The less you need, the better you feel

The essence of Buddhist economics is minimalism and non-violence…a similar foundation grounded by Gandhi through his one significant belief that could reconstruct the society – Khadi.

For the modern economist this is hard to recognize. He is used to determining the "level of affluence" by the amount of annual consumption, supposing that a man who spends more is "well off" than a man who spends less. A Buddhist economist would believe this attitude as unreasonably irrational: since consumption is merely a means to human well-being. The aim should be to obtain the maximum of satisfaction with the minimum of consumption.

The economic system describes the circles around the quality of life and existences of everyday people same as the principles of Gandhi. Work is expected to be expressive and productive, not a cause of pressure and dislike. Machinery is used to develop a person's work but not to substitute it or make it monotonous.

In a Buddhist economy, the aims of minimalism and non-violence work hand in hand. In an effort to moderate the violence against the earth of obtaining fossil fuels, the Buddhist economist would use more homegrown and ecologically perceptive sources of energy such as wind, hydroelectric and solar. Such an economy doesn't necessarily use what is cheapest on the market, but what serves its aims of simplicity and non-violence best. Gandhi too propagated the use of khadi for the same reason, as cotton is a native to India and was the most available resource during the swadeshi movement.

Hence, the idea in Buddhist economy and a Gandhian economy is to produce and consume only as much as is essential and leave the rest of your time for artistic creativeness and self- development.