Octavio Ocampo's impression of BuddhaWe picked up our latest copy of Adbusters Magazine at Paperweight (great place to get it as no-one appreciates the value of the content and it’s invariably marked down to about R10 – BARGAIN!) Adbusters is a ‘journal of the mental environment’; they’re a global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society.

They’re the guys who think nothing of ‘kicking Nike’s ass’ and have come up with ‘The Blackspot’, and a teachers’ media literacy kit to unbrand students. The Vancouver based not-for-profit magazine is run by a bunch of ‘hip’ anarchists whose main aim is to get you mad about corporate disinformation, injustices in the global economy, and any industry that pollutes our physical or mental commons (our kind of people, in other words!) They write articles about the ‘reconquest of Cool’, and ‘shopping kills’ – not your average corporate-powered-controlled-by-advertising magazine…

As part of their push for Buy Nothing Christmas, Adbusters calls for us to get together with our families without getting caught up in the fatal frenzy of consumerism. It’s time we revaluate what really matters and replace the plethora of impersonal gifts with something more meaningful: spending time with one another.

And back to the point of this article - 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?”

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. [for the rest of the article on Adbusters]