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Sixth International Lay Buddhist Forum, October 30 – November 04, 2012, Malaga, Spain.



            Urban Dhamma: Asoke Goodwill Market, Engaging Urbanites the Asoke Way

                           Bong Sue Lian, Malaysia, and Sangsehanat Suwida, Thailand.

              ________________________________________________________________________
Suggested citation:
Bong, S.L. and Suwida Sangsehanat. (2012). Urban Dhamma: Asoke goodwill market, engaging urbanites the
Asoke way. In ‘Lay Buddhism in the Modern World’, Karma Guen Diamond Way Buddhist Retreat Centre,
Malaga, Spain. P41-47. (Presented at the 6th International Lay Buddhist Forum, 30 October-04 November 2012,
Malaga, Spain).
              ________________________________________________________________________



                                                     Summary
        This paper describes the goodwill-based business enterprise of Asoke in producing and
        distributing (sharing and giving) goods and services to the public through the Asoke Goodwill
        Market. It covers the origin and purpose of the Asoke Goodwill Market; its economic and trading
        practices; the underlying guiding principles based on the Asoke Bunniyom system; policies and
        features of the goodwill stores and how they are implemented according to the Bunniyom system;
        and how the goodwill market engages the public and ‘infects’ the public to participate in the
        goodwill practices. The Asoke Goodwill Market is a work station where the participants train
        themselves spiritually in applying Dhamma (sīla, samādhi and paññā) in their everyday activities to
        accumulate spiritual wealth (‘merits from wholesome minds’ ; progress in cultivating sīla, samādhi
        and paññā), not amassing monetary or material wealth.



        Introduction
        The Asoke movement in Thailand, founded and led by Venerable Bodhiraksa, is progressive and
        engagingly active in developing right communities that support and empower a way of life centred
        in training and living by Buddhadhamma (sīla, samādhi, and paññā) in daily life economic activities
        with attaining spiritual liberation as the goal, not amassing material or physical wealth for its own
        sake or power or position. So far they have identified several tools of engaging themselves and
        the public in applying right livelihood – promotion of Dhamma through multimedia channels and
        products; promotion and popularisation of vegetarian diet; adoption of organic agriculture and
        green farming technology; ethical and spiritually inspiring commercial practices through the Asoke
        Goodwill Market; Bunniyom education; health (traditional medicine) and politics. They develop
        environmentally friendly, sustainable and protective agriculture and cottage industries, and set up
        a ‘Bunniyom or Meritism Society’ where members train and live in applying Buddhadhamma in all
        aspects of works and lives, management of resources, production of goods, their consumption
        and distribution. They set up their own schools and colleges where they apply an alternate
        education system to the conventional one. The Asoke Goodwill Market is the urban work station
        of the Asoke people (members of Asoke communities) for applying right livelihood and spiritual
        training in their daily activities of producing, giving and sharing of goods and services. While
        benefiting themselves and the public in body and mind, the Asoke people show and engage the
        public on how these goodwill-based markets for the production and distribution of goods and
        services could be an alternative model to the stressful self-centred life and profit-oriented
        business operations seen elsewhere. The Asoke Goodwill Market is thus an enterprise geared
towards supporting right livelihood for spiritual training as one lives each day with the eventual
outcome that one lives for oneself (spiritual wellbeing) and others (fellow sentient beings and
environment). The conventional market (capitalistic) economics thrives on generating and
maximising profits for the few, exploiting every resource available in the shortest possible time
with minimal inputs, with the eventual outcome that physical wealth is amassed and concentrated
in a few (with no really useful or beneficial value or purpose) at the disastrous expense of self and
others (fellow beings and the environment; environment and economic or financial crises) in most
cases. This paper writes about the Asoke Goodwill Market, a socially engaging economic
enterprise operated by the Asoke Buddhist movement in Thailand.

Asoke Goodwill Markets and their Distribution
Asoke Goodwill Market is a non-profit oriented goodwill enterprise by which the Asoke people
engage themselves and the public in training and applying Dhamma in the distribution of goods
and services. There is a chain of these Asoke goodwill markets of non-monetary ‘merit-oriented’
(or wholesome minds) goodwill stores established by the Asoke people in major cities and towns
of Thailand over the past thirty years or so. The first Goodwill Market was established in Santi
Asoke, Bangkok; and now they are found in Nakorn Pathom, Chiangmai, Korat and Ubon
Ratchathani, to name the major ones wherever there is an Asoke settlement.

Types of Goodwill Stores of the Goodwill Market
Typically the Asoke Goodwill Market consists of four or five main types of goodwill stores or
sections – a supermarket or superstore; a vegetarian eatery; an organic produce store or street; a
multimedia and stationary publishing house; and a 4R (‘reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover’) store
of donated goods. Together the stores stock and supply goods and provisions and the usual daily
staples. The superstore is stocked with dry processed organic foods and grains, health foods,
supplements and herbs, local consumer goods including locally woven textiles and handicrafts,
household goods, kitchen wares, agricultural implements, toiletries, and other daily staples and
local products. The 4R store is an exchange centre that exchanges and sells new or used goods
donated for reuse, recycling, repairing and recovering. Santi Asoke in Bangkok operates the
largest, most established and well-known of the Asoke goodwill markets. The stores here are the
main suppliers to the rest of the Asoke goodwill markets established elsewhere in Thailand. It is
so widely known and recognised that the local neighbourhood grows into a special niche market
for health foods and goods as many more similar stores spawn in the neighbourhood, extending
the size of the Santi Asoke Goodwill Market. The Chiangmai Asoke community operates a smaller
‘one-stop’ complex of a dry goods-cum-multimedia store, 4R corner, a vegetarian eatery and fresh
organic produce corner. This complex is operated under the name of ‘Vegetarian Society’.

Origin and Purpose of Asoke Goodwill Market
The founder of the Asoke movement, Venerable Bodhiraksa believes that not only ordained
monks and nuns should practice, but lay people should train and practice to develop spiritually too.
He leads and guides his lay followers to practice sīla, samādhi and paññā, to follow the Noble
Eightfold Path in daily working and living, in adopting right careers (right livelihood) and right
action, and developing self-reliance and sufficiency. The three areas for right livelihood that the
Asoke identified that could support and contribute to developing and empowering the community
and to the overall balanced development of the community and country include:
     1. Dry and wet waste management in conserving and managing resources and the
         environment;
     2. Organic and environment-friendly agricultural methods to produce healthy foods for their
         own consumption and sharing of the surplus;
3.   Organic fertilizer production for their own use and distribution to others.

Thus the Asoke Goodwill Market comprise stores for multimedia for the production and
distribution of Buddhadhamma products; organic food and produce; handicrafts and daily staples
and consumables; vegetarian eatery and the 4R store (for resource management).

The setting up of the vegetarian eatery could be traced back to the initial adoption of vegetarian
diet by the Asoke people for the health and good of body, mind (keep precepts, non-violence,
develop mettā) and the environment (and other factors such as economics and readily available
and more easily manageable resources for production). Because they wanted vegetable foods
that were safe and healthy, they started organic farming to produce fresh grains and vegetables;
studying, researching, collecting information and sourcing reliable supplies of healthy foods for
their consumption. As they find themselves with growing surpluses of these produce and
becoming better informed on health foods and vegetarian diet, they started sharing and
distributing the surpluses of good and healthy foods in their food hall in Santi Asoke. It is from this
point of distribution that a store was first set up and later a chain of the Goodwill Market of
goodwill stores for sharing and distributing the fresh organic produce, health foods, and daily
supplies become established in major cities and towns in Thailand. These stores also become
convenient one-stop centre for the public to gather up supplies of organic and health foods, and
daily supplies.

Economic and Trading Practices in Asoke Goodwill Market
The Asoke Goodwill Market, being a spiritual training work station for cultivating and generating
goodwill (kusala mind; reducing akusala minds of greed, aversion and delusion) is unlike
conventional commercial centres where practices are largely geared towards maximising personal
gains (tending towards generating and accumulating akusala minds of greed, aversion and
delusion). Therefore the approach in trading and development of the Asoke Goodwill Market is
different from that of the conventional self-centred monetary profit-oriented markets. The Asoke
Goodwill Market extends and expands through goodwill generated among the Asoke people and
the participating public. Members of the public participate in generating and extending goodwill
through donation of their goods and services, time and labour to the goodwill stores. In the
Goodwill Market, one experiences a culture of giving and appreciation and a friendly environment
of camaraderie where the ‘division’ between store operators and the customers becomes blurred.
This is in distinct contrast to the atmosphere in conventional markets where ‘self-interests’ and
‘profits’ mark the store owners from the customers. In the Goodwill Market, there is no pressure
or inducement (no advertisement) for the customers to consume or spend. There is however
encouragement for the customers to reduce unnecessary wastage and to contribute one’s own
efforts in self-service. All along in the line of production through to distribution and consumption,
ethics and responsibility to oneself and others, and the ecology (environment, community, nature,
cultures and traditions) are considered and applied.

Everybody works, serves and contributes to the Goodwill Market in the spirit of training for a
higher mind. Goods and services are priced as low as the community is able to sustain, and are
different among the Asoke goodwill markets in different localities. The Asoke vegetarian eateries
provide ‘Bunniyom meal’ (rice with one vegetable topping) for free or at 5 (less than 15 US cents),
7 (less than 20 US cents) or 10 Baht (less than US 35 cents) to promote and encourage people to
try vegetarian food, and to reduce the frequency of taking non-vegetarian meals. The multimedia
store serves as a Dhamma exchange and distribution centre. The revenues collected from 4R
corner go to support the Asoke TV station for teaching and propagating Dhamma. All items in the
superstore or commodity shop show two prices, the cost of the item and its selling price to let the
customer know exactly the monetary profit (loss in merits or kusala mind) or loss margin (gain in
merits or kusala mind). If there is any ‘monetary profit margin (= negative merit margin)’, it is to
cover the overhead and other costs.

Overhead cost is low because most of the workers or operators are volunteers, drawing little or
no salary, and sometimes some of the goods are donated. The superstore, Palungboon Company,
has operated for more than 27 years now and the highest salary drawn in the company remains at
2,000 Baht per month and many are fulltime volunteers drawing no salary at all (Bodhiraksa, 2012).
Customers also participate in cost reducing measures such as self-service, using their own
shopping bags, and returning the trolleys to the stores after use.

The economic policy for Asoke community is to be debtless, self-reliant and self-sufficient, and
surpluses are given away or shared. As a policy and practice, Asoke members are free to choose
whatever jobs or works they enjoy doing. This policy enables the Asoke to run their business
without stress in good or bad times as when the country is in economic crisis or when the world is
reeling from one economic crisis to another (Sangsuriyajan, 2011). Paraphrasing Venerable
Bodhiraksa (Bodhiraksa, 2012), ‘they can close the stores anytime when they need time to do
community retreat, annual gathering and Dhamma celebration, and/or participating social
movement activities. They enjoy this freedom and independence because they don’t have debt or
rent to worry about and they are self-reliant and more than self-sufficient even without resorting
to making money from selling, in sharp contradistinction to the way modern day capitalistic
business is run.’

The main input that makes the Goodwill Market operation sustainable and grow from strength to
strength over the three decades or more is simply goodwill and faith in the Buddhadhamma
practice that inspires the Asoke people and their supporters and adherents to be diligent and to
donate the products and volunteer their effort and time. Other major contributing factors are
their skilful management of resources and a spiritually disciplined life style (governed by the
precepts they undertake to keep) that is frugal and not enslaved to consumerism and unnecessary
spending (Sangsehanat et. al., 2009; Sangsuriyajan, 2009; Sangsehanat and Bong, 2010). There
exists also a strongly cohesive community (united by the same precepts, belief and faith) the
growth of which is supported and guided by the principles of the Bunniyom system as elaborated
below.

Underlying Guiding Principles – Buddhist and Economic
Whether by design or not, these goodwill (and right livelihood) stores also serve to demonstrate
the viability and sustainability of an ‘alternative trading system’ that operates in what the Asoke
calls the Bunniyom (Merit-ism) Society that values the quality of lives and spiritual development as
the topmost priority goal of living in distinct contrast and opposition to the consumer capitalistic
view of life which cannot see life, its meaning and goal beyond endlessly pursuing sense pleasures,
making and accumulating material wealth, stressing out physically and mentally, and getting sick
in the process.

In the Asoke Bunniyom system, the practitioners accumulate spiritual wealth, not monetary or
material wealth for oneself. The stark differences in values and practices between the
conventional monetary gains- oriented capitalistic enterprises and the Asoke Goodwill Market of
the meritism society are best summarised below in Table 1 (Sangsehanat, 2007).
Table 1: Contrasting Values of Practices in Capitalistic and Bunniyom (Merit-ism) Society
Parameter Capitalistic society                          Merit-ism society
Virtue        Giving with expected returned             Giving with a pure mind, no
              benefits (positive return from            returns expected.
              investment, e.g. returns from
              making a donation).
‘smartness’ Score advantage over others, e.g.           Serving society without
              making profits by all means, devious seeking profits or advantages
              or not.
Profit        Getting back more from the original       Giving more than getting back
              sum of investment.                        any.
Loss          Incurring a disadvantage.                 Taking or getting back more
                                                        than giving.
Objective     Make Money                                Make merit/good
                                                        kamma/good mind from sīla,
                                                        samādhi, and paññā.
End results Crisis from despoliation and                Peace from living a simple life,
              squandermania                             one of moderation in
                                                        consumption.
         Source: Translated from Samanalakkhano, 2001: 24 by Sangsehanat (2007)

In this Bunniyom system, one is praised for contributing, not taking, in contrast to the
conventional economy where wealth is built on taking and maximising gains for oneself and giving
or minimising gains for others most of the time. In the Bunniyom model of economic operation,
there is the emphasis on ethics and spiritual values (right livelihood, right living), in distinct
contrast to the capitalistic ‘all about money/profits and little else matters’ type of operation.

This Bunniyom concept and its practice is not easily understood even among some Asoke people,
not to mention many local Thais and foreigners who have not seen it in practice. The individual
Asoke has to practice the Bunniyom type of trading until he/she realizes personally that there is no
need to compete, no need to accumulate, no need to advertise, that ‘giving is a human virtue;
giving leads to happiness and competition does not.’ (Bodhiraksa, 2012).

Mrs. Tharnrung Khamsokecherk, a volunteer manager (or ‘servant’ by the Asoke designation of
the post) at the Santi Asoke vegetarian eatery described her training and development thus to the
authors in an interview conducted on February 03, 2012,
         ‘We practice giving rather than being greedy; to stay calm and not getting annoyed with
         some greedy customers who often seem to take advantage of the Bunniyom (free) meals
         served in the eatery. As the vegetarian eatery becomes better known and there are more
         customers, we have to practice to curb our greedy mind to want to make more money
         and to refrain from increasing the prices of the foods. For example, during the time when
         Thailand was hit with a huge economic crisis in B.E. 2540 (C.E. 1997), the Asoke vegetarian
         food eatery became more popular because of the cheaper price of the foods. When there
         were more and more customers coming, some Asoke members proposed in their
         community meeting to raise the food price from 5 Baht to 7 Baht per serving. Many
         members agreed. There were also many who disagreed. Then, Venerable Bhodhiraksa
         taught us that we had to practice and step out of the capitalistic mindset of making profit.
         When the business was good because the customers were in trouble in times of economic
         crisis, we should have compassion for them, give and help them more than at other times.
Even when our cost had also increased in those economic hard times, our increment in
        costs was much smaller than the other businesses’. If we had the ability to give, we
        should give. Don’t get trapped in a mind of cost or profit making too much. Eventually,
        the Asoke community decided to agree on not increasing the price and tried harder to
        reduce the price instead. It is not easy to overcome this mind that habitually tends
        towards developing more greed, so we have to be watchful of our mind all the time.’

In Bunniyom society, a more able and spiritually developed or accomplished person is one who
gives more and takes little or less or none. Venerable Bodhiraksa tries to put into practice the
model of the Bunniyom economic ‘Support System’ or foundation base. In this model, the one
who occupies the highest position, the owner or chief of an enterprise, or the main supporting or
foundation branch must do and contribute more, and draw less salary or benefits because these
positions are the support of the whole system, to support those of lower ranks or those who are
less able (‘poorer’ in spiritually development or mind) people. The position (service of giving) vis-a-
vis salary (returns or benefits or taking back) is depicted in a pyramidal structure illustrated below
(Figure 1).



                                                                 Those at highest level draw no
                                                                 salary or take no share of any
                                                                 profits; serve or give away more;
                                                                 take back less, profit in merit,
                                                                 reflect higher level of appreciation
                                                                 of Dhamma in spiritual training.


                                                         Figure 1. Hierarchy in Bunniyom System

                                                                 Those at the lowest level draw the
                                                                 highest income and incur highest
                                                                 welfare expenses. Less ability,
                                                                 draw higher salary and consume
                                                                 more; give less, less capable; take
                                                                 more, loss in merit, poorer in
                                                                 spiritual training.



Among the Asoke stores, Khob Khun Wholesale Company staff are all non-salaried volunteers. This
company is the main distributor and is the pillar of the Asoke goodwill markets. It supplies and
supports the other stores of Asoke groups. The success of an enterprise is reflected by how much
less members could afford to take for themselves and how much more they could give away.
Another example is the practice of the multimedia publisher and store, Fah-Apai Company. As the
company has grown steadily over the years to be able to enjoy better welfare and material
comfort with good office building, members voluntarily met and agreed to reduce their salary
from the highest of 3,000 Baht to 2,500 Baht per month. The Asoke people have to train
themselves until they realise personally the values advocated in the Bunniyom economic practice,
in developing and contributing more than in taking for oneself, in cultivating higher mind to
accumulate spiritual wealth (progress), and in not taking advantage of others or making monetary
profits and material gains.
The Asoke goodwill markets are practical examples of how the Asoke people train, practice and
apply Buddhadhamma in business enterprises based on the Bunniyom System that benefit and
empower themselves and others at personal, society and community levels.

Features and Policies of the Asoke Goodwill Market Stores and their Implementation Based on
the Bunniyom System
Products and services ‘sold’ or ‘distributed’ at the Asoke Goodwill Market are best regarded as
‘merit products and services’ because they are actually produced and distributed through goodwill
at the lowest price the suppliers can afford without the usual intention to take material or
monetary advantage of the ‘customers’. While the goods and services may be similar to those in
the markets out there, they are ‘priced’ much lower and supplied for the good of the consumers in
mind. Examples of some policies and features of the practice based on the Bunniyom system are
given below.
     a. Goodwill Superstore
     The policies are based on ethics and goodwill in accordance with the Bunniyom system as
     enumerated here:
     1. Goods sold in the stores are good for the health and mind of the people.
         Although the Asoke Goodwill Stores have no registered trade mark or advertisement,
         they are recognised and trusted by their customers as stores that are ‘all about health
         and not about money’.
     2. Affordable pricing and transparency in trade where there is no unfair advantage or
         disadvantage practiced in the store.
         There are four ‘merit levels’ of pricing of the goods. Goods are priced as ‘free’, or sold
         below or at cost, or slightly above cost. All items are labelled with the cost price and the
         selling price to show the margin of difference (free = merit++; below cost = merit+; at
         cost= no merit or merit = 0; slightly above cost=merit- or loss of merit).
         The pricing reflects the Bunniyom economic system where the value of giving/sharing
         (higher mind of displacing greed with generosity) is prioritised and highly ‘praised’
         whereas monetary gain and the necessity for it where it occurs is acknowledged though
         not ‘prized’.
     3. Measures for minimising of costs and resources, and protecting the environment include
         no-frill packaging, not providing plastic bags, and encouraging self-service among the
         customers in packing their own goods and returning the shopping trolleys to the stores
         after use.
     4. There is no advertisement or inducement to encourage consumption and spending.
         Publicity is not completely eschewed; there is publicity in Asoke’s own media.

    b.   Vegetarian Eateries
    1.   Quality of materials: organic, safe and healthy.
              All vegetarian food shops of Asoke communities use organic produce. Materials are
              either from the community’s own farms or other farms. Produces are examined and
              verified for safety and organic status at the farms and upon arrival at the Asoke
              stores by the Asoke’s own safety monitoring department.
              Varieties – promotion of health foods such as herbal drinks, vegetable and fruit juices;
              fresh fruits; and cooked vegetables without unnecessary food additives such as
              monosodium glutamate.
    2.   Pricing: The policy is to set the lowest price that can be afforded or sustained by the
         community since the emphasis is on giving rather than profiting. Bunniyom meal of rice
and one vegetable topping for free at some or for 10-15 Baht at other eateries1; rice with
           toppings of two or more are priced as low as possible. Table 2 below gives some
           indications of the range of prices at various Asoke eateries and non-Asoke eateries during
           the Thailand Vegetarian Festival in 2011.

Table 2. Comparative Prices of Vegetarian Meals at Different Eateries (2011 Vegetarian Festival)
                         food
                                                               Ratchath      Chiang
                        court,      Santi-       Pathom
             Gener                                             ani Asoke       mai         Sima-
                        Depar      Asoke          Asoke
               al                                               Eatery,       Asoke       Asoke
   Items                tment      Eatery,       Eatery,
             eateri                                              Ubon        Eatery,      Eatery,
                           al     Bangkok        Nakorn
              es(a)                   (c)                       Ratcha-      Chiang      Korat(g)
                        Stores                  Pathom(d)             (e)         (f)
                          (b)                                   thani         mai

        one
                   30       40         Free           Free           10          free         free
     topping
        two
                   40        50          15            15            15           15           15
    toppings
       three
                   50       60          20             20            20           20           20
    toppings
      special
                 50-60    60-100         15            20            15           15           15
       food
    fried food     30        50          -            n.a.           20          n.a.         n.a.
     Dessert     15 up     30 up        n.a           n.a.           n.a.          5          n.a.
take home
 meal (no       50        60          10             15             10           n.a.       n.a.
   rice)
   n.a. = not available.
   Source of data: (a)-(b), from authors’ survey; (c)-(g), from various reports in Saan Asoke
   (Asoke Journal), Vol. 321, July-August 2011.

Public Participation and Customers’ Experience
The Goodwill Market is not only a place for the Asoke people to train themselves for spiritual
growth. The public also participates in it with similar goodwill. It is a place where customers could
just walk in and perform random acts of kindness and generosity and sharing of meals and joy.
The public also donate their surplus organic produce and goods to the vegetarian eatery and 4R
store. They like the opportunity to contribute their labour too in keeping the eatery clean by
cleaning up the tables and their own dishes before they go, in being direct participants of the
Bunniyom commercial activities. Prices of the meals are so affordable that customers often buy

1
  The Chiangmai Lanna Asoke community is able to give Bunniyom meal for free because their
community’s cost and maintenance is lower, and the community is are richer in resources. Their
lands are on the hills and richly endowed with wild vegetables that they collect for free; and there
are also regular donations of fresh produce from the local public. Members here are mostly
holders of eight-precepts who consume less and need less to maintain. Ratchathani Asoke
community cannot afford to give Bunniyom meal for free because of their higher consumption
and lower production rates. Their land is flooded for three months each year during which the
land could not be worked on. Most of the members there are holders of five precepts who have
younger families to look after and they consume more.
up many to distribute to friends and relatives to encourage them to have at least one vegetarian
meal and to consume less meat for that day.
In a cursory survey conducted in January 26-27, 2012 at the Chiangmai vegetarian eatery, many
customers reported that they enjoyed the foods and the atmosphere of camaraderie that exuded
in ‘a place that is all about health, not about money’, in the words of one of those surveyed.
Outsiders can walk in and volunteer there too to contribute their labour and time. In this place,
there is spontaneous sharing of joy and generosity. Similar joyful festive atmosphere and public
participation as volunteers or customers in Bunniyom activities was also reported in the Asoke
Vegetarian Festival of 2011 (Look Baan Raj Muang Reo, 2011),
     ‘Customers told us that these foods that they purchased will be given as merit gifts for their
     relatives and friends. They make good presents because our foods are good (wholesome and
     healthy) and cheap. Many customers greeted and smiled to each other. It was a beautiful
     picture that made me smile with them.’

Concluding Remarks
The Asoke community, through their goodwill markets, actively engages the urban public to see
for themselves and/or participate in an economic life style that is spiritually beneficial to oneself
and others and the environment. Economic activities do not have to be pursued to the extent of
being exploitative and destructive as to generate crises for oneself and others. The Bunniyom
system advanced by the Asoke movement is now entrenched in various aspects of lives and
economic undertakings like the goodwill markets of the Asoke communities. As environmental,
financial and economic crises continue to break out, would goodwill markets like the Asoke’s and
its foundation Bunniyom system or their variants that empower local communities and insulate
them from external crises be attractive enough to others as to spread further beyond the Asoke
communities?

References

1.   Bodhiraksa, 2012. Authors’ interview with Venerable Bodhiraksa on 5th February, 2012, in ‘Note
     from Patcha Samana (Secretary of Venerable Bodhiraksa)’, Saan Asoke (Asoke Journal), Vol.
     324, February-March 2012: 59-63.
2.   Look Baan Raj Muang Reo, 2011. ‘Thamma Prathabjai (Dhamma Impression)’, Saan Asoke
     (Asoke Journal), Vol. 321, July-August 2011: 59-60.
3.   Sangsehanat, Suwida, 2007. ‘Beyond the “capitalist” world-system: Buddhism in action.’
     Journal of Population and Social Studies, Vol. 16 (No. 1): 65-78.
4.   Sangsehanat, Suwida, S., and C. L. Bong, 2010. ‘Right Education – the Srisa Asoke Model’ in Lay
     Buddhist Forum 2010: Buddhism for a New Generation, September 30 - October 04, 2010.
     (Buddhist Chongji Order, South Korea, 2010), pages 16-31 (English version).
5.   Sangsehanat, Suwida, C. L. Bong, and Sikkhamat Chinda Tangbhoa, 2009. ‘Sādhāraṇabhogī: A
     Buddhist Social System as Practiced in Asoke Communities.’ in The 3rd Lay Buddhist Forum:
     Lay Buddhism and Engaged Buddhism, October 22-26, 2009 (Buddhist Chongji Order, South
     Korea, 2009), 27-38 (English version).
6.   Sangsuriyajan, Thamrong, 2009. ‘Asoke communal consumption community: a Buddhist way
     of living.’ http://buddhist-economics.info/papers/Thamrong.pdf; accessed 16:30hr, June 08,
     2012.
7.   Sangsuriyajan, Thamrong, 2011. ‘Sufficiency Economy as the Model of Thailand’s Community
     Development.’ International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 1 (No. 5): 74-82.

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Urban Dhamma: Asoke Goodwill Market, Engaging Urbanites the Asoke Way

  • 1. Sixth International Lay Buddhist Forum, October 30 – November 04, 2012, Malaga, Spain. Urban Dhamma: Asoke Goodwill Market, Engaging Urbanites the Asoke Way Bong Sue Lian, Malaysia, and Sangsehanat Suwida, Thailand. ________________________________________________________________________ Suggested citation: Bong, S.L. and Suwida Sangsehanat. (2012). Urban Dhamma: Asoke goodwill market, engaging urbanites the Asoke way. In ‘Lay Buddhism in the Modern World’, Karma Guen Diamond Way Buddhist Retreat Centre, Malaga, Spain. P41-47. (Presented at the 6th International Lay Buddhist Forum, 30 October-04 November 2012, Malaga, Spain). ________________________________________________________________________ Summary This paper describes the goodwill-based business enterprise of Asoke in producing and distributing (sharing and giving) goods and services to the public through the Asoke Goodwill Market. It covers the origin and purpose of the Asoke Goodwill Market; its economic and trading practices; the underlying guiding principles based on the Asoke Bunniyom system; policies and features of the goodwill stores and how they are implemented according to the Bunniyom system; and how the goodwill market engages the public and ‘infects’ the public to participate in the goodwill practices. The Asoke Goodwill Market is a work station where the participants train themselves spiritually in applying Dhamma (sīla, samādhi and paññā) in their everyday activities to accumulate spiritual wealth (‘merits from wholesome minds’ ; progress in cultivating sīla, samādhi and paññā), not amassing monetary or material wealth. Introduction The Asoke movement in Thailand, founded and led by Venerable Bodhiraksa, is progressive and engagingly active in developing right communities that support and empower a way of life centred in training and living by Buddhadhamma (sīla, samādhi, and paññā) in daily life economic activities with attaining spiritual liberation as the goal, not amassing material or physical wealth for its own sake or power or position. So far they have identified several tools of engaging themselves and the public in applying right livelihood – promotion of Dhamma through multimedia channels and products; promotion and popularisation of vegetarian diet; adoption of organic agriculture and green farming technology; ethical and spiritually inspiring commercial practices through the Asoke Goodwill Market; Bunniyom education; health (traditional medicine) and politics. They develop environmentally friendly, sustainable and protective agriculture and cottage industries, and set up a ‘Bunniyom or Meritism Society’ where members train and live in applying Buddhadhamma in all aspects of works and lives, management of resources, production of goods, their consumption and distribution. They set up their own schools and colleges where they apply an alternate education system to the conventional one. The Asoke Goodwill Market is the urban work station of the Asoke people (members of Asoke communities) for applying right livelihood and spiritual training in their daily activities of producing, giving and sharing of goods and services. While benefiting themselves and the public in body and mind, the Asoke people show and engage the public on how these goodwill-based markets for the production and distribution of goods and services could be an alternative model to the stressful self-centred life and profit-oriented business operations seen elsewhere. The Asoke Goodwill Market is thus an enterprise geared
  • 2. towards supporting right livelihood for spiritual training as one lives each day with the eventual outcome that one lives for oneself (spiritual wellbeing) and others (fellow sentient beings and environment). The conventional market (capitalistic) economics thrives on generating and maximising profits for the few, exploiting every resource available in the shortest possible time with minimal inputs, with the eventual outcome that physical wealth is amassed and concentrated in a few (with no really useful or beneficial value or purpose) at the disastrous expense of self and others (fellow beings and the environment; environment and economic or financial crises) in most cases. This paper writes about the Asoke Goodwill Market, a socially engaging economic enterprise operated by the Asoke Buddhist movement in Thailand. Asoke Goodwill Markets and their Distribution Asoke Goodwill Market is a non-profit oriented goodwill enterprise by which the Asoke people engage themselves and the public in training and applying Dhamma in the distribution of goods and services. There is a chain of these Asoke goodwill markets of non-monetary ‘merit-oriented’ (or wholesome minds) goodwill stores established by the Asoke people in major cities and towns of Thailand over the past thirty years or so. The first Goodwill Market was established in Santi Asoke, Bangkok; and now they are found in Nakorn Pathom, Chiangmai, Korat and Ubon Ratchathani, to name the major ones wherever there is an Asoke settlement. Types of Goodwill Stores of the Goodwill Market Typically the Asoke Goodwill Market consists of four or five main types of goodwill stores or sections – a supermarket or superstore; a vegetarian eatery; an organic produce store or street; a multimedia and stationary publishing house; and a 4R (‘reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover’) store of donated goods. Together the stores stock and supply goods and provisions and the usual daily staples. The superstore is stocked with dry processed organic foods and grains, health foods, supplements and herbs, local consumer goods including locally woven textiles and handicrafts, household goods, kitchen wares, agricultural implements, toiletries, and other daily staples and local products. The 4R store is an exchange centre that exchanges and sells new or used goods donated for reuse, recycling, repairing and recovering. Santi Asoke in Bangkok operates the largest, most established and well-known of the Asoke goodwill markets. The stores here are the main suppliers to the rest of the Asoke goodwill markets established elsewhere in Thailand. It is so widely known and recognised that the local neighbourhood grows into a special niche market for health foods and goods as many more similar stores spawn in the neighbourhood, extending the size of the Santi Asoke Goodwill Market. The Chiangmai Asoke community operates a smaller ‘one-stop’ complex of a dry goods-cum-multimedia store, 4R corner, a vegetarian eatery and fresh organic produce corner. This complex is operated under the name of ‘Vegetarian Society’. Origin and Purpose of Asoke Goodwill Market The founder of the Asoke movement, Venerable Bodhiraksa believes that not only ordained monks and nuns should practice, but lay people should train and practice to develop spiritually too. He leads and guides his lay followers to practice sīla, samādhi and paññā, to follow the Noble Eightfold Path in daily working and living, in adopting right careers (right livelihood) and right action, and developing self-reliance and sufficiency. The three areas for right livelihood that the Asoke identified that could support and contribute to developing and empowering the community and to the overall balanced development of the community and country include: 1. Dry and wet waste management in conserving and managing resources and the environment; 2. Organic and environment-friendly agricultural methods to produce healthy foods for their own consumption and sharing of the surplus;
  • 3. 3. Organic fertilizer production for their own use and distribution to others. Thus the Asoke Goodwill Market comprise stores for multimedia for the production and distribution of Buddhadhamma products; organic food and produce; handicrafts and daily staples and consumables; vegetarian eatery and the 4R store (for resource management). The setting up of the vegetarian eatery could be traced back to the initial adoption of vegetarian diet by the Asoke people for the health and good of body, mind (keep precepts, non-violence, develop mettā) and the environment (and other factors such as economics and readily available and more easily manageable resources for production). Because they wanted vegetable foods that were safe and healthy, they started organic farming to produce fresh grains and vegetables; studying, researching, collecting information and sourcing reliable supplies of healthy foods for their consumption. As they find themselves with growing surpluses of these produce and becoming better informed on health foods and vegetarian diet, they started sharing and distributing the surpluses of good and healthy foods in their food hall in Santi Asoke. It is from this point of distribution that a store was first set up and later a chain of the Goodwill Market of goodwill stores for sharing and distributing the fresh organic produce, health foods, and daily supplies become established in major cities and towns in Thailand. These stores also become convenient one-stop centre for the public to gather up supplies of organic and health foods, and daily supplies. Economic and Trading Practices in Asoke Goodwill Market The Asoke Goodwill Market, being a spiritual training work station for cultivating and generating goodwill (kusala mind; reducing akusala minds of greed, aversion and delusion) is unlike conventional commercial centres where practices are largely geared towards maximising personal gains (tending towards generating and accumulating akusala minds of greed, aversion and delusion). Therefore the approach in trading and development of the Asoke Goodwill Market is different from that of the conventional self-centred monetary profit-oriented markets. The Asoke Goodwill Market extends and expands through goodwill generated among the Asoke people and the participating public. Members of the public participate in generating and extending goodwill through donation of their goods and services, time and labour to the goodwill stores. In the Goodwill Market, one experiences a culture of giving and appreciation and a friendly environment of camaraderie where the ‘division’ between store operators and the customers becomes blurred. This is in distinct contrast to the atmosphere in conventional markets where ‘self-interests’ and ‘profits’ mark the store owners from the customers. In the Goodwill Market, there is no pressure or inducement (no advertisement) for the customers to consume or spend. There is however encouragement for the customers to reduce unnecessary wastage and to contribute one’s own efforts in self-service. All along in the line of production through to distribution and consumption, ethics and responsibility to oneself and others, and the ecology (environment, community, nature, cultures and traditions) are considered and applied. Everybody works, serves and contributes to the Goodwill Market in the spirit of training for a higher mind. Goods and services are priced as low as the community is able to sustain, and are different among the Asoke goodwill markets in different localities. The Asoke vegetarian eateries provide ‘Bunniyom meal’ (rice with one vegetable topping) for free or at 5 (less than 15 US cents), 7 (less than 20 US cents) or 10 Baht (less than US 35 cents) to promote and encourage people to try vegetarian food, and to reduce the frequency of taking non-vegetarian meals. The multimedia store serves as a Dhamma exchange and distribution centre. The revenues collected from 4R corner go to support the Asoke TV station for teaching and propagating Dhamma. All items in the
  • 4. superstore or commodity shop show two prices, the cost of the item and its selling price to let the customer know exactly the monetary profit (loss in merits or kusala mind) or loss margin (gain in merits or kusala mind). If there is any ‘monetary profit margin (= negative merit margin)’, it is to cover the overhead and other costs. Overhead cost is low because most of the workers or operators are volunteers, drawing little or no salary, and sometimes some of the goods are donated. The superstore, Palungboon Company, has operated for more than 27 years now and the highest salary drawn in the company remains at 2,000 Baht per month and many are fulltime volunteers drawing no salary at all (Bodhiraksa, 2012). Customers also participate in cost reducing measures such as self-service, using their own shopping bags, and returning the trolleys to the stores after use. The economic policy for Asoke community is to be debtless, self-reliant and self-sufficient, and surpluses are given away or shared. As a policy and practice, Asoke members are free to choose whatever jobs or works they enjoy doing. This policy enables the Asoke to run their business without stress in good or bad times as when the country is in economic crisis or when the world is reeling from one economic crisis to another (Sangsuriyajan, 2011). Paraphrasing Venerable Bodhiraksa (Bodhiraksa, 2012), ‘they can close the stores anytime when they need time to do community retreat, annual gathering and Dhamma celebration, and/or participating social movement activities. They enjoy this freedom and independence because they don’t have debt or rent to worry about and they are self-reliant and more than self-sufficient even without resorting to making money from selling, in sharp contradistinction to the way modern day capitalistic business is run.’ The main input that makes the Goodwill Market operation sustainable and grow from strength to strength over the three decades or more is simply goodwill and faith in the Buddhadhamma practice that inspires the Asoke people and their supporters and adherents to be diligent and to donate the products and volunteer their effort and time. Other major contributing factors are their skilful management of resources and a spiritually disciplined life style (governed by the precepts they undertake to keep) that is frugal and not enslaved to consumerism and unnecessary spending (Sangsehanat et. al., 2009; Sangsuriyajan, 2009; Sangsehanat and Bong, 2010). There exists also a strongly cohesive community (united by the same precepts, belief and faith) the growth of which is supported and guided by the principles of the Bunniyom system as elaborated below. Underlying Guiding Principles – Buddhist and Economic Whether by design or not, these goodwill (and right livelihood) stores also serve to demonstrate the viability and sustainability of an ‘alternative trading system’ that operates in what the Asoke calls the Bunniyom (Merit-ism) Society that values the quality of lives and spiritual development as the topmost priority goal of living in distinct contrast and opposition to the consumer capitalistic view of life which cannot see life, its meaning and goal beyond endlessly pursuing sense pleasures, making and accumulating material wealth, stressing out physically and mentally, and getting sick in the process. In the Asoke Bunniyom system, the practitioners accumulate spiritual wealth, not monetary or material wealth for oneself. The stark differences in values and practices between the conventional monetary gains- oriented capitalistic enterprises and the Asoke Goodwill Market of the meritism society are best summarised below in Table 1 (Sangsehanat, 2007).
  • 5. Table 1: Contrasting Values of Practices in Capitalistic and Bunniyom (Merit-ism) Society Parameter Capitalistic society Merit-ism society Virtue Giving with expected returned Giving with a pure mind, no benefits (positive return from returns expected. investment, e.g. returns from making a donation). ‘smartness’ Score advantage over others, e.g. Serving society without making profits by all means, devious seeking profits or advantages or not. Profit Getting back more from the original Giving more than getting back sum of investment. any. Loss Incurring a disadvantage. Taking or getting back more than giving. Objective Make Money Make merit/good kamma/good mind from sīla, samādhi, and paññā. End results Crisis from despoliation and Peace from living a simple life, squandermania one of moderation in consumption. Source: Translated from Samanalakkhano, 2001: 24 by Sangsehanat (2007) In this Bunniyom system, one is praised for contributing, not taking, in contrast to the conventional economy where wealth is built on taking and maximising gains for oneself and giving or minimising gains for others most of the time. In the Bunniyom model of economic operation, there is the emphasis on ethics and spiritual values (right livelihood, right living), in distinct contrast to the capitalistic ‘all about money/profits and little else matters’ type of operation. This Bunniyom concept and its practice is not easily understood even among some Asoke people, not to mention many local Thais and foreigners who have not seen it in practice. The individual Asoke has to practice the Bunniyom type of trading until he/she realizes personally that there is no need to compete, no need to accumulate, no need to advertise, that ‘giving is a human virtue; giving leads to happiness and competition does not.’ (Bodhiraksa, 2012). Mrs. Tharnrung Khamsokecherk, a volunteer manager (or ‘servant’ by the Asoke designation of the post) at the Santi Asoke vegetarian eatery described her training and development thus to the authors in an interview conducted on February 03, 2012, ‘We practice giving rather than being greedy; to stay calm and not getting annoyed with some greedy customers who often seem to take advantage of the Bunniyom (free) meals served in the eatery. As the vegetarian eatery becomes better known and there are more customers, we have to practice to curb our greedy mind to want to make more money and to refrain from increasing the prices of the foods. For example, during the time when Thailand was hit with a huge economic crisis in B.E. 2540 (C.E. 1997), the Asoke vegetarian food eatery became more popular because of the cheaper price of the foods. When there were more and more customers coming, some Asoke members proposed in their community meeting to raise the food price from 5 Baht to 7 Baht per serving. Many members agreed. There were also many who disagreed. Then, Venerable Bhodhiraksa taught us that we had to practice and step out of the capitalistic mindset of making profit. When the business was good because the customers were in trouble in times of economic crisis, we should have compassion for them, give and help them more than at other times.
  • 6. Even when our cost had also increased in those economic hard times, our increment in costs was much smaller than the other businesses’. If we had the ability to give, we should give. Don’t get trapped in a mind of cost or profit making too much. Eventually, the Asoke community decided to agree on not increasing the price and tried harder to reduce the price instead. It is not easy to overcome this mind that habitually tends towards developing more greed, so we have to be watchful of our mind all the time.’ In Bunniyom society, a more able and spiritually developed or accomplished person is one who gives more and takes little or less or none. Venerable Bodhiraksa tries to put into practice the model of the Bunniyom economic ‘Support System’ or foundation base. In this model, the one who occupies the highest position, the owner or chief of an enterprise, or the main supporting or foundation branch must do and contribute more, and draw less salary or benefits because these positions are the support of the whole system, to support those of lower ranks or those who are less able (‘poorer’ in spiritually development or mind) people. The position (service of giving) vis-a- vis salary (returns or benefits or taking back) is depicted in a pyramidal structure illustrated below (Figure 1). Those at highest level draw no salary or take no share of any profits; serve or give away more; take back less, profit in merit, reflect higher level of appreciation of Dhamma in spiritual training. Figure 1. Hierarchy in Bunniyom System Those at the lowest level draw the highest income and incur highest welfare expenses. Less ability, draw higher salary and consume more; give less, less capable; take more, loss in merit, poorer in spiritual training. Among the Asoke stores, Khob Khun Wholesale Company staff are all non-salaried volunteers. This company is the main distributor and is the pillar of the Asoke goodwill markets. It supplies and supports the other stores of Asoke groups. The success of an enterprise is reflected by how much less members could afford to take for themselves and how much more they could give away. Another example is the practice of the multimedia publisher and store, Fah-Apai Company. As the company has grown steadily over the years to be able to enjoy better welfare and material comfort with good office building, members voluntarily met and agreed to reduce their salary from the highest of 3,000 Baht to 2,500 Baht per month. The Asoke people have to train themselves until they realise personally the values advocated in the Bunniyom economic practice, in developing and contributing more than in taking for oneself, in cultivating higher mind to accumulate spiritual wealth (progress), and in not taking advantage of others or making monetary profits and material gains.
  • 7. The Asoke goodwill markets are practical examples of how the Asoke people train, practice and apply Buddhadhamma in business enterprises based on the Bunniyom System that benefit and empower themselves and others at personal, society and community levels. Features and Policies of the Asoke Goodwill Market Stores and their Implementation Based on the Bunniyom System Products and services ‘sold’ or ‘distributed’ at the Asoke Goodwill Market are best regarded as ‘merit products and services’ because they are actually produced and distributed through goodwill at the lowest price the suppliers can afford without the usual intention to take material or monetary advantage of the ‘customers’. While the goods and services may be similar to those in the markets out there, they are ‘priced’ much lower and supplied for the good of the consumers in mind. Examples of some policies and features of the practice based on the Bunniyom system are given below. a. Goodwill Superstore The policies are based on ethics and goodwill in accordance with the Bunniyom system as enumerated here: 1. Goods sold in the stores are good for the health and mind of the people. Although the Asoke Goodwill Stores have no registered trade mark or advertisement, they are recognised and trusted by their customers as stores that are ‘all about health and not about money’. 2. Affordable pricing and transparency in trade where there is no unfair advantage or disadvantage practiced in the store. There are four ‘merit levels’ of pricing of the goods. Goods are priced as ‘free’, or sold below or at cost, or slightly above cost. All items are labelled with the cost price and the selling price to show the margin of difference (free = merit++; below cost = merit+; at cost= no merit or merit = 0; slightly above cost=merit- or loss of merit). The pricing reflects the Bunniyom economic system where the value of giving/sharing (higher mind of displacing greed with generosity) is prioritised and highly ‘praised’ whereas monetary gain and the necessity for it where it occurs is acknowledged though not ‘prized’. 3. Measures for minimising of costs and resources, and protecting the environment include no-frill packaging, not providing plastic bags, and encouraging self-service among the customers in packing their own goods and returning the shopping trolleys to the stores after use. 4. There is no advertisement or inducement to encourage consumption and spending. Publicity is not completely eschewed; there is publicity in Asoke’s own media. b. Vegetarian Eateries 1. Quality of materials: organic, safe and healthy. All vegetarian food shops of Asoke communities use organic produce. Materials are either from the community’s own farms or other farms. Produces are examined and verified for safety and organic status at the farms and upon arrival at the Asoke stores by the Asoke’s own safety monitoring department. Varieties – promotion of health foods such as herbal drinks, vegetable and fruit juices; fresh fruits; and cooked vegetables without unnecessary food additives such as monosodium glutamate. 2. Pricing: The policy is to set the lowest price that can be afforded or sustained by the community since the emphasis is on giving rather than profiting. Bunniyom meal of rice
  • 8. and one vegetable topping for free at some or for 10-15 Baht at other eateries1; rice with toppings of two or more are priced as low as possible. Table 2 below gives some indications of the range of prices at various Asoke eateries and non-Asoke eateries during the Thailand Vegetarian Festival in 2011. Table 2. Comparative Prices of Vegetarian Meals at Different Eateries (2011 Vegetarian Festival) food Ratchath Chiang court, Santi- Pathom Gener ani Asoke mai Sima- Depar Asoke Asoke al Eatery, Asoke Asoke Items tment Eatery, Eatery, eateri Ubon Eatery, Eatery, al Bangkok Nakorn es(a) (c) Ratcha- Chiang Korat(g) Stores Pathom(d) (e) (f) (b) thani mai one 30 40 Free Free 10 free free topping two 40 50 15 15 15 15 15 toppings three 50 60 20 20 20 20 20 toppings special 50-60 60-100 15 20 15 15 15 food fried food 30 50 - n.a. 20 n.a. n.a. Dessert 15 up 30 up n.a n.a. n.a. 5 n.a. take home meal (no 50 60 10 15 10 n.a. n.a. rice) n.a. = not available. Source of data: (a)-(b), from authors’ survey; (c)-(g), from various reports in Saan Asoke (Asoke Journal), Vol. 321, July-August 2011. Public Participation and Customers’ Experience The Goodwill Market is not only a place for the Asoke people to train themselves for spiritual growth. The public also participates in it with similar goodwill. It is a place where customers could just walk in and perform random acts of kindness and generosity and sharing of meals and joy. The public also donate their surplus organic produce and goods to the vegetarian eatery and 4R store. They like the opportunity to contribute their labour too in keeping the eatery clean by cleaning up the tables and their own dishes before they go, in being direct participants of the Bunniyom commercial activities. Prices of the meals are so affordable that customers often buy 1 The Chiangmai Lanna Asoke community is able to give Bunniyom meal for free because their community’s cost and maintenance is lower, and the community is are richer in resources. Their lands are on the hills and richly endowed with wild vegetables that they collect for free; and there are also regular donations of fresh produce from the local public. Members here are mostly holders of eight-precepts who consume less and need less to maintain. Ratchathani Asoke community cannot afford to give Bunniyom meal for free because of their higher consumption and lower production rates. Their land is flooded for three months each year during which the land could not be worked on. Most of the members there are holders of five precepts who have younger families to look after and they consume more.
  • 9. up many to distribute to friends and relatives to encourage them to have at least one vegetarian meal and to consume less meat for that day. In a cursory survey conducted in January 26-27, 2012 at the Chiangmai vegetarian eatery, many customers reported that they enjoyed the foods and the atmosphere of camaraderie that exuded in ‘a place that is all about health, not about money’, in the words of one of those surveyed. Outsiders can walk in and volunteer there too to contribute their labour and time. In this place, there is spontaneous sharing of joy and generosity. Similar joyful festive atmosphere and public participation as volunteers or customers in Bunniyom activities was also reported in the Asoke Vegetarian Festival of 2011 (Look Baan Raj Muang Reo, 2011), ‘Customers told us that these foods that they purchased will be given as merit gifts for their relatives and friends. They make good presents because our foods are good (wholesome and healthy) and cheap. Many customers greeted and smiled to each other. It was a beautiful picture that made me smile with them.’ Concluding Remarks The Asoke community, through their goodwill markets, actively engages the urban public to see for themselves and/or participate in an economic life style that is spiritually beneficial to oneself and others and the environment. Economic activities do not have to be pursued to the extent of being exploitative and destructive as to generate crises for oneself and others. The Bunniyom system advanced by the Asoke movement is now entrenched in various aspects of lives and economic undertakings like the goodwill markets of the Asoke communities. As environmental, financial and economic crises continue to break out, would goodwill markets like the Asoke’s and its foundation Bunniyom system or their variants that empower local communities and insulate them from external crises be attractive enough to others as to spread further beyond the Asoke communities? References 1. Bodhiraksa, 2012. Authors’ interview with Venerable Bodhiraksa on 5th February, 2012, in ‘Note from Patcha Samana (Secretary of Venerable Bodhiraksa)’, Saan Asoke (Asoke Journal), Vol. 324, February-March 2012: 59-63. 2. Look Baan Raj Muang Reo, 2011. ‘Thamma Prathabjai (Dhamma Impression)’, Saan Asoke (Asoke Journal), Vol. 321, July-August 2011: 59-60. 3. Sangsehanat, Suwida, 2007. ‘Beyond the “capitalist” world-system: Buddhism in action.’ Journal of Population and Social Studies, Vol. 16 (No. 1): 65-78. 4. Sangsehanat, Suwida, S., and C. L. Bong, 2010. ‘Right Education – the Srisa Asoke Model’ in Lay Buddhist Forum 2010: Buddhism for a New Generation, September 30 - October 04, 2010. (Buddhist Chongji Order, South Korea, 2010), pages 16-31 (English version). 5. Sangsehanat, Suwida, C. L. Bong, and Sikkhamat Chinda Tangbhoa, 2009. ‘Sādhāraṇabhogī: A Buddhist Social System as Practiced in Asoke Communities.’ in The 3rd Lay Buddhist Forum: Lay Buddhism and Engaged Buddhism, October 22-26, 2009 (Buddhist Chongji Order, South Korea, 2009), 27-38 (English version). 6. Sangsuriyajan, Thamrong, 2009. ‘Asoke communal consumption community: a Buddhist way of living.’ http://buddhist-economics.info/papers/Thamrong.pdf; accessed 16:30hr, June 08, 2012. 7. Sangsuriyajan, Thamrong, 2011. ‘Sufficiency Economy as the Model of Thailand’s Community Development.’ International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 1 (No. 5): 74-82.