Series Four Volume 4

Buddhist Economics, and the Economics of Buddhism: Conceptual Categories and Epistemological Reflections toward a New Field of Study

This essay delineates a distinction between two fields of inquiry: Buddhist economics and the economics of Buddhism. The distinction is made on the basis that the former is a prescriptive and ethical project and the latter is a descriptive and academic one. In other words, Buddhist economics suggests how Buddhists should behave economically, and the economics of Buddhism examines how…

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Series Four Volume 4

REVIEW: Monks, Money, and Morality, edited by Brumann, Abrahms-Kavunenko, and Świtek

Monks, Money, and Morality: The Balancing Act of Contemporary Buddhism. Edited by Christoph Brumann, Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko, and Beata Świtek. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021. 255 pages. $29.95 (paperback). ISBN 9781350213753. Religion and economics is an area of ever-increasing scholarship, particularly within studies of Buddhism, despite still being in its early stages. The first book-length entry to Buddhism and economics, Buddhism and…

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Series Four Volume 2

Review: The Buddha’s Footprint

Johan Elverskog’s The Buddha’s Footprint is a scathing rebuttal to the popular reception of Buddhism as an eco-friendly, inherently green religious tradition. Through a close interpretive reading of particular points of the Buddhist textual canon and a detailed analysis of historical documents from Buddhist Asia, Elverskog refutes the Eco-Buddhist claim that the Buddhist tradition has historically been a positive force for environmental wellbeing. He summarizes his book’s argument quite well in the conclusion, stating: “Inspired by the Dharma’s prosperity theology, Buddhists were protocapitalists who exploited the natural world relentlessly as they pushed into the frontier” (p. 115). In arguing this position, Elverskog finds himself working against a long-established belief stemming from Max Weber that Buddhism (and Buddhist Asia) lacks “economic rationalism and rational life methodology,” which makes it “apolitical” and “otherworldly” (p. 39), a belief that underpins the contemporary Eco-Buddhist worldview. Nonetheless, he crafts a solid argument against this tradition of thought and highlights the main religious roots, socio-cultural developments, and ecological consequences of Buddhism’s protocapitalist prosperity theology.

Series Four Volume 1

Review: Ethical Principles and Economic Transformation

Ethical Principles and Economic Transformation: A Buddhist Approach. Edited by László Zsolnai. London & New York: Springer, 2011. vii + 213 pages. Includes general bibliography, “about the authors,” and index. $159.99 (hardcover and softcover), $119.00 (eBook). ISBN 97848193103. Richard K. Payne Institute of Buddhist Studies This is a collection of ten essays: an introduction and conclusion by the editor, and…

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