[Buddha-l] Getting real about Buddhism and capitalism

[jkirk]

> You're right of course , Joanna. People kill... with weapons. If
> everything would depend on people, there would be no reason to prohibit 
> any drug or poison. Since Marx philosophers have discovered the power 
> things have on us, see Marshal McLUhan, Foucault, Heidegger, Latour and 
> Baudrillard. Capitalism depends on greed. This is clear from The Wealth of 
> the Nations by Asam Smith, who took the idea probably from the Fable of 
> the Bees from Bernard de Mandeville. Mandeville argues that the economy 
> thrives on wickedness and I think he is right. What strikes and annoys me 
> is that some (mostly Tibetan) big shots of the sangha claim that their 
> financial succes is a consequence of their holyness.
 >
> Erik
> www.xs4all.nl/~jehms
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Hm---somehow I missed the Fable of the Bees, but interestingly enough, one 
year when
I was doing research on ricksha arts in Bangladesh,one popular painted panel 
subject was
bees on the panel (left) putting honey into a hive, and a hand on the right 
putting coin into a
clay pot bank. I bet Stith Thompson had something to say about world 
distribution of this figure.
Perhaps the issue of credit is only found in tales of the Mullah Nasrullah:)
Ironically, any economy could thrive just fine without the arms industry, 
but cadres of
power hungry males thrive better with Ak47s.
Joanna