. 306 r l;-t j ft{ole! Alrn(Jerj [_Js tcr I liqh,,r \/, ri, r, .,.
The title of this author's bestselling Understanding the Text Buddhist book of 1966, Sma// ls Beautiful, 1. What, iI is practically synonymous with the anything, is the painter of this scene tellir.lg us about the Economics incomoatibitity or compatibitity of money and Teligion? saying "Less is more" a slogan - - E. I.'. S*:hl'-l rni**!:;::' - ln pondering this quesiion, consider: ol people who advocate living incomes, . where the banker's wife,s eyes are directed nrore simply on smaller which of the two main The reading below was excerpted from that book ' items on the table - the money or the hory book is being handled more reverentially - E. F, Schumacher fled his native Germany before World War ll to escape the war, worked for the British commission ' whal colors the two figures wear (This and the next bulret require that you Fli|er's Nazi regime and, after find an image of the painting online, to soe it h.t futl color.) responsible for helping to rebuild Germany's economy. As an economic . [heir cornplexions cor]sultant to Burma begrnning in 1955, he developed the ideas that led to whar Beautiful ' the banker's wife's facial expression reveals (ls it longing? couid it be publication of Small ls lamenl? Coutd it be both?) Note: Schumacher wrote his book before the Feminist movement of the late 1960s and 1970s. Today, he might not have referred to childcare as women's Reflection and Response work. 2' Do the tranker and his wife seem "moderrr" to yolr? That is, if you replaced- their apparel with contemporary ctothes, woutd you have anytifficrity believing that such people are alive today? Why or why not? ,, l-t iuht livclilrt.,ocl" is ono of tho rrlclttircrntlltts
l.Ihr;Nr;pBrnrrri (Lr:onoltir::rndSor:lrtl llollrcl,(lovtlrnrll(lnt(lfthcl.lnionoflltrrnl:l 1954) I thici 307 llue :rbsolLrtr., rrrcl inv:rriable truths, without any preflrppositions. some go tou.orkwouldbeconsjcltlroclatltlt.trpletcmisunclerstanclingof.onetll.and leisurtl of hurrran clxistt:nce' namely that work as far as to t';laim that e conomic laws are as free from ,metaphysics,'or the basic truths be parts ol the same living process and oannot "value s" as the law of gravitation. We need not, however, get are oomplementary involved joy of rvork ancl thc bliss of lelsure' in arguments of rlethodology. tnstead, let us serp:rratecl without dr:stroying the take some fundamen- it'*' tt''"'" are therefore two typcs of tals and sce what they look like whcn viewed From the euclilhisi poi'-tt"of by a moclern economist clistinguished: one-that en- and a Buddhist economist. meohani.zatlon whioh'must be clearly one that turns the work of man There is u'riversal agreement hances a man's skiU al''d power and tl-rat a fundamental source of wealth s a position of having to is human a meohanical s1ave, leaving man in labor. Now, the modern economist has been brought up to over to craftsman te11 the one from the other? "The consider "7abor" or work as little more than a necessary serve the slave. How to evil. From a man equally competent to the point says Ananda CoomarasuramY' of view of the employer, it is in any case simply an item of himse1f," a1- as the ancient East"'can always' if cost, to be reduced to a minimum if it cannot talk about the modern West be climir-ratecl alto- between the machine and the gether, say, by automation. From the point lorvecl to, clraw tt ,, tt"lit'ot" ilstinction of viel'of the nork,ran, it for holding warp threads is a The carpet loom is a too1, a contrivancr: "disutillty"; to work is to make a sacrificc of one,s leisure and oom_ too1. the craftsmen's the pilc to be r'r'ovtln rouncl them by fort, and wages are a kind of compens:rtion tbr the sacrifice. Irenoe at a s[retrlh for as a power loom is a machine' and its signifioance the ideal from the point of view of the i:mployer is to have output fingers; but the human the fact that it rloes the essentially without employees, and the ideal fro,T the point of view destroyer of culture ties in olthe om- therefore' that Budclhist economlcs ployee is to have income without employntent. ;;;i;; *orr.." iii' from"t"nt, the eco- The conseqrences of these attitudes both in theory and irr practice: must be very different materialism' slnoe The Buddhist sees the are, of'courso, extremely far-reaching. tf the ideal with regard to work nomics of moclern i soes the essence of oivili- of civilization not in is to get rid of it, every method that "reduces the work load', is a goocl the Buclclhist a of u'an[s "t'"n"" wants but thing. The most potent method, short of automation, is the so_ca1led sation not in muitiplioation i a multiplication of purifioation of i.ruman ohar- "division of labor" and thc classical cxample is thc pin fa.tory culo- but in the in the purification of human at the same time' is gized in Adam smith's wealth of No-tiotts.t\ Here it is not a matter ol acter. charaoter, J a man's r'r'orh' character' ordinary spccialization, whioh mankincl has pr:roticccl fiom time irn- firr:mecl primarily by condut;ti:d ln (lon- memorial, but of dividing up every complete proce ss of procluotion Ancl r,r.'ork, properly :inU into of human atg"iiv freoclom' blessos th":" yh:..1t].'t minute parts, so that the final product can ber procluold at c1.cat clitions '"a J' C' proclu"-tt ih" Indian pl'ri1 rrl tl; p'tllr'trr 'rtrr'tz'ittqlv Il'a man has n. r:hanco of obtaining \ /ork he is in a despcratc p,si- Budcihistwayof lifeistheutterrltliott'tltlv r ('ril l l l :j i t'trt t'i l r'r' t l ir'l tr l ot \' tion, not simpl5r br:causr: he lacks :ln incouc blt because hc lac[s this smail means icading to extraorcl Y tlris is vr:t1' tlrllr' rrll lo tttttltlt'strtrlcl' Hc nourishing ancl enlivening factor ol disciplined rvork r,r.hich nothing For the modern eoonomist lir,irrl,,, lr\, lltrl.tttrrrrtttIrltarrntral can replace. A moclern econr;mist ntilJr clltgase in l-righly sophisti_ jsusedtomeasurll1gthe,.stantlitr.tlrll ail tlrrl lirlrr: llt'tl 't ttl:ttl tvlto (io])suTnos more cated calculations .n rarhslh6'r' ft-rll employrlent ,,pays,, or whclher it r,onsump[lon, assuming might be moro "ortonon'ric" to run .rn cconomJ/ at less than tirll cmplo,v_ is"betterofT"thanu*"o"t'vhotltttlstttttt:rllt:ssAlitrtltlhisteconomist nrent so as to ensure a greater mobility ollabor, a bettcr stability of wouldconslderthisapprtlat)llcxt;t:ssivr:lyrr'rrrtiortal:sinoeconsump- waqes, and so fbrth. Ilis lundamental r;riterion cll success is sinrply tionismetelyo*"u".tolltttttltttr'r'cll-lrtlirrg'thoaimshouldbeto the tot:r1 qu:rntitv ol'goods produced durins a given periorl oltimr:. ,,If' obtairlthemaximumofu'tlll-llt:ittlir'r'illrthr:minimumofoonsump- is a oi:rtain of temPera- tlrc margin:r1 urgont:y of'gclclds is lou.,,, says Irrofessor .lhr: tion. Thus, ilthe purposo oI t;lotlrirrg Clalbraith in the task'To:": is to attain this AUluent Socir:tt1, "then so is tht: turc comfbrt ancl an attraotivo llplloilrance' urg<:ncy ot'omplol.ing the last man rx is' with thc smallest the last nrillio. ,,If purpose u'ith tho smallcsI possibic cf'for]' that rnc, in thc labour fbr.e.,,(iAncl again: ,.. wc ca, involve of oloth and with the holp of designs that aftbrd somc ulrenrlrloyment in the intercst of stability -:r proposition, annual clestruction inciclcntall-t., ol inrpr:6cab1y censerv.rtivo lntcceclonts tht:n u,o car-r tht:strrallestpossiblcinptrtttltoil'Thelesstoiltherois'themoretjme creati\ritv' lt would be highly uneco- alf Making Connections Thus we see that, just as imrittstrial socict1,,1 is Iundamentalltl unstable and (p' 2193)' a list of cof rtrrr( llr;1.I v subject to reuersion to agrariont .ti,\tcncr, so u'ithit it the conditions whtcll 4. At the end of "Does God Want You to Be Rich?" cutt litrr I qrotution. from the giLie oemonstrates that Jews :rncj christians offbr indiuiclttal froedom are urLstoble it their c.tbihty to auoid Lhe condiLiorts the same lrtro oI support Ooth for and against pursuing wealLh ls which imposc rigid organisation and totalitarian ccmtrctl Indeed, uhen ute scriptural Auddnists and their sacred writings? Find out' Lhreaten thc examine all of thc fot'esecablc diffictlties tuhidt stn'uiuttl of ut and lslam' deal with money 5. How do other religions, such as Hinduism dustrial ciutltsation, it is dtTicult to ser: ltow the achieuement oJ' stabtltt.tl " out what you 62p ill;or tl *rf.i"SZ Name a-religion that intrigues you' and find the ot' libet'tt1 ccm be ntr,ttle cotnltatiblc t) of lslam' you might want io lo<;tt:r ancl maintenancc mdiuidual its view of money. (foiLxampte, in.-the case on loans' that is forbidde:tt on the concep I of riba- rnon"V such as interest than by labor') Even if this were dismissed as a long-term view lhere is thc inr- because it is begotten by money itself' rather modiatc qucstion of whether "ttttderntzation," :rs ourrently practiocd 6.TheologianPaulTillichhasdefinedreligiousfaithas""thestateofbeing - all other concerrrs grnap"i by an ultimate concern, a concern which makes without rcgard to roiigious and spiritual values, is actually ploducing question of the which itself contains the answer to the agroeable rcsults. As far as tho massos:rrc concerned, the results ap- secondary and meaning of life." pcar to bo disastrous-a collapse of tl-re rural economy, a risir-rg tidcr that' by that definition' Some authors represented in this book might say of uncmployment in town ;lnd countly, :rnd the grou,th ol a city pro- address to becoming a relictiol t money has gon" fro* b"'ng a subject religions lctariat without nonrishment for either body or soul. in its own right. Would You agree? Il is in thc 1igl-rt of both immediato exporienoe and iong-terlx not only your assigned llros- While pondering the matter, be sure to consult any readings that appear itr pects that the sttrdy of Buddhist r:conomics could be rccomnrended readings in the last.".iion oi this book' but also (See' for example' "Lethal ConsumpLiotl,'' cven to those who beiicvc that economic grorvth is rnoro impclrtant other sections ort rnuy OL relevant draw on personal experience and observations' than any spiritual or rcligious values. For it ls not :l question of choos- p. ZL.l f n addition, ing botrvccn "modern growth" and "traditional stagnation." lt is a question of finding tho right path of dovclopmont, the Midclie Way between materialist heedlessness and traditionalist irnmobilitv, il short, of finding "Right Livcllhood." 8't'ltcClLcllt:ngeof Man'sF\tun:)ly Tl:rrrisorr Bro\r,r (l'lrcVikirgPress, Ncl,Yorl(, 1954) Understanding the Text l. How many of the differences between "modern economics" and "Buddhist economics" can you recall from your reading of Schumacher's essay? Scan the piece again. Did you forget any differences or distort any? Which ones? 2. Schumacher once said, "Economics without Buddhism, i.e., without spiritual, human, and ecological values, is like sex without love." ls that thought consistent with his essay? Why or why not?