The Las Casas Institute of Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford organized a symposium on “The Ethics of Consumption” in April 19-21, 2021.
As an invited speaker, Laszlo Zsolnai presented a paper entitled “Right Consumption in Buddhism” at the conference. Zsolnai emphasized that the ultimate goal of Buddhist life is to reach enlightenment and put an end to suffering. From this perspective, the goal of human life can be defined as inner development – that is, ethical and spiritual growth that requires only a minimum level of material consumption (food, clothes, shelter, education, and medicine).
Zsolnai argued that Buddhism insists on the need to simplify and reorient our desires through meditation, self-reflection, and social dialogue to develop “right consumption” patterns.