What went wrong? When I was in Laos in 1968, my job was to convince Laotian rice farmers to develop irrigation cooperatives, so that they could raise two crops of rice per year instead of one. Our great motivator was “Materialism” and, it seems, we became effective evangelists, but it wasn’t always easy.

“Just think! You can use that extra crop to buy a new Honda ‘90 motorbike,” we’d say, with great enthusiasm. What came back were often blank stares. “What’s wrong with you,” we’d ask. “Well, to be honest, we’d rather go fishing,” came the reply. It was total frustration at times.

You see, the greatest Buddhist value, at least in 1968, was to want nothing, and at that time, they were pretty good Buddhist’s.  What’s gone wrong with them in 47 years? I just had the staff take pictures on the screen savers of several office workers. Now, everyone want’s stuff! Yes, even the Christians!  At least we Christians can teach about giving, helping others before yourself, etc. But, “Humanistic Materialism” has become a fast growing religion with many Buddhist converts.