self-restraint (sila, “precepts,” and vinaya, “discipline”) and giving
(dana), reflects, in many respects, his Theravada Buddhist worldview.
Within the modern economic situation, however, he did not take into
sufficient account the issue of scarcity and poverty at the structural
level caused by the global market economy. Perhaps this was not as
clear to him at that time as it is to us today.
If the life of Thai people in the past was “better” than it is today, this
mainly resulted from the self-sufficiency of their local economies and
the decentralization of political power, and hence the integrity of local
culture and social values. Buddhist liberation theology must do more
than advocate mindfulness and the ideal of simplicity. To construct a
healthier Buddhist society requires a change of the economic structure
into one of more local self-sufficiency, and the political structure
into one of more local decentralization, with local moral and cultural
values adapted to a contemporary context. Only then can a Buddhist
social ethics take root in society as it did in the historical past. The
Buddhist spirit of loving-kindness, compassion, sharing, and cooperation
will then prevail, at both the personal and the structural levels.
If we consider Buddhist liberation theology in contemporary Thai
society from a more structural perspective, we are forced to recognize
that greed, hatred, and delusion,21 which Buddhism identifies as the
root of all harmful things, currently prevail. A systematic and structural
greed can be found in the present economic system, in which millions
of traditional farmers have been uprooted from their farmlands
by tenancy and agribusiness, causing massive dislocation, unemployment,
and poverty. Centralized political power and an economic
system of dependency have caused structural hatred to arise as elites
grow richer while the vast majority of people are driven into greater
poverty. A structural delusion comes from the expanding influence of
commercial advertising in the mass media, leading people to discard
their cultural values and embrace consumerism.
In order to overcome greed, hatred, and delusion, a person needs
to change not only his or her personal conduct or lifestyle but also
the system that creates structural greed, hatred, and delusion. Buddhist
ethics, such as the Five Precepts (sila), need to address this structural
change more vigorously. For example, the first precept is to refrain
from killing and harming living beings; when applying this to a poor
country like Thailand, it becomes clear that the military budget, which
comprises a large portion of the GNP, should be reduced. The violation