by Daniel Gauss

A young guy walks down a road and sees a dead mouse. In the Cūḷaseṭṭhi Jātaka, a tale of one of the Buddha’s previous lives, the dead mouse becomes the first piece of capital in a remarkable story of economic ascent. Yet, what begins with generosity and heart-felt reciprocity gradually becomes a story about turning humane social capital into raw economic power, and, ultimately, about how the Buddhist ethic of mutual benefit might easily go south.

The Bodhisattva (as the Buddha in his previous lives is called in these tales), notices the mouse and remarks that an industrious young man could make something of it. A young man of good family who has fallen into poverty takes the overheard hint, picks up the mouse and sells it for a farthing to a tavern owner with a hungry cat. So, he sees a need and the person who purchases the mouse is grateful for the windfall cat food.

The story continues in a human direction with what he does with the farthing, as he buys sweet molasses and obtains water, which he takes to thirsty flower pickers returning from a forest. They are so grateful that they give him free flowers, which he sells in town. He returns the next day with more water and molasses and again, the flower gatherers reward him. His tiny initial capital grows.

The point, at this point, is that the young man is not merely buying and selling. He discovers a type of meaningful reciprocity based on mutual kindness, and discovers that a person can create economic value by helping another person first and then reaping the benefits of his altruism. This is where the Cūḷaseṭṭhi Jātaka begins to look like a Buddhist precursor to a theory of social capital. Read more »