3. Bunniyom as moral economics

"The ownership and consumption of goods is a means to an end, and Buddhist economics is the systematic study of how to attain given ends with the minimum means."
(Schumacher 1999, 41)

Asoke regards bunniyom or "meritism" as an alternative economic system to thunniyom i.e. capitalism. In capitalism, people are seen to use the following four criteria to measure success in life: material riches, worldly position, fame and mundane pleasures. Capitalists want big houses and more money, whereas those who follow the bunniyom-system are satisfied with small houses, and they do not need much money in order to be happy. Capitalists demand more clothes and decorations, whereas followers of bunniyom are satisfied with simplicity and modesty. The capitalists prefer to work less for more money, whereas the bunniyom group works more and takes less. The capitalists use high technology for their construction and at the same time destroy the ecological system, whereas bunniyom is not interested in big buildings and high technology. Bunniyom is hence also regarded as an environmentally friendly alternative.
< Insight into Santi Asoke III, an un-published manuscript, 122 pp, Bangkok 1992. >

In the practical terms, the bunniyom shops in all Asoke centres try to follow the policy of meritism. One of its manifestations is that the goods have two prices labeled on them: the original price for which it was purchased and the new price which the shop is selling the goods for. The difference between the prices is extremely low.

Bunniyom does not emphasise profit, but emphasises instead the spiritual merit gained when donating goods to the customers or when receiving as low profit as possible from the customers. The four guiding principles of bunniyom economy are
- selling for low profit
- changing for equal price
- changing for lower price
- giving for free.

Private property is not glorified in Asoke, instead many resources are owned collectively by various foundations, associations or organisations, such as by Dharma Santi Foundation and Gongtub Dharm Foundation. Asoke practitioners who work outside regularly contribute to these foundations. The foundations then support the activities of the various organisations. The three companies, Palang Bun super market, For Life retailer and Fah Aphai publishing and printing house are linked to the foundations. The workers in those three companies receive a very low salary, whereas the workers in the vegetarian restaurant, for instance, work for free.
< More in detail in Heikkilä-Horn: Buddhism with Open Eyes. Belief and Practice of Santi Asoke. pp. 137-140, 1997. >

Money is pooled together in a central office (Sadharana bhogi), from where different work bases can borrow money for their projects. Recently, the Asoke group has also started their own private saving group (Sacca omsap), from where the individual members can borrow money for various purposes. The projects must be both viable and ethically sound. The money has to be paid back in a reasonable time, with low interest. In other words, it is very similar to some informal credit unions and micro loan projects in other developing countries.

Many centres have gasoline stations which are leased from a local gasoline company. Many centres also have libraries, health care centres and dental clinics. Some centres have pharmacy shops, rice mills, and Santi Asoke has two houses with condominiums.

The centres can borrow money from the outside institutions for their construction projects or for other purposes. Some centres have received money from the Cooperatives Promotion Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, or from the Thai Traditional Medical Institute. It is equally possible to borrow from other Asoke centres or from the central office (Sadharana bhogi) located in Santi Asoke.

The other centre, where Asoke communities can borrow money with no interest is the Welfare Fund (Gongboon sawaddikan).

Ultimately bunniyom is regarded as a method to create strong local communities which give a solid ground for the entire country to survive and avoid economic crises and to gain some level of national self-sufficiency. According to the Asoke ideology, freedom from
materialism is the real freedom and freedom from greed leads to a peaceful society. Bunniyom is regarded as a practical and concrete way to decrease selfishness.

3.1 Anti-consumerism

"Since consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption. Thus, if the purpose of clothing is a certain amount of temperature comfort and attractive appearance, the task is to attain this purpose with the smallest possible effort, that is, with the smallest annual destruction of cloth and with the help of designs that involve the smallest possible input of toil."
(Schumacher 1999, 41)

One part of Asoke anti-consumerism is to refuse to follow the whims of fashion. According to Buddhism, human beings have only four basic needs: food, clothing, shelter and medicine. The monks and nuns have 2-3 sets of robes, which they wash every day, and wear until the cloth wears out. Many lay people follow the same behaviour.

Many Asoke practitioners, particularly the people who live permanently in the temple compounds, have only a couple of sets of clothes. For men, a pair of traditional Shan pants, and a Thai-Lao peasant shirt called mohom. For women, a blue or gray sarong and also a mohom. Many lay people walk barefoot just like the monks and the nuns. No wristwatches are favoured, and giving up jewellery is one of the first signs of a serious Asoke practitioner.

School children wear blue uniforms similar to the lay people. They also have only 2-3 sets which they must wash every day.

Paper is recycled, old pocket calendars are not thrown away, but used as notebooks. Monthly pages of large wall calendars are used to cover books and practically every piece of paper or plastic is reused one way or another. Wasteful consumption is thus geared into the minimum.

All Asoke practitioners usually wear their hair short. Expensive foreign shampoos are not recommended, most of the people use the shampoos, soaps, and detergents produced by their own village community. Asoke men have traditional, Thai style, rather militaristic haircuts, and for women the hair is also cut as short as possible. The same applies to the Asoke school children, but on the other side, their hair style is, in fact, exactly the same as the compulsory hairstyle of all Thai school children. Thailand - like many of her Asian neighbours - is the promised land of uniforms and uniformity.

4. Buddhist education next