This interdisciplinary study explores the dialogical space between Buddhism and economics grounded upon an empirical examination of the lived experience of western Buddhist teachers. The goal of Buddhist practice is enlightenment, a powerfully liberating and transformative understanding in which the ordinary sense of self is extinguished. There is a variety of claims made by Buddhist traditions regarding enlightenment, and little agreement as to its exact nature; most Buddhist traditions, however, regard the self as having no essential basis. This view contrasts sharply with those of contemporary economic thought. Modern economic thinking has generally seen Buddhism as one of many religions, and has resisted taking its claims seriously. At the heart of this divide lies a hermeneutic barrier that is not simply between East and West, but has its roots in modernity, which maintains a separation of humans from nature, a distinction between knowledge and power, and a distrust of human subjective experience. By engaging in a dialogical approach, this study attempts to bridge this divide. It builds on experiential corroboration of Buddhist conceptions of self, based on semi-structured interviews of 34 western Buddhist teachers, to critically examine their experiences of insight into the nature of self, its impact on their relationships with others and nature, and its impact on their decisions about everyday economic activities. The purpose is twofold: to examine the nature of realisation experientially and to explore its transformative potential with a view to unfolding implications for economic action. The findings clarify many traditional Buddhist understandings, challenge and validate previous interpretations, and suggest an embodied rather than transcendent view of consciousness and spirituality. The implications for economic thought include a new conception of the economic individual (homooeconomicus), recognising the old conception as based on a misplaced idea of concreteness of self; a new epistemology which incorporates a phenomenological appreciation of life; and a new perspective of agency as the mindful embodiment of a seamless interconnection between consciousness and the social and natural world.
