SUFFiciENcy EcONOMy ANd GRASSROOtS DEvElOPMENt

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236 The Meaning of Sufficiency Economy International Conference waiting to blossom in Trang, Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Phanom, Udon Thani, Roi Et and Loei. 8 The economy of Asoke centres is based on organic agriculture. They have bought or rented fields for rice cultivation and gardens for vegetables. Each centre usually also produces its own tofu, mushrooms and drinking water. Additionally the centres produce and sell herbal shampoos, detergents, mosquito repellants, herbal medicine and herbal teas. These products are sold to the public in cooperative shops on a very small profit. Yet this income enables the centres to invest in computers, vehicles, dental clinics, and leaves them enough with resources to run primary, secondary and vocational schools free of charge. In case of emergency, Asoke group can send a sick community member to a well-equipped modern hospital. Asoke group publishes several weekly and monthly magazines, which discuss both Buddhist and general topics from politics to traveling. The group publishes books, tapes and DVDs with the teaching and preaching of various Asoke monks. 9 After the liberalisation of the private TV satellite channels, the Asoke has their own TV channel called For Mankind TV (FMTV). Buddhism as interpreted by the leader of the group, Bodhiraksa, is the greatest source of spiritual inspiration for the Asoke people. On the intellectual level, the influence of E. F. Schumacher’s chapter on “Buddhist Economics” of his book “Small Is Beautiful” is obvious. ‘RIGHT LIVELIHOOD’ – SAMMA AJIVA The Noble Eightfold Path mentions as the fifth ‘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, according to the teachings. 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) include 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 have an opposite set of recommendations, where the first recommendation consequently 8 There were 25 registered Asoke villages in Thailand in July 2011. 9 A very popular Asoke monk is Than Chan, who has had his own TV and radio programmes. Many of his followers were not initially aware of the fact that he is from the controversial Santi Asoke group.
The Meaning of Sufficiency Economy International Conference 237 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 illegal loggers and the military. 10 Asoke implements this concept by nurturing and protecting all life: many a barren land plot has turned into a lush garden in the hands of Asoke practitioners. 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 provincial and district authorities, and all of which are also involved in actively training local people in the art of natural agriculture, self-sufficiency and sustainable development. To become a farmer, is practically the choice number one of a “right livelihood” for an Asoke practitioner. The Asoke temples thank the farmers for their daily food in all the Asoke temples at the communal meal. This must be honey to the ears of the impoverished Thai peasants visiting the temples. Another alternative for an Asoke practitioner, in more urban surroundings, is to become at least a 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. In some areas the groundwater has been polluted. 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. Garbage is burned and reproduced as cooking gas, for instance, in Pathom Asoke. Self-sufficiency is emphasised and all production at Asoke centres is primarily oriented to their own people, and only secondarily to the wider Thai community. There has been some demand for Thai herbal medicine abroad, for instance, in 10 One of the most famous cases was Phra Prachak Kuttachitto, a Buddhist monk in Buriram who tried to protect the forests. Eventually he had to flee for his life. Jim Taylor (1993).
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SUFFiciENcy EcONOMy ANd GRASSROOtS DEvElOPMENt

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