1. Right Livelihood - Samma Ajiva

"Right Livelihood" is one of the requirements of the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path. It is clear, therefore, that there must be such a thing as Buddhist economics."
(Schumacher 1999, 37)

The Noble Eightfold Path mentions as the 5th step that a practising Buddhist should carefully choose his or her profession. There are certain professions and occupations which are totally banned for a Buddhist. A Buddhist should not trade in arms, drugs and other intoxicants. Neither should a Buddhist be involved in trafficking in human beings. Selling animals as well as selling meat is banned, as refraining from destroying any life is the first precept for a Buddhist to follow. The five improper occupations (Miccha Ajiva) are also stealing, cheating, deceiving, working for a bad person and working only for a money.

There are no recommendations which professions are advisable, but usually Buddhism emphasises the opposite virtues of killing and hating i.e. compassion, mercy and nurturing life.

"To refrain from destroying life" is the first precept. The precepts do have an opposite set of recommendations, where the first recommendation consequently emphasises nurturing and protecting all life. This has been taken as the guideline for many Thai Buddhist monks who, for instance, have been trying to protect the pristine forests together with the local communities against the greedy loggers and their military cohorts. < The most famous case being Phra Prachak Kuttachitto, a Buddhist monk in Buriram trying to protect the forests. Eventually he had to flee for his life. Jim Taylor 1993; Rigg 1997, 58-59. >

Asoke goes deeper into the roots of this concept in nurturing and protecting all life. Many a barren land plot has turned into a lush garden in the hands of Asoke practitioners. The centres in Isan, in the Northeastern Thailand, notorious for its droughts and unfriendly natural conditions, has been one of the central areas for Asoke's agricultural experiments. Asoke group has, at the moment, three highly successful centres in the Northeast, Sima Asoke, Sisa Asoke and Ratchathani Asoke, all of which, have become showcases for the local authorities, and all of which are also involved in actively training local people in the art of natural agriculture, self-sufficiency and sustainable development. The main purpose of these training courses is to train the people to become self-sufficient farmers. The training courses are financed by the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC). The training also emphasises sanitary conditions, the Five Precepts, getting rid of the six vices
< The six vices are; addiction, roaming at unseemly hours, frequenting shows, gambling, association of bad companions, and idleness. >
in order to free them from getting further in debt.

To become a farmer, is practically the choice number one of a "right livelihood" for an Asoke practitioner. Another alternative, in more urban surroundings, is to become a - at least part-time - gardener.

The export-oriented cash-crop monoculture economy has not only impoverished the peasants of Thailand, but it has equally impoverished the soil. The peasants are up to their neck indebted to the money-lenders and landowners, who have recommended the use of expensive foreign fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides. These fertilizers have then run into the rivers and rice fields killing all life in those waters. Even the groundwater has been polluted in some areas. Therefore, the second respectable occupation, for a serious Asoke practitioner, is "natural fertilizer".

Pollution has become a serious problem both in urban and rural areas - not to mention the beach resorts. With the modern disposable junk-food culture, garbage is piling up all over the country. In all Asoke centres, garbage is carefully assorted in different boxes or sacks. The third "right occupation" is therefore garbage collector and assorter. Much of this garbage is reused either as composting it into fertilizers, or into micro-organisms, used for detergents. Old paper, bottles, broken glass and metal scrap are resold. Plastic bags are reused in the Asoke shops for packing in the goods for the customer. Some garbage is burned and reproduced as cooking gas, for instance, in Pathom Asoke.

1.1 No to imported goods

"From the point of view of Buddhist economics, therefore, production from local resources for local needs is the most rational way of economic life, while dependence on imports from afar and the consequent need to produce for export to unknown and distant peoples is highly uneconomic and justifiable only in exceptional cases and on a small scale"
(Schumacher 1999, 42)

All production at Asoke centres is primarily oriented to their own people, and secondarily to the wider Thai community. There has been some demand for Thai herbal medicine abroad, for instance, in Japan, but so far this interest has been met with restrain. The Thai market itself is large enough for the Asoke products, and export would also involve problems with expiry, preservatives, packing, customs, and trading partners in foreign countries.

Asoke centres do not purposely boycott foreign goods, neither do they participate in any "buy local" -campaigns, which have become somewhat more popular even in Thailand after 1997. Yet, one could say that they practise "spiritual boycott" against foreign brand names due to their emphasis on Buddhist frugality. Their avoidance of foreign goods springs from their general negative attitude to luxury goods and any kind of luxurious life. Hence, foreign soft drinks - either imported or locally produced under a license, are not favoured. Instead, Asoke people drink locally made fruit drinks such as passion fruit, guava, tamarind and other fruit juices. They usually produce their own soymilk. Eating chocolate, ice-cream, sweets or cakes is rather unpopular in the Asoke.

Modesty (maknoy sandot) is one of the key-concepts of the Asoke and all imported or even locally made candies and sweets are generally avoided. The Asoke monks and nuns are allowed to eat only one meal a day, meaning no breakfast, only a lunch - or a brunch - sometime before the noon. When a person eats only one meal a day, it would be rather foolish to fill one's stomach with sweet things which have no nutritious benefits. Many Asoke lay people try to follow the same pattern as good as they can, very few serious Asoke practitioners would eat more than twice a day. The same emphasis on nutritious, healthy food thus applies.

All Asoke members refrain from smoking and drinking, which again reduces their consumption of any foreign imported goods.

At the same time, Asoke people are rather flexible. It is by no means forbidden to use toothpaste or toothbrushes of foreign brand names. Same applies to higher technology - cars, computers, cameras, TVs and other electric appliances are usually of foreign origin, as Thailand has very little own production in this field. Some brand names might have been assembled in Thailand.

1.2 Switch off the lights

"Non-renewable goods must be used only if they are indispensable, and then only with the greatest care and the most meticulous concern for conservation. To use them heedlessly or extravagantly is an act of violence, and while complete non-violence may not be attainable on this earth, there is nonetheless an ineluctable duty on man to aim at the ideal of non-violence in all he does."
(Schumacher 1999, 43-44)

The early Asoke centres were usually without electricity, which was quite a shock to the visiting city-dwellers, and partly is behind the image, that the Asoke group is strict and conservative to the extreme.
< Grant Olson presents some of the first observations on the Asoke group in his MA thesis "Sangha Reform in Thailand. Limitations, Liberation and the Middle Path" from 1983. >

In fact, of course, many remote areas in Thailand are still without electricity.

Nowadays, however, all Asoke centres do have electricity. Usually they also have a TV in the meeting hall (sala), where the members gather in the evening to watch TV or videos for a couple of hours.

Most of the centres also have computer rooms, often air-conditioned, as computers are known to be rather sensitive to the hot and humid climate of Thailand. Usually, no private home is air-conditioned, as air conditioners are notorious for consuming plenty of energy, hence the electricity bills for any household during the hot season tend to be double or triple to the normal. Not to have private air conditioners, is simply a way of living in simplicity, practising maknoy sandot, but also consciously saving energy.

Many private houses do have electric fans, refrigerators and maybe even private TVs, particularly in the condominiums in the urban centre, in Santi Asoke. In the rural centres, the houses are built in traditional Thai style, which means that they do not get as hot as modern Western-style houses. Unfortunately, some houses in the Asoke villages, have tin roofs, which make the houses hopelessly hot during the hot season and noisy when the monsoon rains are pouring down.

The seventh precept in Buddhism, encourages the practitioners to avoid all kind of entertainment, such as listening to music, watching films or singing songs. Many Asoke lay people try to follow the Eight Precepts, which is a sign of a more serious practitioner, whereas Five Precepts, is regarded to be the general rule for all Buddhists. Again, as we saw, the group is rather flexible to this rule. The monks, nuns and lay people do gather to watch films together nearly every evening for a couple of hours. The films, have been chosen by the monks, and therefore have some educational purposes. Also during the meal, documentaries are often shown in the preaching hall (sala).

The Asoke people wake up between 3-4 am, which further discourages people from watching TV late into the night or indulging into other night entertainment. The benefit of waking up early, is also, that the air is quite cool, and hence, no air conditioner or even fans are needed. Late in the evening, the weather can be still quite hot and sticky, but one cannot be too bothered by it when sleeping. Therefore for the late-night activities, more energy consumption is needed, than for the early morning activities.

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