ILBF 2016 – Keynote ‘Mindfulness in Action’ by Bee Scherer & Jeff Waistell

Mindfulness in action: Buddhist Responses to Capitalism and Consumerism

Prof. Bee Scherer, PhD (Canterbury Christ Church University)
Mr. Jeff Waistell (Oxford Brookes University)

This presentation engages with Buddhist critiques of capitalism and consumerism; and it challenges the capitalist appropriations of Buddhist techniques. Scherer & Waistell show how Buddhist modernism and Marxism/socialism can align, and how Engaged Buddhism spawns egalitarian, socially revolutionary impulses for sustainability and ecological responsibility within the framework of Buddhist thought and mindfulness traditions.
The example of the Thai Asoke community exemplifies Buddhist communal mindfulness-in-action and shows how communal principles can operate in such work-based communities.