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Sarah Hicks

Professor Rizzieri

PHI 105

November 14 2014

Buddhist Economics Essay

In this informative essay I will be discussing Buddhist economics. To start

out, I will give a basic understanding of Buddhism by elaborating on what liberation

is and how limiting one’s desires plays a part in achieving it. Next, I will transition

into the relevant topic of labor and define what Buddhists as well as capitalists

consider its purpose to be. Finally, I will conclude by summarizing the main points

of the essay to further clarify the understanding of Buddhist economics.

Liberation is the act or process of freeing someone or something from the

control of others and themselves. According the Merriam-Webster dictionary,

liberation frees you of constraint. The Buddhist perspective encourages liberation

so you no longer are tied down to the urges you have to be better than someone

else, or have the greatest material belongings. The main goals are to lead a moral

life, be mindful and gain wisdom and understanding. This way you can focus on

doing what feels right, without any pressure. You’re able to be the most content and

help others simultaneously.

Buddhist economics have a similar mentality to its religious perspective.

With work, it is believed that the experience should give you wisdom,

understanding an increased moral perspective- it’s very crucial. They believe that

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when a person is unemployed they lack a nourishing and enlivening factor of

disciplined work that no one can replace. Therefore this view requires you to strive

for full employment. Buddhists place more emphasis and value on the quality of the

products themselves, rather than the quality and efficiency of the process. The

textbook states that Buddhist economists value skill much more than the result. This

implies that as long as the skill is developed, the product quality is high and the

process will be just as great. This is why they do approve of some mechanization to

create products, but not total mechanization of labor. They believe that

“mechanization should enhance mans skill and power.” Unfortunately most of the

time, that is not the ending result.

Capitalists tend to take mechanization of labor much farther. They will often

question the purpose of labor all together. Capitalists claim that it is currently a

necessary evil and ask if full employment really pays. It is stated that “Less than full

employment ensures a greater mobility of labor and better stability of wages.

Employees’ goals are always to have income without labor and the employer’s goal

is to have output without employees at all. This tends to be looked at as the easy

way out by Buddhists but to capitalists it is the most efficient.

One major way capitalists and Buddhists clash regards the time and effort

that employees decided to put into the production of goods. The capitalists feel that

the most important issue on hand is how to save money and make the product with

the cheapest budget possible. Buddhist economists feel that labor is a major part of

shaping people in a positive way and therefore focus on the quality of production

itself, regardless of a budget.