Buddhism's contribution to Vietnam's human economy

Author: Nguyen Can

Problems on Our Way to Human Economy

Is it off the mark if we put forward the role of Buddhism in our economy while our top economic managers are still proud of their successes recorded in recent years in our economy , which has revealed itself to be a fast developing , dynamic and attractive one to invest in ?

Is it appropriate to consider Buddhism a philosophy for human salvation or merely a religious doctrine among others in VN?

If we take a closer look into our economy from different angles, we will find out some intrinsic problems which require to be straightened out in terms of humanistic values. Vietnamese philosophical foundation is primarily the Way of Being Human. In other words, it is a right way to achieve long-lasting benefits and happiness. In general, our economy is encompassing those following features:

1. A Harmoniously and Dynamically Developing Economy

We do agree that our GDP growth has been recorded by 8% every year. The improvement has been noticed in other aspects of life. However, steady development poses many challenges when inflation of 2007 is more than 12% and about 4% more in the first quarter this year. Besides, CPI is reportedly increased by 9.9% in the first three months of 2008. Unemployment is yet to be solved due to our surplus of unskilled workers and shortage of skilled ones. "According to Buddhism, if a society does not provide right jobs to everybody to help improve themselves professionally but only focuses on satisfying consumption needs, its development is considered " upside- down. "7

2. People's intellectual standard uplifting movement and poverty eradication

These points of view have been launched and received much cooperation from other organizations. However, to be frank, we have to admit that some major drawbacks still remain:

2.1. Human Development Index (HDI) is graded quite low: We are ranked 109/136
countries, in which literacy ratio is 90.3 %, number of students enrolling in high schools: 63%;
budget for education: 9.7% national expenditures.2

What makes us concerned is that the people's expenses on education occupy 40% their family budget, which is among the highest in the world. (Those in the U.S are 26% or France 11.2% ...) One of the greatest worry is the number of students dropping out in recent years, which reportedly is as high as millions of cases. It is accounted for their financial difficulties or their parents' pessimistic viewpoint of school life Moreover; it can also be interpreted as the lack of concern from local authority.

2.2. Wider gap between the rich and the poor:

29.9% national property is in the hands of 10% of the richest in VN and.45.4 % is owned by 20% the richest; whereas it is 1.9% and 5.4% in U.S and 4.8% and 10.85% in Japan respectively

2.3. Different paces of development between rural and urban areas.

It requires much effort and time. Peasants' life is drastically difficult and insufficient of many modern utilities. Land allocation is not based on people's real needs but on vaguely defined plan and impartially approved and unclear decisions. Thousands of hectares in some provinces are appropriated by local government officials, who cause social unrest and the situation of "tillers without land", if not addressed properly, has become an acutely perplexing issue, eroding trust on government's integrity.

2.4. Cultural activities has been portrayed a dull picture, especially in workers' life. Much
criticism is referred to the boredom of students', workers' and low-ranking officials' life which
easily make some of them fall in debauch.

The focus on material production and consumption, ignoring other food for the souls which is necessary for creating ultimate values of human beings, has caused an imbalance between physical and mental development... Adultery, raping, smuggling, drug addiction, violence, and other social evils are: all symptoms of social obesity, which is the inevitable consequences of economic imbalance.3

2.5. Moral degradation is reflected on red tape, bureaucracy, embezzlement. Corruption of
not so small number of officials who get richer by "economic rents "gives rise to social
discontentment.

3. Human economy does not allow ecologic environment to be damaged

It is a chronic and hard-to-solve issue on which we keep a lose grip, letting the factories or enterprises dump all waste into rivers, canals, killing not only living things in the water but also harming people's health. We are wondering about some big projects of paper industry in Mekong Delta, which will do more harm than good to the purity of the water that local people have been using so far.

To sum up the first part, we can conclude that "the soup for the souls "is still in urgent need to all people, which cannot be supplied by economic production unless its foundation is based on humanism.

What Buddhism can contribute to the human economy?

Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand, said in his speech on the Inauguration Day ," We will rule our country by Buddha- Dharma (The Buddha's teachings) for the benefits and happiness of Thai people." Does it imply that people's welfare and happiness can be brought about if Buddha's teachings or principles can be applied to national policies?

We must know that failure or success of policies is not merely dependent on their suitability or appropriateness but mainly on the persons who realize them. Unless we are successful in producing or training "human" men or gentlemen as in the old concepts, or self-made men nowadays, we are doomed to failure.

Our country has ever seen the glorious old days of Ly and Tran Dynasties when Buddhism was in the heyday. At that time, our Kings and governmental officials, no matter how high their ranks were, cherished high thoughts of the times , embodied Bodhisattva spirit, acted like Zen Masters engaging themselves in building and protecting country and people against foreign invasions and after victory , leaving luxuriously royal life behind to retire as hermits , unmoved by any worldly attractions and passions. To be frank, if all people nowadays, high and low, are taught Buddhist's doctrines, be it the five commandments (Pancasild) or the ten virtues (the three commandments dealing with the body, prohibiting taking of life, thief, unchastity, the four dealing with the mouth against lying, exaggeration, abuse and ambiguous talk; the three belonging to the mind, covetousness, malice and unbelief). If everybody practiced The Eightfold Path (The Right view, right thought; right speech; right action; right livelihood; right effort; right mindfulness; right concentration) and always observe things with right mindfulness, the evils will be reduced a lot. A writer remarked:

Our life is full of strife and conflicts. If we take a deep look into our society, we will find out the reason why human rights and religious tolerance should be highly praised and considered greatly important .because we are living in a time of conflicts and our minds are divided due to sectionalism, provincialism and departmentalism4

As a result, Buddhism should be introduced into training programs for carders or youth under such programs as "Learn to be a useful man." or "Stories on Monday "in school yard or recommending children to read such stories in good books such as "Noble Hearts "and other stories highlighting the retribution of karma, good or evil. A good example is the experience of Thailand where those police officers got bribes would be sent to pagodas for repentance because the government focuses on uprooting their greediness, while administrative measures of punishment as having done so far in VN prove ineffective. There is a strong campaign just launched in VN to "learn and do after Ho Chi Minh's example." According to this campaign, the four virtues: diligence; thrift; integrity, uprightness; and the maxim "Public interest comes first, personal ones will be given no thought " should be trained and implanted in their minds. The crucial point is that action has to go hand in hand with words, avoiding the disguising attitude to show off pseudo-beliefs. In Buddhist terms, right thoughts have to be reflected by right speech and right action.

How to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor?

The five kinds of attachment or grasped ideas are accounted for the gap and disparity in society: attachment to locality, to family; material wealth; social classes; positions ands titles; knowledge acquired, which has deepened and widened the gap between man and man. If our economic growth and privileges are reserved for the minority of our leading class, our relatives or connections, not for all to share, it is simply a flat failure. The intellectual standard or HDI is not counted by the number of students going to school or the number of doctors successfully protected their theses1, but must be relied on the contents of what they acquire and how they apply to reality .There are some heart- rending stories about teacher-student relationship when the teacher is the one who uses violence to repress children so as not to have them raise their own voice. Before praising "freedom" or "democracy", let's reserve a room in your heart for love and compassion.

The two mind states mentioned above are among the four immeasurable or the four noble characteristics: boundless kindness; boundless pity; boundless joy and limitless indifference Once the whole society is immersed in those Buddha's four states of mind, then people will act, and take the karma reward into their consideration whenever they want to do something . Their conscience will have its own voice and social evils will be eliminated step by step.

Buddha's teachings has brought about so many benefits that it is believed will be beneficial not only to this life when we harvest good results from our right livelihood but also to our next life. Consequently, we enter into life with peace at heart, are a socially useful citizen and devote ourselves to the just cause and verity altruistically. We get not only the material benefits but also social and mental ones and we know how to control ourselves from falling into debauch, wastefulness, and degradation however rich we are or whatever position we hold. Buddhism always underline right view and right mindfulness to aim at ultimate benefits or blessings - full of pure faiths, unable to be swirled in the storm of worldly passions, untrue titles or mirage, losing innate good nature or decaying good seeds of love in our heart.

If we build our economy on humanity - for people and by people , we are confident that a harmonious society will be built up on the way of Tathagata, in other words, a human way, which is paved on an engagement philosophy guided by prajna or intellect. That doctrine requires us to do it NOW AND RIGHT HERE. Only by doing this can we overcome all arisen and rising troubles and difficulties with firm belief that we will be supported by all people around.

Notes

1. Quan Nhu - Buddhist Economics.
2. Source : UNDP Report on HDI(2006) (2006).
3. Buddhist perspective on Economy.
4. Trong Tarn –Thanh Long-Engage Buddhism..