[Buddha-l] Buddha & Business

[David Living]

Well there is Right Livelihood. 

Maybe this could be seen as a modern interpretation. I'd have thought as long as it avoids greed hatred and delusion it will be ok! Making money isn't automatically wrong. Its only the monks who are not encouraged to have anything to do with money. Lay Buddhists like me can make as much as they want! Which I hasten to add is not very much in the grand scale of things.

Aryacitta/Dave Living


> Denizens,
> 
> there are strange things happening in the Low Countries. Some new 
> Buddhists in the Netherlands who are in some kind of commercial trade, 
> think they can enhance their success by (ab)using Buddhist words and 
> concepts. See f.i. 
> http://www.boeddhisness.nl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=133:show-your-true-colour&catid=49:in-company-en-maatwerk-trajecten&Itemid=69 
> and http://www.karmanomics.com/index1.php .
>   At the moment there's a discussion going on on the subject. The new 
> commercial Buddhists claim that it is OK to mix Buddhism and business 
> because it is a way to penetrate the field of capital with spiritual 
> values. The opponents claim that the only reason why Buddha himself 
> doesn't turn around and around in his grave is that he has been 
> cremated. My argument that this practice is very unusual in traditional 
> Buddhist countries has not made much weight because people feel free to 
> do as they please thinking they are inventing Buddhism anew.
> I personally think these people make a fool of themselves, but worse is 
> that it may corrupt the reputation of Buddhism in general.
> My question is: do any of you remember cases like this and reactions of 
> Buddhist teachers?
> 
> erik