Abstract:
The purpose of this research are (1) to study the current situation of strengthening the
right occupations in accordance with philosophy of sufficiency economy for peaceful coexistence
of ethnic groups in the West, (2) to analyze the role of the Buddhist institute in strengthening the
right occupations according to the philosophy of sufficiency economy for peaceful coexistence of
ethnic groups in the West based on Buddha Dhamma principle, and (3) to present the process of
driving the right occupations in accordance with the of the philosophy sufficiency economy for
peaceful coexistence of ethnic groups in the West. This research is a qualitative research, collecting
data from community leaders/folk philosophers/local experts /religious scholars/monks who have
an outstanding role in strengthening people's right occupation and heads of government agencies
in the area by interviewing 15 key informants from random sampling and 8 specific group
conversations with experts, according to the characteristics of the appropriate group representation,
which analyzed data using descriptive content analysis techniques.
The research findings are following:
1. The current situation of strengthening the right occupation in accordance with
philosophy of sufficiency economy for peaceful coexistence of ethnic groups in the West found
consists of (1) in the development of the right occupation leaders, it was found that there was the
training of the life leaders in the form of training courses for the right occupation leaders, (2) in the
workshop on provincial community right occupation speakers, it was found that there was a
focusing on the action plan of the provincial community right occupation team, (3) in the
preparation of the community right occupation speakers team at the village level, it was found
that the team is a person in the community who has good knowledge and understanding about
community careers, (4) in preparation for the target household, it was found that the focus is on
collecting information about interests or needs to change careers, (5) building community right
occupation at the village level was a practicing within the target households receiving vocational
training, with a village right occupation team to support, and (6) regarding the establishment and
development of professional groups, it was found that most of the original occupational groups of
the indigenous people were developed by the One Tambon One Product Project to support the
distribution of products from various professional groups.
2. The role of the Buddhist institute in strengthening the right occupation according to
the philosophy of sufficiency economy for peaceful coexistence of ethnic groups in the West based on
Buddha Dhamma principle consists of (1) regarding the precepts, it was found that people were
encouraged to work professionally in good faith and refrain from encroachment for peaceful
coexistence, (2) concerning to meditation, it was found that there was a promotion of intention
and determination in the operation and consciousness in living and (3) intelligence, it was found
that there was a tradition of using social capital as a tool to develop wisdom and established a
community learning center in the temple.
3. The process of driving the right occupation in accordance with the of the philosophy
sufficiency economy for peaceful coexistence of ethnic groups in the West was found that this process needed to operate in accordance with the mission of the government agencies that were already implemented as follows: (1) establishing a "Sangha Lecturer on right occupation Course" for monks, (2) organize a workshop or training for the Sangha lecturers by selecting 100 monks who were interested and sacrificing their work for the community by dividing the training into 10 generations and only 10 people for each generation, this workshop aim to train the monks to have knowledge and expertise in right occupation in accordance with the Buddhist guideline, (3) establishing or setting up a right occupation team by having a role in working with the community team of the government department that exists in the form of collaborating as a network partner, (4) publicize and select ready villages such as OTOP tourism communities, Dhammavithi etc. to develop sustainable community right occupation along the Buddhist way, (5) proceeding on building a peaceful community in term of right occupation in the form of a quality cycle or PDCA that focused on short-term operations and provides training, monitoring and concreted evaluation, and (6) establish a Buddhist right occupation strengthening center in the community in order to be a prototype of the learning center for driving the right occupations in
accordance with the philosophy of sufficiency economy for peaceful coexistence for other areas.
Keyword: Right Occupations, Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy, Peaceful Coexistence,
Ethnic Groups