What Would the Buddha Buy? | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters

When you and your family gather together this year, don’t get caught up in the fatal frenzy of consumerism. Pledge to celebrate Christmas differently. Revaluate what really matters and replace the plethora of impersonal gifts with something more meaningful: spending time with each other.

This is the first in a series of pieces meant to inspire you to work towards a Buy Nothing Christmas. Send us your epiphanies!

part one

What would the Buddha buy? Not too much, not too little. Picture him with his own reusable grocery bag slung over his shoulder, talking to a shopper about making mindful choices: "Do you really need it?" "Where does it come from?" "How will it affect the environment when you're done?" He might have enjoyed celebrating International Buy Nothing Day on November 29 as a spiritual retreat from frantic holiday shopping (the "shopocalypse," as Reverend Billy calls it).

Recall how the Buddha’s monasteries served as a kind of buffer zone between the ancient traditions of agrarian culture and the fierce competition of the newly emerging market economy. These days engaged Buddhist sanghas play a similar role. They believe that we are again at a turning point – a new Axial Age, an opportunity to turn the Wheel of Dharma. Without pie charts, sustainability statistics or solemn computation of your ecological footprint, Gandhi said it all: "There is enough for human need, not for human greed." And as for greed – sad and sorry, mindless, addicted, grasping greed – the Buddha knows it beckons us with all its tempting lures.

The Buddha’s critique of mindless craving and needless suffering pinpoints the precise moment during which real pleasure becomes abstract desire – the want to want. In our addictive culture of capitalism, it’s the exact same vital acupressure point that our basic market economy capitalizes on. "Don’t get hooked," the Buddha says. Remember the hungry ghost, craving more and more of what can never satisfy.

With Dharma, a marketplace can be seen as an opportunity to practice mindfulness, rather than mindless consumption. Nothing exotic – we do it every day. In each advertisement and at each potential point of purchase is a karmic choice, the opportunity to practice wise compassion for the universal human condition. The bodhisattva shopper vows to consider all beings.

Neither capitalism nor socialism has prevented children from starving in Somalia. We should be trying to base contentment on being, rather than having. Then the question of buying that fourth shirt or that new gizmo on display might be dwarfed by the prospect of creating more space in one’s life by donating your extra stuff. When tempted to bite the hook of despair over seeming scarcity in one’s life or in the world, try practicing generosity instead. It’s harder to be grasping greedily when your arms are extended in giving. Reverend Billy energizes us with this (free) motto: love is a gift economy. Pass it along.

_Gary Gach

This important article

by April Benson on March 07 2009, @08:04 am This important article addresses the serious issue of compulsive buying disorder. My name is Dr. April L. Benson, Founder of Stopping Overshopping, LLC, and author of To Buy or Not to Buy: Why We Overshop and How to Stop. I invite anyone looking for more information about compulsive buying to visit my website www.stoppingovershopping.com. On the site you can find a great deal of information about the disorder and it's treatment, and there's a comprehensive resource center with relevant articles, books, videos, and websites as well as a self-quiz to help you decide if you have a compulsive buying problem.

People watching is fun. Drop

by I like cheese on January 21 2009, @06:59 am People watching is fun. Drop one controversial article into a pool of intellects and watch the ruffled feathers fly. I salute you Joker! Get involved, go break some knees for the mob and when you're done bring their heads to me. Why? Because, in 24 hours it won't matter anymore but I'll still be laughing about it; and here's the kicker, even if you're a religious fanatic or a left wing extremist it comes down to one point: everyone gets angry. Thank you for your patronage, excuse me please while I spam another page, -A.L.Anderson

Gary, I came here from your

by Mita on February 21 2009, @06:04 am Gary, I came here from your post in Activism in about.com buddhism site. Love your post and all the responses it generated The question is Would Buddha buy the way of life, view of life, Ad driven false speech and wrong livelihood promoted under capitalist war-military-intelligence-weapon-prison-pharma-banking-oil-corporate cartel? Can we as practicing buddhist apply our mindful awareness, collective wisdom and intelligence to diagnose the systemic causes and blindspots in this man-made system of capitalism compounding social and planetary suffering? First we have to have greater awareness of what is happening beyond our backyards and how everything is interdependent and co-evolved historically? Can we go beyond Buddha and schumacher or any individual to address collective ignorance of how the system came to be what it is? We can and we must. Search for my discussion at gaia.com 'Transforming capital in capitalism' http://www.yahoo.com I am busy planting the seeds of peace currency. Nurture them. Peace & joy

The bottom line intent of

by tdr on December 18 2008, @01:17 pm The bottom line intent of the article, if it was mindful buying, is great. But, "what would Buddha buy" totally misses the point. Buddha left his wife in labor and didn't see his child for several years while he pursued "enlightenment." Try that only if you want to come back to a wife or girlfriend who has replaced you by someone with some sensitivity, interested in relationships. Since Buddha's teachings are fundamentally anti-relationship, you better not take his advice if they are important to you. The traditional WWJD would have been much better, since Jesus did value relationships above the self. "You must lose yourself, to find yourself", etc. Then again, if you're not interested in relationships, following Buddha will certainly be a quick path to aloneness. The real point seems to be that gift giving is one thing, consumerism is another. Buddha is just not the guy to look to.

While i do not believe that

by Gary Gach on December 20 2008, @12:11 pm While i do not believe that history begins with myself, i didn't expect so much of this engaging responsa to my text to focus upon same (somalia or 2600 years ago) and this too is good. (tulane drama review?) writes in an interestingly hour-glass-shaped comment where I get pinched in the middle but am fine at the top and the bottom ... : "The bottom line intent of the article, if it was mindful buying, is great." Thank you, , and i do appreciate the irony (unintended or otherwise) of your use of "bottom line" [economic metaphor] to my ethical intention. Contractual language, as they say. "But, “what would Buddha buy” totally misses the point." Perhaps. Or perhaps I need to go into greater depth (at Adbusters, of course) as to the economic model of the time of the Buddha, and what relevance we learn of his response to it, for today, and tomorrow. [¿good idea?] " Buddha left his wife in labor and didn’t see his child for several years while he pursued “enlightenment.” " Am not sure what the scare quotes signify ... altho' i too find the word over-used; there being enlightened ways of being, whereas looking for enlightenment is like trying to bite your teeth ... ... but point well taken. ¿Siddhartha sounds like a poster child for a Deadbeat Dad, don't he? Of course we're talkinga about Siddhartha, there, not the Buddha ... who did return ... and ordained his mother and his wife ... thus opposing the caste system which prevails to this day in India ... Yet I am wondering (aloud): what was the status of women in his time? Were women considered equals (not to mention superior)? Seems as if in India today still women are considered as property, or less. (Cf. suttee). Were I a public defender, I'd argue in his favor that he did leave his wife and child-to-be without worry as to where their next meal would come from, and within the amenities and benefits of a strong extended family. Still, I wonder how common his walking out might be ... then, or now, in that culture. (It was not uncommon for an older person to do this AFTER attaining position, family status, etc.) I know Japanese businessmen today will leave their wives for very long extended periods of time.) "Since Buddha’s teachings are fundamentally anti-relationship" Whoa! Here's where you lost me, . Buddha's teachings are SO about relationship! (Have you heard the word: "interbeing.") Indeed, without relationship, every thing might be seen as fictive: there's no me without you, and this comment wall is the proof! "The traditional WWJD would have been much better, since Jesus did value relationships above the self. “You must lose yourself, to find yourself”, etc. Then again, if you’re not interested in relationships, following Buddha will certainly be a quick path to aloneness." Aloneness? (All oneness?) I don't know. I really don't know. But perhaps you might like to check out Stephen Batchelor's book ALONE WITH OTHERS, for an existentialist perspective on the teachings of the Deadbeat Dad Dude, in terms of "aloneness." "The real point seems to be that gift giving is one thing, consumerism is another." You hit the nail on the head, there, my friend. " Buddha is just not the guy to look to. " True: like they say, "if you see a Buddha along the road ... kill him!"

On the contrary, I don’t

by New Yeah on December 19 2008, @10:39 pm On the contrary, I don't think that Buddha was, or Buddhism is, 'anti-relationships'. The two key components of Buddhism are wisdom and compassion, and there is no better way to get these in the right balance by dealing with people. Whether that is your wife, your co-worker or your noisy neighbour, you can only truly exercise these values by dealing with people instead of shutting yourself of from them, as you seem to suggest is the one Buddhist way. Yes, the Buddha did leave his family. But that was only at the start of his journey when he was confused after spending nearly 30 years sheltered by his royal upbringing. And once he did reach enlightenment, Buddha's mother and son joined him in his sangha.

It doesn’t seem like

by Brooklyn Printer on December 16 2008, @03:17 pm It doesn't seem like Capitalism will be too much of a problem for too much longer. For those who haven't seen it there is an amazing, well researched, comprehensible Power Point that looks at the Adbusters issues, like consumption, debt, resource depletion, population, the environment and the hyper-capitalist economy. The title might as well be "The impending Global Crisis 101." In it the author supports his premise that, based on history and current trends, "The next 20 years will look NOTHING like the last 20 years." http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse Until our global societies face these issues head-on there will be no progress. It is time to make hard decisions changes. The future doesn't have to be an apocalypse but it is not going to look like 2008! Here is to REAL hope and change, Best

Why “celebrate”

by Anonymous on December 16 2008, @04:06 am Why "celebrate" Christmas at all? It's such a one-size-fits-all religious, capitalist Frankenstein that anyone in their right minds would abolish it. If gifts are the concern and it makes your loved ones feel more loved or gives the giver a warm fuzzy feeling, then do it whenever. Buying is not evil... people need their jobs just to survive so don't shoot the messenger. Moderation keeps life less stressfull and more meaningful.

I think Buddha would have

by Anastasia Silva on December 15 2008, @01:44 pm I think Buddha would have bought some bo-tree seedlings, so that all the other little Buddhas and Buddha wannabes could sit under them and pretend to be enlightened before preaching the eight-fold path and the four noble truths.

My comment about the Buddha

by Anonymous on December 13 2008, @10:18 am My comment about the Buddha and wealth (Fri 12/12)came from another list. So I should add that the Buddha advocated the middle way, meaning that he spoke against superfluity and excess in everything. That royals and merchants had great wealth, I'd guess, he attributed to the karma of their inheritance or their conditions simply being a fact of life, since although he had dealings with them, he did not advocate emulating them unless they were especially dedicated to the dharma. And, what Gandhi said was: "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed"

Doesn’t Buddhism attack

by J K on December 12 2008, @06:29 pm Doesn't Buddhism attack greed and attachment, not wealth? Since the early and later sanghas for centuries relied on material donations for survival (rich persons and royals playing big roles), support for the mission and the building of viharas, etc., it's not suprising that wealth and property got little negative press. Asian Buddhist nations have continued to operate in this fashion up to present times, even as Deng Shao Ping said, making money is good. In those ancient days of the 7th c BCE, as in the early days of the takeover of the Americas from the Indians, resources must have seemed to be in unlimited supply (except to the America's Indians, who were close to Gandhi's views on the earth), so aphorisms such as Gandhi's would not have occurred to any thinking subject. Gandhi of course was a man of the twentieth c., when resources were finally beginning to be perceived as in limited supply, thanks to the ravages of corporate capitalism.

When I go out shopping with

by Anonymous on December 09 2008, @08:49 pm When I go out shopping with my kid, when he points out something interesting to him and says we should buy it, I always tell him, "it's enough to have seen it. We don't need to possess it." We are giving food presents this year. Tea, coffee, spices. Enjoying the flavor of food seems to be a very Buddhist thing to do and share.

I guess, that how I’ve put

by DennMann on December 09 2008, @03:47 pm I guess, that how I've put it to people in my circle of influence is this: At what point, do your possessions, possess you. Are you in a place where you work, to pay for your car, so you can get to work? It seems that by living with less possessions, I have more free time, less stress, and a general sense of peace without need.

Is it possible that the most

by JP on December 09 2008, @12:59 pm Is it possible that the most compassionate thing that people who happen to have money should spend it on really nice gifts for themselves, family, friends, serving people, deadbeats, etc. this year, of all recent years. The gifts themselves wouldn't be as important is simply circulating some bucks around instead of putting them into treasuries. What really matters is what really matters. Alms for the economy, that sort of thing. You don't have to be a good Buddhist to be a good Buddhist. Just see if you can be a good whatever you happen to be. Even if you have money or are a Republican.

Buy nothing day is a way for

by Anonymous on December 09 2008, @08:16 am Buy nothing day is a way for middle class families to feel relief for their over spending in regards to the poor. The poor live this way everyway, the middle class taking one day into their lifestyle is only a heart pleaser. We need to live this life style more often, and use the money to a better use, such as following the advent conspiracy

I’m not spending a cent

by Anonymous on December 08 2008, @12:55 pm I'm not spending a cent this Christmas. And I'm not asking my friends or family for anything because I truthfully, honestly, don't *want* anything being sold out there. Like Kevin below, I'm writing appreciative letters, and maybe I'll do some baking or preserving and throw everything into a basket with a bow. Last year I would've popped a forehead vein if my stocking was empty. Funny how things change in one year. I had a mini-epiphany after the Rev. Billy documentary.

I love the sentiments

by Anonymous on December 13 2008, @10:04 pm I love the sentiments throughout this thread. Creative suggestions for things to do that require more effort than running around a mall like a headless chicken. I am posting a love story online for my partner at the1moment.com. It requires a bit more effort than just grabbing some fragrance or boxers and will mean much more. The money I save will go to charity.

In the 3rd world like here

by Aaron Chavarria on December 08 2008, @01:28 pm In the 3rd world like here Mexico, there is a BND all year long, since our income are so low.

I am going to give my family

by Kevin on December 07 2008, @10:02 am I am going to give my family Appreciation letters for Christmas. I am just going to write a list of all the things that I am grateful for that they have done or made possible for me. It is a great, meaningful present that doesn't cost you a cent and may make the recipient realize that real happiness doesn't come from getting a new gadget, but from bonding and appreciation.

Somalia. Thank you, and

by Gary Gach on December 07 2008, @08:42 am Somalia. Thank you, and and , Point well taken. Looking within, growing up with the "starving children in India" trope, ("eat your broccoli"), I realize now I've continued that bad faith; mea culpa. [Is this because the reality of poverty in America is not only repressed and projected on to some fictive Other, but is far more cloaked than in other societies (where its visibility makes for the visualizable image)?] I will make sure to revise that in future printed iteration(s) of my text : thank you very much. [Curious too, that when I am not donating time (which is invariably local, f2f), I donate very carefully according to my simple (austere) budget, to be sure my coin does reach needy hands without being eroded by bureaucratic middlemen, wherever the recipient(s) may be. Wherever local ("here") may be. Curious. Is that why I donate more time than money?] And I wonder how divergent we are . I'll plead guilty to using a questionable trope as a headline, E.G., What Would Emma Goldman Buy? What Would Spinoza Buy? etc. It undercuts the essentially noncoercive anti-authoritarian bent which I so respect in the Buddha. [cf. The Kalama Sutra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalama_Sutta; his last words: "Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves. And those, who shall be a lamp unto themselves, shall betake themselves to no external refuge, but holding fast to the Truth as their lamp, and holding fast to the Truth as their refuge, they shall reach the topmost height." But then I can't speak for others. Including 'Murricans: that's millions of people. ( 'Murricans influenced by the Buddha: recently polled as being 1 in 8. ) I can only speak for myself. I can appreciate Mencken's witty neologism "boobocracy" while I am also aware how cynicism (an easy response, and fed into the culture as a meme) can separate me, cut me off, thwart my finer impulses. As the cartoonist Walt Kelly used to say in Pogo, "We have met the enemy and he is us." That is, every blighted spiritual mis-step and mis-take in economy and ecology is mine too. Grace that the mind that recognizes this in myself and in the world, recognizes mind and world as being no different: thus an intersection referred to in the article, of continual karma choice points, as opportunity for active practice. And mind that recognizes this is larger mind than the mind that bumbles and fumbles its opportunity for light and life on this rare blue planet; being larger, is hopefully less liable to being tugged in any of the less skillful directions of which it is aware it can be tugged off into ... but would anyone read an article entitled "who buys?" ... ? [sounds like the book by stephen levine: who dies?] ... and happy rohatsu, for those of such persuasion, today.

Why must we continually

by Anonymous on December 07 2008, @07:17 am Why must we continually supervise the rest of the world (say, Somalia) when we don't supervise ourselves? There is much hunger in the USA today. People are losing their homes to living on the street. Shelters for the homeless are overflowing, foodbanks are running out of food because of demand from people laid off their jobs. Get REAL! Donate to your local food bank and homeless shelters.

The real crisis today

by Shawn Michel de Montaigne on December 06 2008, @10:35 pm The real crisis today isn't the one on Wall Street, but the one taking place in the average American soul. This is a spiritual crisis first and foremost; and until people recognize that, they're doomed to repeat it--and to suffer for it. Try as you might, you can't fill the yawning void within your spirit with crap. Want to emulate the Buddha? Then you've already lost. Need to quote Gandhi? Then you've got your head up your ass. Want to walk in Jesus' footsteps? Then you're too weak to walk your own path. All are signs of compromised spirits, limp-noodle souls too afraid to think for themselves, to do the right thing not because someone else did it, or told you to do it, but because it's what their hearts told them to do. But the problem is, the vast majority of 'Murkans are herd animals, and wouldn't know an authentic prompting of it bit them on their spreading butts. So they'll go on emulating this dead guy, and quoting that dead dude, and kissing the mouldering robes of a third, and nothing actual gets done, nothing real is changed. And so the world keeps burning. But hey--got a good Buddha quote to salve the landfill of your corrupted soul? Those always help--for a while.

Dear Shawn, It’s been

by Anonymous on January 11 2009, @11:14 am Dear Shawn, It's been several weeks since you pulled the plug on a community that didn't meet your specifications. It was your baby--that is to say, you authored it into existence, and therefore you felt that you had the right to kill it. I disagree, and further, I have a thing that needs saying: If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen, and let the real chefs continue merrily on. Let's take a quick look at what you decided was out of the control of your hands, Shawn: over a thousand uploaded photos taken by members of the community. Some 200+ blog entries, some of which contained original poetry written by members. Video and audio materials. Challenging, thought-provoking discourse and commentary. Real connections made through the ethers among community members that are now missed due to your temporal fit of personal pique. And now a word on that oh-so-human activity-- control has long been an illusion of the ego. Judgemental behavior is an outflow of the human need to control. Ego run rampant does damage daily in millions of arenas; why, then, need you duplicate just that sort of power play when and where it is unwarranted? Why not leave that stuff to the people you heap such scorn upon regularly... that is, those you perceive to be beneath your intellectual capabilities? *using sleeve to shine the mirror and hold it up higher* If you feel you know me well enough through my posts to assume I am a poser, nothing more than a hunk of shit, garbage-filled and false, then you may be right. If you assume I am goodness, justice, loyalty and truth personified, you may also be right. I am everything, and I am nothing. It matters not to me what you think of me; on any given day, at any moment, you are both wrong and right, and I do not give a rat's ass about your personal opinion of me. I am more amused than anything else that you have assumed the worst about me by default of not being one of the recipients of your golden message to the three you felt most worthy, and wish to say to you that you are the poorer for your judgemental assumptions. What I do care about is that you have killed something that challenged you as perhaps no other experience in your life up until now has managed to do. Where you see worthlessness and bullshitting, I see growth and potential. Where you see a failed community, I see thought patterns murdered in order to attempt to silence them. Why? Because you ultimately decided that you were too afraid to take up the challenges we posted for you. A little kick up the ass now and again is mightily useful. I asked you to take the step to walk your talk, and the next day, you pulled the rug out from under our feet. I've got a little secret to share with you, Shawn: the same lessons will appear until you learn from them and move on. Stop blaming everyone else for your lack of personal responsibility and get your act together. Excuses really, really suck, and the consequences from what you fail to learn will continue to hound you. What are you really hiding from? Yourself, perhaps? I've honored your request to leave you alone and NOT attempt to contact you; such peevishness really does not become you, and cements your position most firmly amongst the asshats of this world. Therefore, I am left with only the realm of a blog posting in which to address and resolve my end of this matter. You cannot unmake what you have created, but you can certainly change it, and I hope you will choose to do so. I leave the door open for any further communication you might wish to share with me, and I wish you precisely the lessons you most need to learn in order to evolve. ~Amber

Actually, both capitalism

by I am so wise on December 06 2008, @02:40 pm Actually, both capitalism and socialism did all right feeding Somalia until the period after the Cold War. When the US and the rest of the West took away its supervisory gaze and let the Somalis take control and depose their leadership did starvation take place as the Somali civil war disrupted the Somali agricultural sector and Western attempts to save the day.

f u r t h e r r e a d i

by Gary Gach on December 06 2008, @08:15 am f u r t h e r r e a d i n g Mindfulness in the Marketplace http://tinyurl.com/5uupys Hooked!: Buddhist writings on greed, desire, and the urge to consume http://www.buddhistrecovery.org/book_hooked.htm ... as Eleazar wisely points out, above, it's a practice ... ("In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice; in practice, there is." - Yogi Berra") .:.

As stated, real discipline

by Eleazar Cruz Eusebio on December 06 2008, @05:52 am As stated, real discipline equates to asking yourself: “Do you really need it?” “Where does it come from?” “How will it affect the environment when you’re done?” This also applies to other real-world actions. Take note, America. We've been light years behind the curve and just now catching up to enlightenment. East meets West is an essential philosophy to understanding true meaning on this planet.

Who’s idea of what

by Zen Master Kyle on December 05 2008, @07:53 pm Who's idea of what salvation? I've noticed that many parts of the world have different ideas about salvation. With this in mind i fail to see how capitalism would bring someone salvation?

Actually capitalist America

by I am so wise on December 05 2008, @02:43 pm Actually capitalist America and a massive international coalition was well on its way of ending starvation when we pulled out after the "Black Hawk Down" incident. In retrospect, it was a major mistake and we should stayed the course and finished bring salvation to that country. Remnants of War by John Mueller and John Hillen's Blue Helmets are good reads on the above.

That’s the problem with

by Anonymous on December 05 2008, @03:14 pm That's the problem with the United States -- we're always putting our noses in someone else's business. Who appointed U.S. as the "Saviour of the World" ? Salvation? gimme a break. You really think Somali's were seeking salvation?

Given the million people of

by I am so wise on December 06 2008, @02:36 pm Given the million people of people who fled Somalia before the arrival of UNOSOM in the early 1990s and the hundreds of thousands who fled since the withdraw of the forces of law and order, I am guessing yes, they were Western style salvation. There's a reason there are massive diasporic Somali communities in America, but few Americans living in Somalia With the spike in piracy from Somalia, the international will needed to bring civilization and law-and-order to them might arise again.