Sulak Sivaraka, Loyalty Demand Dissent: Autobiography of an Engaged Buddhist, with a foreword by H. H. the Dalai Lama (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1998) ("On December 8, 1995, I received the Right Livelihood Award in the Swedish Parliament. The award committee cited the judgment from my recent acquittal in which the court stated, 'He warned the students not to live a luxurious, consumer lifestyle, not to worship being rich, not to admire people in power, and to be concerned about justice and righteousness.' The Right Livelihood Award is widely considered the alternative Nobel Prize...." "This award reflects my recent concern for developing an alternative to consumerism--the new, demonic religion. It reduces life to only one purpose--to acquire money in order to consume, to put it very crudely. This new religion is very powerful. Even the churches and temples are building more and larger buildings, and the monks are leading a more luxurious lifestyle. The media teaches people to be aggressive, offering violence, crime, and sex. People learn to look down on their own family and cultural heritage. We are urged to consume more, and this leads to the destruction of the environment." Id. at 297.).
Sulak Sivaraksa, Seeds of Peace: A Buddhist Vision for Renewing Society, edited by Tom Ginsburg, with a foreword by H. H. The Dalai Lama, and a preface by Thich Nhat Hanh (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1992) ("Western consumerism is the dominant ethic in the world today. You cannot walk down the streets of Bangkok, for example, without being bombarded by billboard touting the benefits of various soft drinks. Streets here are jammed with expensive, foreign cars that provide the owners with prestige and the city with pollution.Young people define their identities through perfumes, jeans, and jewelry. The primary measure of someone's life is the amount of money in his or her checkbook. These are all liturgies in the religion of consumerism." Id. at 3. "According to Buddhism, there are three poisons: greed, hatred, and delusion. All three are manifestations of unhappiness, and the presence of any one poison breeds more of the same. Capitalism and consumerism are driven by these three poisons. Our greed is cultivated from a young age. We are told that or desires will be satisfied by buying things, but, of course, consuming one thing just arouses us to want more. We all have these seeds of greed within ourselves, and consumerism encourages them to sprout and grow." "Consumerism also supports those who have economic and political power by rewarding their hatred, aggression, and anger. And consumerism works hand in hand with the modern educational system to encourage cleverness without wisdom. We create delusion in ourselves and call it knowledge. Until the schools reinvest their energy into teaching wholesome, spiritual values instead of reinforcing the delusion that satisfaction and meaning in life can be found by finding a higher-paying job, the schools are just cheerleaders for the advertising agencies, and we believe that consuming more, going faster and living in greater convenience will bring us happiness. We don't look at the tremendous cost to ourselves, to our environment, and to our souls. Until more people are willing to look at the negative aspects of consumerism, we will not be able to change the situation for the better. Until we understand the roots of greed, hatred, ad delusion within ourselves, we will not be free from the temptations of the religion of consumerism and we will remain stuck in this illusory search for happiness." Id. at 8-9. "Capitalism aims for profit, not for the welfare of the general public. Capitalists may indulge in some philanthropy, but since profit is their primary goal, they must take every advantage they can, starting with the workers and ending with the consumer." Id. at 40. "In a capitalistic system, the mass media stimulates desires for things that are not really needed. Customers are forced to choose between brands that in fact may be identical. The claim that capitalism gives freedom to the people by providing choice is not wholly true. Advertising becomes critical. Advertising agencies determine in large part what is sold, and they deceive the people in ways we scarcely realize. This is not real freedom. Under a dictatorship, at least the people know that the government is deceiving them, for the propaganda is usually quite crude. But deception that plays on people's greed is more difficult to perceive. In poor countries, wherever there is electricity, families feel that they must buy a television, no matter how poor they are. TV is a status symbol, and it plays an important part in deceiving the public. People will sell their land, if necessary, to buy a TV, and then they are told on that same TV that they need even more things to be happy." Id. at 40. "Can lifestyles that are unsustainable be moral? Asking this question forces us to look very seriously for alternatives, for the sake of our planet and for the sale of our souls." Id. at 43.).
Sulak Sivaraksa, The Wisdom of Sustainability: Buddhist Economics for the 21st Century, edited by Arnold Kotler & Nicholas Bennett (Kihei, Hawai'i: Koa Booka, 2009) ("In the free-trade model of development, multinational corporations replace the village or community as the matrix for human interaction. The argument for free trade is predicated on the theory of comparative advantage brought forth in the nineteenth century by David Ricardo. According to this theory, free trade encourages each country to pursue the economic activities for which it is best suited, thereby promoting comparative advantage and economic efficiency for all. Significant considerations are, however, overlooked. Free-trade advocates do not concern themselves with which groups in society prosper and which ones fall behind. And the effects of trade on non-economic values are not addressed, because so-called developed societies see everything through the lens of economics, and then they transmit that hyper-materialist view into a global perspective. Governments become like machines to maximize opportunities for capitalist investors." Id. at 28-29. "Corporations move their production facilities to the country that allows the greatest exploitation of workers and the least protection of the environment. Reduced wages and erosion of workers' right are the cornerstone of the economic policies of countries that compete for the comparative advantage of having cheap labor. We are told that protecting workers' rights will be self-defeating, as it will cause employers to relocate to less conscientious countries. Nations and corporations, and the recent merger of the two, are often perpetrators of structural violence. Their policies increase disparities in wealth, deplete natural resources, and alienate individuals from the root cultures. Driven by profit, these policies seem indifferent to people's discontent." "As a Buddhist, I do not consider the exploitation of comparative advantage to be the ultimate objective of society. I am interested in a social organization's capacity to address human suffering, promote justice, and allow individuals to realize their potential...." Id. at 29-30.).
