Impermanence as the basis of Buddhist morality and its effects on consumption attitudes and well-being

This paper present results of the comparative discourse analysis of the Soviet Anecdotes and texts of the Ukrainian satirical magazine “Peretz” (“Pepper”). The analysis focuses on the question that how was it possible for the consumer attitude to develop in the Socialist society where consumerism contradicted to the basic moral principles. So as to answer this question, political jokes collected from various sources (memoirs, diaries, notebooks, personal collections of anecdotes, oral historical materials, published collections of Soviet political jokes, etc., more than a total of 2000 folklore texts) were organized into a relational database and processed with the methods of content- and discourse analysis. The same database was created and analyzed for texts published in the magazine “Peretz”. The results show that the intention of and practical steps taken to improve the welfare of the population aroused the Soviet citizens’ consumer attitude. Influenced by a consumer disposition, the dichotomy of possessing or not possessing power lost its relevance and was replaced by the new formula of having access or not to material benefits. The official discourse influenced the formation and consolidation of the ideas of Soviet citizens about consumerism to a considerable degree. Even if talking about the consumer ideal with negative connotations, the official discourse facilitated indirectly the formation of the ideas and the system of values of the consumer society in the USSR.

The most fundamental aspect of the Buddhist tradition is the concept of Karma. Karma is the basis of Buddhist ethics and principles that maintain that the entire universe is bound to a similar law. Our actions will decide what will happen to us, for we caused it. The current state of our existence is with our past Karma, and the present action will determine our future condition of existence. Karma is a special instance of cause and effect, according to which all our actions of body, speech, and mind are causes and all our experiences are their effects. The Law of Karma explains why each individual has a unique mental disposition, a unique physical appearance, and unique experiences. These are the various effects of the countless actions that each individual has performed in the past. We cannot find any two people who have created the same history of actions throughout their past lives. So we cannot find two people with identical states of mind, identical experiences, and identical physical appearances. Therefore, each person has different individual Karma, and each individual has to face the action of one's own Karma. Thus, the significance of this study is to determine the true concept of karma and its implication beyond our life in the Buddhist tradition.

This study aims to find out familial education on the basis of Buddhist ethics and the relationship of Buddhist teachings in building a happy, prosperous family life. The foregoing rests upon the identification of texts from the Tipitaka / Tripitaka Scriptures related to Education in the Family and moral ethics (Sila), and the texts are subsequently analyzed and dissected using the theory of structural functionalism and hermeneutics. Based on the analysis of the aforesaid text data, it can be seen the role of moral ethics that must be put forward and become a guide in shaping a happy and prosperous family life. Education in the Family is a pattern or method that must be done by a Buddhist household. Based on ethics in managing hittasukkhaya life, it becomes the basis and guide in creating happy and prosperous home life (hitta sukkhaya). Moral ethics (Sila) is the basis and foundation and guide for householders in creating a happy and prosperous life in the face of various changes that occur in the current modern era.

At the turn of the millennium, the problem of its further existence, of the realities of existence within the next millennium coordinate system, is of particular importance to man. It is becoming increasingly clear that the crisis experienced by modern culture is primarily the manifestation of anthropological crisis, a crisis of man and that type of consciousness based on its consumer attitude to the world and to other people. Awareness of this implies a change in ideological and value paradigm, which, in turn, requires a thorough study of those traditions of philosophical, ethical and religious thought, which can become an important component of the formation of the spiritual and moral basis of national culture.