will require a complete rethink-

ing of our economic system, our lives, and what matters to us.

We must learn to live in harmony with Nature and with one

another.

I have been an economist at the University of California,

Berkeley, for a lifetime and a Buddhist for a decade. As a

professor of economics and a student of Buddhism, I have been

grappling for some time now with the troubling disconnect

between free market economics and the issues of the real world.

In an era marked by vast economic disparities and the threat of

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INTRODUCTION ix

environmental collapse, with opulent living for a few, comfort-

able living for many, and deprivation with suffering for most,

something is clearly wrong.

Free market economics assumes that markets produce

optimal outcomes and people have the resources to create satis-

fying lives. In measuring national well-being, economics

focuses only on income and consumption, and excludes many

of the pressing issues that define our modern life.

What would a Buddhist approach to economics, in which

people are regarded as more important than output and a mean-

ingful life is prized above a lavish lifestyle, look like? I began to

wonder.

My thinking about how to reframe economics from a Buddhist

perspective was inspired initially by studying Buddhism with

compassionate, knowledgeable teachers at the Nyingma Institute

in Berkeley. Then a Tibetan Buddhist meditation hall opened not

far from our house. My husband and I stopped by and heard a talk

given by Anam Thubten Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist lama,

and began practicing with him. As I embraced the core Buddhist

concepts of interdependence, compassion, and right livelihood, I

wondered, "How would Buddha teach Introductory Economics?"

Four years ago, I put my musings into action by teaching a

sophomore seminar on Buddhist economics at Berkeley, in part

to develop my own thinking on the subject. The students ener-

getically engaged in addressing questions about inequality,

happiness, and sustainability, teaching me what I already

suspected: you don't have to be an economics major or practice

Buddhism to join in the conversation about how Buddhism can

connect the human spirit and the economy to create well-being

and happiness for all people.

X INTRODUCTION

As a Buddhist and an economics professor, I join the chorus

of economists asking whether there is an alternative to an

economy ruled by desire and ill equipped to address the chal-

lenges of environmental deterioration, inequality, and personal

suffering.

BECOMING HAPPY

What makes people happy? This question takes us to the

heart of the difference between free market economics and

Buddhist economics: our human nature. According to Buddhist

economics, human nature is generous and altruistic, even as it

also cares about itself. Buddha taught that all people suffer from

their own mental states, with feelings of discontent that come

from desiring more and more. The Dalai Lama tells us that

the feeling of not having enough and wanting more does not

arise from the inherent desirability of the objects we are seeking,

but from our own mental illusions. Buddha taught us how to

end suffering by changing our states of mind, which translates

into finding happiness through living a meaningful life.

Free market economics holds that human nature 1s self-

centered and that people care only about themselves as they

push ahead to maximize their incomes and fancy lifestyles.

According to this approach, buying and consuming-shopping

for new shoes or playing a new video game-will make you

happy. Forget that soon you will grow tired of the shoes,

become disappointed with the game, and be off shopping again.

In this endless cycle of desire, we are continuously left wanting

more without ever finding lasting satisfaction. Free market

economics is not guiding us toward living meaningful lives in a

INTRODUCTION xi

healthy world, nor is it offering solutions to our concerns about

global wars, income equality, and environmental threats.

Buddhist economics, in contrast, provides guidance for

restructuring both our individual lives and the economy to create

a better world. "Practice compassion to be happy" replaces "More

is better." "Everyone's well-being is connected" replaces

"Maximize your own position." "The welfare of humans and

Nature is interdependent" replaces "Pollution is a social cost that

the individual can ignore."

NO TIME TO LOSE

Climate scientists warn that we don't have much time left to

make the switch from an income-driven world with little concern

for environmental harm to an economy that dramatically reduces

our carbon footprint. Scientists around the world release a steady

flow of reports on how human activity is causing global warming

and how it harms our lives now and will into the future. Yet most

people seem too busy to listen and take action.

On the same weekend in January 2015, two very different

articles appeared: one, in the highly respected journal Science,

reported that threats to our environment endanger our way of

life; the other, in the New York Times, described the servicing of

private superyachts that require professional crews and cost

millions of dollars. The Science article reported that an interna-

tional team of eighteen scientists has found that four of the nine

earth biophysical processes crucial to maintaining the stability

of the planet have become dangerously compromised by human

activity: the systems of biosphere integrity (extinction rate),

biogeochemical flows (phosphorus-nitrogen cycle), land system

xii INTRODUCTION

change (deforestation for crops and cities), and climate change

(atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration). The New York

Times article reported that more than one fifth of the estimated

five thousand superyachts in the world were purchased in the

last five years, during the Great Recession. I suspect that many

more people paid attention to the New York Times article than

the Science article; despite our knowledge about the disastrous

damage that we are inflicting on the earth, consumption

continues to fascinate and accelerate. Materialistic drives are

pushing us toward the "sixth extinction," as many are now

referring to today's ongoing extinction of species.

Inequality is equally relentless. In many economies, inequality

has dramatically increased as the surge in income and wealth

since the mid-197os has been captured by the top I percent and

done little to benefit the majority of families. Economists have

warned us that inequality can slow economic growth and reduce

people's sense of well-being. But during the Great Recession

following the global financial crisis of 2008, ordinary people

paid the price of a crisis that was caused by the powerful finan-

cial sector, which recovered just fine as a result of government

bailouts. In the United States, the bailout cost taxpayers $21

billion, plus billions in lost wages.

Income inequality is not uniform across nations. Some

countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, India, and

China) have created much more inequality than others

(including many European nations and Japan). Such inequality

is not inevitable; it is a national choice that results from govern-

ment policies. For example, Denmark and Sweden have a

progressive tax structure and social programs that provide

everyone with health care, child care, and education along with

INTRODUCTION x iii

a safety net for hard times. In contrast, the United States has a

much less progressive tax structure and a flimsy safety net, and

private companies are in charge of much of health care and

child care.

Similarly, climate scientists have demonstrated that burning

fossil fuels, causing carbon dioxide emissions that heat the

planet, is the result of many choices that governments make .

The United States has aggravated both global warming and

inequality by allowing big business, especially the fossil fuel

and finance industries, to be big political players. Countries

choose to institute policies that result in global warming and

inequality, and they can reverse them if they so desire.

THE TERM "BUDDHIST economics" was first coined by E . F.

Schumacher in his 1973 book Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if

People Mattered. Schumacher foresaw the problems that come

about with excessive reliance on the growth of income, espe-

cially overwork and dwindling resources . He argued for a

system that valued individual character development and human

liberation over an attachment to material goods. In Schumacher's

view , the goal of Buddhist economics is "the maximum of well-

being with the minimum of consumption."

My approach expands on Schumacher's notion of Buddhist

economics to accommodate a world that couldn't have been

envisioned in 1973, and to advocate an approach to organizing

the economy so that a meaningful life reflects our caring for

one another and global sharing of the world's resources in a

sustainable system. Buddha taught that true happiness does not

come from the external world, not from fame or consumption

or friends or power. True happiness comes from within

xiv INTRODUCTION

ourselves as we surrender to the great unknown, develop love

and compassion for everyone, and become aware of every

precious moment oflife.

We are failing at both the personal and the national level,

and we must wake up and take action. And we do not have to

don sackcloth and stop living comfortable, interesting, and

fulfilling lives to do so. We can reprogram our economic

system to create, measure, and evaluate what we value, to

develop well-performing economies that provide meaningful

lives for everyone while protecting the planet. Buddhist

economics can guide us along the way.

BUDDHIST ECONOMICS IS NOT JUST FOR

BUDDHISTS (OR ECONOMISTS)

As I learned by teaching my sophomore seminar at Berkeley,

you don't have to be a Buddhist to embrace a Buddhist approach

to economics. You need only share the Dalai Lama's belief that

human nature is gentle and compassionate and embrace the

idea that economics can be a force for good, one that goes

beyond self-centered materialism.

In urging kindness and compassion, Buddhism does not

stand apart from other major religions. Christianity, Islam,

Hinduism, and Judaism all have their own versions of the

Golden Rule, "treat others as you would like others to treat

you." As the Dalai Lama teaches, "Every religion emphasize[s]

human improvement, love, respect for others, [and] sharing

other people's suffering," with all the major religions aiming to

help people achieve lasting happiness. The main difference

between Buddhism and other religions is that it does not posit

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INTRODUCTION xv

an external god; instead, each person is regarded as sacred, and

each of us has our own inner Buddha, which is our perfect true

self and an inexhaustible source of love, compassion, and

wisdom.

Many people all over the world have read about or tried

Buddhism, and even those who decide that the practice is not for

them still likely agree with the basic principles. For example, in

The Happiness Project, the bestselling author Gretchen Rubin

writes, "I had to find some way to steer my mind toward

the transcendent and the timeless, away from the immediate

and the shallow ... to appreciate the glories of the present

moment ... to put the happiness of others before my own happi-

ness. Too often, these eternal values got lost in the hubbub of

everyday routines and selfish concerns." Anyone who believes in

these sorts oflessons, and approaches life with an open heart and

an inquiring mind, can benefit from Buddhist economics.

Being interdependent with one another and with Nature

does not mean uniformity of action, or conformity. We don't

have to give up our unique personalities, which help us navi-

gate life in the external world. Rather, being connected means

being mindful of each precious moment in life, as well as

mindful of our feelings and our impact on others. In Buddhism,

we want to be in touch with our true nature so that we are not

driven by our ego, which plays and replays our daily habits of

fear, guilt, shame, greed, jealousy, hatred ... the list goes on

and on. Our continual judgment of ourselves and others, our

attachment to possessions and relationships with continual

longing for more, our ignorance of the suffering we are causing

others and Nature by our lifestyle-all cause pain and make us

unhappy. But if we know ourselves and are aware of the people

xvi INTRODUCTION

and world around us in each moment throughout the day, then

our regrets about the past and our worries about the future

dissolve. We awaken to the magic of the moment and find

happiness as our suffering ends.

When we are feeling discontented in our egocentric materi-

alistic world, we use strategies that bring momentary distrac-

tion and maybe even brief periods of happiness. We may go

shopping for new clothes, or play a new game on our iPhone,

or stream a favorite television show. In a Buddhist world, in

contrast, a person experiencing pain may sit quietly to let go of

the feelings and illusions causing the pain, or talk to a friend

who understands the pain, or enjoy a family meal. Instead of

escaping the feeling of unhappiness or discontent, a person is

mindful of what is happening and finds ways to enjoy what is

meaningful in life. Each moment is too precious to waste in

self-made pain, and we can use awareness to enjoy life to the

fullest without relying on consumerism.

PRACTICING MINDFULNESS

On a personal level, many people benefit from mindfulness

practice, which is being aware of the moment without judg-

ment while you relax your body, quiet your mind, and open

your heart. Usually people practice mindfulness while sitting in

a chair or on a cushion. Others find that walking slowly, or

practicing yoga, or shooting archery, allows them to live fully

in the present moment.

In this millennium, mindfulness sitting has taken the

country by storm. We see mindfulness meditation headlines on

the covers of magazines ranging from Parade (2015) and Time

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(2014) to National Geographic (2005) and Scientific American (2014).

Mindfulness meditation is lauded by a Harvard Medical School

newsletter and has been shown to increase brain activity and

have other health benefits. The Greater Good Science Center at

UC Berkeley has produced a couple of short, spiffy videos that

show how meditation changes your brain so you feel happier.

Watch them if you want inspiration. Many people have found

that practicing mindfulness sitting makes them happier. They

feel less like a separate self and more interconnected with the

world as they shift from "me to we," and as they see how their

beliefs do not represent true reality.

Certain studies have shown that monks' meditation practices

have changed the way their brains function, as brain activity in

the right insula and both sides of their anterior cingulate

cortices has increased. Other studies have observed that neuro-

plasticity occurred, meaning that long-term Buddhist medita-

tors have altered the structure as well as function of their

brains.

Mindfulness meditation lessons are taught in many forms,

for a wide array of prices. But you don't have to leave home to

try mindfulness sitting. Find a comfortable chair or cushion

and sit quietly with your back straight and your hands in your

lap or on your knees. Focus on your breath as it flows into your

nostrils. Relax your shoulders and feel your entire body relax as

you focus on your breath. Let go of your thoughts. If a thought

arises, let it pass by without following it, without judging it. Sit

quietly and let your illusions about life dissolve. Let go of any

regrets about the past, for yesterday is over. Let go of your

relentless to-do list, for the future has not arrived. Enjoy the

preciousness of the moment. Sink deeply into the peacefulness.

xviii INTRODUCTION

In my Buddhist economics seminar, we sit for five to ten

minutes at each class, and the students think the mindfulness

sitting is one of our deepest lessons. I suggest that they practice

sitting quietly whenever they find themselves in a stressful situ-

ation, to quiet their minds so that they can ease their pain and

think more clearly.

As the class deadline for turning in their journals approached,

a student named Joan wrote me a long email about her computer

woes and ended with, "I'm sort of freaking out and wanted to

see if it would be all right if I sent you my journal folder a little

later today. Like I said, I have them. I just need to get a new

charger before I can send them in!"

I responded,

Relax, breathe

and know you will be ok.

Fine to turn in journal once computer is working.

Joan wrote back, "Right after emailing you I remembered

you telling us to meditate, take five, and sit after something

stressful happens. I did and man I felt better!"

On a personal note, I sit daily for twenty to thirty minutes.

Sitting helps me get in touch with myself and shake off my

relentless ego and judgmental thoughts, and the stress and pain

that go with them. Sitting provides a time for my mind to rest

and restores my balance. Try it yourself. Begin by sitting five to

ten minutes each day. See how you feel and function. Once

you have learned to relax and quiet your mind, you can sit on

the subway or on the beach, along a pathway in a park, or at

home-anywhere.

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INTRODUCTION xi x

LET'S JOIN TOGETHER IN CREATING CHANGE

Many people want to live more meaningful lives and want to

take action to save the planet. What is holding us back?

I see three main forces getting in our way:

First, our "busyness." None of us has enough time to do all

the things on our to-do list. Work, family, friends, community

are all important to us, and they demand our time and talent

and drain our energy. I hope this book will help you think

about how to get off the treadmill and focus in a meaningful

way on the things that are truly important to you.

Second, our denial. Moving from free market economics to

Buddhist economics takes courage and determination. Learning

how to live a meaningful life undermines many people's sense

of a successful life. Addressing climate change threatens two

concepts many people hold dear: free markets and unending

progress. Denial of the problems is one way to live with them,

but it doesn't work in the long run.

Third, our ignorance. Waking up to the toll of the tread-

mill, and to how our lifestyle is harming others and killing the

planet, requires that we educate ourselves and change the way

we live. This is a big deal, but it is our moral responsibility,

both to ourselves and to others. Buddhist economics tells us

that in so doing, we will become happier.

These forces may also get in the way of your reading this

book. You may be too busy to read it, much less to think about

what is important to you and put steps in place to restructure

your life. You may think that free market economics has it

right and throw this book against the wall. You may like living

in ignorance, preferring to leave the saving of the planet to

xx INTRODUCTION

others while you live a life where external status, filled with

lots of stuff, plays a major part.

But you may also be looking for something more. I have met

many people who are already on the path to living meaningful

lives in harmony with Nature. This book is written for them,

as well as for those who want to learn more about this path. It is

within our power to go beyond consumption, to be connected

to others with compassion, and to exist in harmony with

Nature. Let us begin.