Under the global market economy most Third World countries suffer from their unequal relationship with the First World. Despite differing cultures and histories, Third World countries share common symptoms of underdevelopment: economic dependency, economic growth without economic development, structural unemployment, and social dislocation. Liberation theology in Latin America represents a Third World Christian response to this structural injustice by doing theology anew out of the experiences of the poor. In response to rapid social change and injustice in Thailand, Bhikkhu Buddhadasa (1906-1993), a contemporary Thai Buddhist thinker, presents his social theory of dhammic socialism--a form of socialism based on the Buddhist religion and culture. Buddhadasa emphasizes the problem of "surplus" and the ethical tools for fair distribution, but he fails to respond to the global market economy. This dissertation is an attempt to address dhammic socialism from a Third World Buddhist perspective in response to the social and economic injustices that exist under the global market economy. In doing so, it creates a new dimension of Buddhist ethical values: Buddhists usually regard liberation as an individual experience, this dissertation challenges traditional Buddhist ethical values by interpreting liberation anew as a phenomenon necessarily tied to social liberation as well as personal liberation.
