The Buddhist Middle Path for Sustainable Economic Practice

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the Buddhist Middle Path for sustainable economic practice. According to Buddhist economics, santosa and mattaññutã could be applied as the Middle Path for sustainable economic practice. Santosa or contentment means satisfaction with whatever is one's own under which one should be happy with what he can get and doesn’t want or perform anything beyond his capacity and appropriateness.  As a result, one should stop his desire and economic practice at a point beyond which danger or damage could happen or when it is enough according to one's condition and capacity. This means our economic practice should be done in moderation or balance; nothing should be done to the extreme. Therefore, Santosa must be accompanied by mattaññutã or knowing what is one's moderation; one could be content correctly if he knows when to suffice. The Buddhist Middle Path focuses on moderation or balance, sufficiency, and simplicity because sufficiency is the condition that must be present when one makes any economic practice in moderation or it may be seen as the minimum criterion of moderation while simplicity is in line with moderation and gives good support to a self-reliant economy that is the suitable economic form for general people, especially in the poor country.