INCORPORATING THE BUDDHA’S THREEFOLD TRAINING WITH MANAGEMENT SCIENCE THEORIES

Abstract

ABSTRACT The acceleration of the evolution of economic culture through scientific development affords the opportunity to re-examine cross-domain dialogue and research in Buddhism and other disciplines. The concepts of threefold training in Buddhism (i.e. precepts, samadhi, and wisdom) were used as data items to generate data values and thereby convey the semantic nature of these terms. A systems analysis approach that can adequately incorporate hermeneutics into management science was employed to present the research topic. This study illustrates the relationship between a management activity (i.e. its effectiveness and efficiency, and the mechanism used) and a Buddhist activity (i.e. threefold training). This relationship was used to establish a body- and mind-transcending system comprising two subsystems: a service subsystem that adopts the perspective of management science by emphasising the ‘way of things’ and a submission subsystem that adopts a Buddhist perspective by stressing the ‘way of people’. The main finding of this study is that the two subsystems are characterised by identical Buddhist concepts.