Karma as Payment, and Labour as Spiritual Exchange

Abstract

This piece of ethnography focuses on extrapolating ideas on the inherent value of labour as a form of exchange in Buddhist religious and material economy. From drawing on my ethnographic fieldwork in Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre, I explore how lay residents redefine socioeconomic structures by using different Buddhist doctrines to create their own value of labour.

Keywords: Buddhism, labour, work, exchange, the gift.