By K.Wong
Introduction
Shinichi Inoue is one of the rare, reputed economists in the world who, throughout in his career, sought to syncretize the compassion and wisdom of Buddhist philosophy with modern economics and management engaged in Japan successful business environment. The crystallized economic model from his work of syncretism is fondly known as Buddhist Economics in Japan. His Buddhist economic philosophy has influenced Japanese economists, industrialists, entrepreneurs, businessmen and corporate leaders. Inoue graduated from the Department of Economics of the University of Tokyo. After graduation, he was employed by the Bank of Tokyo. In 1975, he was appointed as he president of Miyazaki bank. He is the current chairman of the Foundation for the Promotion of Buddhism. He is presently a member of the Buddhist Economic Research Institute of Komazawa University. Owing to his Buddhist economic influences, many leading Japanese entrepreneurs have incorporated Buddhist principles or doctrines and meditation techniques in their day to day work in an effort to developing a more humanistic and environmentalist business ethics. The Look-east Policy of the Malaysian government has adopted some of the excellent work culture and industrial and management methods from the Japanese economic models and has elevated Malaysia’s economic competitiveness and growth.
Buddhist Economics
Shinichi Inoue conceives the Buddhist vision of Dependent Co-arising (Pali: Paṭiccasamuppāda; Sanskrit: pratītyasamutpāda) in terms of the ultimate truth of interconnectedness of people and culture. With this Right Vision (Sammā-diṭṭhi), he has composed a Buddhist Economics book designated as ‘ Putting Buddhism to Work: A New Approach to Management and Business’. Inoue also put forwards his theory of Middle Path of Buddhist Economics as the ideal path between Capitalism and Socialism. Capitalism emphasizes the respect for basic human rights to excel and private wealth ownership while capitalism emphasizes the equitable distribution of wealth. The strength of Capitalism is its focus on free market and competition which draw out the potentiality and strengths of the entrepreneurs. Its glaring shortcoming or defect is the possibility of the strong or the greedy to exploit the weak for personal financial or material gains. The advantage of socialism is that the government or state controls or regulate fare or just distribution of wealth. Taking excessive wealth from the able and diligent earners or high-capacity workers to share with low-capacity or indolent workers discourages individual initiatives, diligence and excellence to struggle to gain and accumulate wealth. This curtails the development of human potentiality to excel for self-benefits and benefits of others. Inoue’s Buddhist economic model transcends this extreme practice of capitalism. According to Inoue, the highest good is the practice of the Middle Path in which the ideal of capitalism and that of socialism are combined or syncretized. Such an economic model is known as mixed economy. Developing Malaysia, which has been adopting the Look-east policy of learning from the excellent work culture of Korea and Japan, has practised mixed economy successfully in a multi-racial country. The growing affluent mainland China has also practised their mixed economy very successfully emerging currently as one of the growing economic superpowers in the world. While mainland China is vigorously and strategically developing the new townships and cities and expanding the existing cities in the east coast, the Chinese does not ignore the development of the poverty striken western provinces of China.
The Middle Path of Buddhist economics ensures sustainable development. Sustainable development is undertaking economic development without damaging or depleting the natural environment, without being harmful towards the human resources and consumers. Succinctly, economic activities, such as free market mechanism, competitions and others ought to be undertaken without destroying or damaging nature and human society. Sustainable economics are to be more just and ecologically sound or harmless. Buddhism, Economics and Ecology are all inter-connected and mutually inclusive.
Expectations
Inoue differentiates western concept of freedom and Buddhist concept of freedom thus:
-*Western political philosophers define freedom as the fundamental rights of the individuals, that is, freedom to do what one wishes. Buddhism defines freedom as liberation from selfish desires or cravings or attachment or grasping.
Inoue perceives that in the 20th century C.E, materialism and self-centred consumerism predominate. He proposes a mental revolution for living in the 21st century C.E. To ensure more lasting happiness for human society, economic system ought to focus on the quality and spirituality of life itself. He stresses that economic development and spiritual development do not collide and are in fact inseparable. Buddhist economics is an ideal economic model which avoids the extremes of capitalism and socialism. In actuality, mixed economic model concurs with the Middle Path of the Buddhist economics. It promotes a balance of self-interest and interests of others and avoids extremes of self-interest and utter self-negation.
Inoue conceives Buddhist economics in terms of three models which are certainly, universally accepted as they are environmentally friendly. They are enumerated as follows:
-*1. It is an economic system which benefits oneself and others
-*2. It advocates the inculcation of the universal values of endurance and peace
-*3. Such a caring economic model will save the mother Earth from the depletion and final destruction of the natural resources
Japanese Economic Success
I personally perceive that the wisdom of Buddhist economics has either directly or indirectly and implicitly or explicitly influenced and enhanced Japanese excellent work culture, industrial and management methods. Japanese work culture of loyalty, whole-life employment, consensus decision making, brain-storming, Quality Control Circle (QCC), Total Quality Management (TQM), meditation and constant self-examination and self-improvement has been influenced perhaps either intangibly or intangibly by Zen Buddhism, Madhyamaka philosophy, Hua Yen Buddhist philosophy of interdependent co-arising and identity, elements of Taoism and essence of Confucianism which were imported from imperial China. The Japanese religion of Shintoism has already been syncretized the elements of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. The syncretism of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism was crystallized during the Sung Dynasty(960-1,279 C.E) by the imperial Chinese Neo-Confucian savants or intelligentsia, such as Wang Yang Ming and Chu Xi. Whoever intuitively discerns the theory of Phenomenon and Principle advocated by Neo-Confucianism discerns the relationship between the human mind (microcosm) and the universal mind (macrocosm). Whoever intuitively penetrates this inter-relationship between the human mind and the cosmos discerns insightfully the Absolute Truth of all esoteric religions, such as Zoroastrianism, Upaniṣads or Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Such esoteric or supramundane wisdom invigorates exoteric or mundane wisdom. Exoteric or mundane wisdom facilitates the apprehension of conventional truth which includes the knowledge of modern economics and others.
Supports
Not only Japanese reputed Economist, Inoue has undertaken wide ranging research on Buddhist Economics, western Buddhist scholars have also played their roles to contribute to the knowledge of Buddhist Economics. Western savant, E.F. Schumacher has contributed two texts on Buddhist Economics. He composed ‘Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered ‘. Another text of his ’Buddhist Economics’ was published in 1991. A prominent Thai scholar monk, P. Payutto has also contributed a Buddhist text entitled ‘ Buddhist Economics: A Middle Way for the Market Place’ which has been rendered from Thai version into English version by the western scholars.
The most important dimension of Buddhist Economics is the concern for the preservation of the natural environment. Industrial and motor-vehicle pollutions, green-house effect, global warming, climatic change, destruction of species, deforestations, loss of habitat are devaluing the qualities of the natural environment. Human beings can not be incessantly engaged in the economic production of goods and services without any regard to the degradation of the natural environment. Mary Evelyn and John Grim of Yale University, co-authors of the article ‘Discovering the Common Ground’ voice their concern thus:
-*Clearly, religions need to be involved with the development of a more comprehensive worldview and ethics in tackling the environment. Scholars of religions can be key players in this articulation process.
Environment scholars concur that environmental ethics ought to be incorporated in modern Economics to mirror human concerns for environmental awareness and preservation to ensure a more sustainable planetary future. The environmental ethics serve to guide human behaviour in their pursuit of economic wealth. Gotama Buddha advises us that human being ought to pursue their economic wealth like bees collecting nectars from flowers to flowers without harming them in the process. Buddhist Economics is concerned with preserving a sustainable community. The only sustainable community is one in which human economy is undertaken and followed immediately by an effort to regenerate an ever renewing economy of the planet. For instance, deforestation must be immediately followed by reforestation. Another example is the invention of environmental friendly motor-vehicles which do not emit any poisonous gas. The Italian automobile engineers have developed such environmentally vehicles. It is reported in the press that such friendly vehicles will be utilized to transport the athletes in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Conclusion
All economic endeavours or participations are social activities in which all members of the economic organizations work collectively to produce goods and services for the benefits and welfare of both the employers and employees. The levels of productivities and profit margins are contigent upon the qualities of the human resources. The sum total of the qualities of economic capacities and performances is dependently co-arisen from the IQs (Intelligent Quotients) and EQs (Emotional Quotients) of the human resources employed in the economic organizations. The school and university curricula take care of the development of IQs of the human resources while religions are useful and most effective to develop the EQs of the human resources. Traditionally EQ is confined to the self-management of personal emotions in order to deal effectively with others in social intercourses. I personally opine that definition should be further extended to comprise natural environmental friendliness – the love and care for our natural environment. As Economics and Buddhism are intimate portion of the life of Buddhist householders, they ought to be syncretized to harmonize oneself and the social and natural environment. Human beings ought to learn not only to socialize with human species but also aught to acquire the wisdom to socialize (to be friendly) with the natural environment.
Source : www.buddhistdoor.com
