Contemporary Buddhism in Japan & Asia

THINK SANGHA JOURNAL # 1

The Religion of The Market

(Winter 1998)

The hungry ghost (Skt.preta, Jp.gaki) is a phantom-like creature with withered limbs, a grossly bloated belly, and a long, narrow needle-like neck. They demand impossible satisfactions and search for gratification for old unfulfilled needs whose time has passed. The modern word for preta is “consumer”.

ARTICLES

Is the Crisis Just Economic? – Jonathan Watts

Consumerism & The Way Out Of Consumerism – Ken Jones

“Working” Definition of Consumerism & Chart of a Buddhist Approach to Consumerism

The Religion of the Market – David R. Loy

Spiritual Materialism & the Sacraments of Consumerism: A View from Thailand – Phra Phaisan Wisalo

Relinquishment & Renunciation: Opening the Hand of Thought – Rev. Alan Senauke

The Secularization of Japanese Buddhism: The Priest as Profane Practitioner of the Sacred – Rev. Yoshiharu Tomatsu

Re-Envisioning “Development”: A Buddhist Perspective

Continuing Interests and Themes

Cover Art: Yo Wakatsuki

82 pages, US$5.00 including shipping