What are your thoughts on western culture?
I have learnt a lot from Western culture, and I see that there are always loop holes and weakness in every society. By applying the logic of the teaching of Buddha, we should reform or improve our lives everyday. Now, by using the logic of the Buddhist community, I think that European culture is over developed and there's a high percentage of family breakdowns, high percentage of suicide, and high drug use in the West. The drinking problem is also everywhere. I think the society itself has lost some kind of integrity, and this is something I am also aware is happening in Thailand, and it can create a lot of problems. I see there are three pillars of life; these are healthcare, education, and religion. They form a triangle for the quality of life, and the individuals in communities should have rights and responsibilities to maintain this quality of life triangle. By doing so, they will feel they own the system and support of each other. It will maintain the quality of life for individuals in the community and will keep families together stronger and the health care system becomes cheaper. Volunteers are very important, and they are key to this. In Thailand we have the blessing of the culture. There are six million people who are registered volunteers with the ministry of culture, which is about 10% of the population. This is quite enormous. The government has not made full use of this as of yet. If they made full use of the volunteer system, they could create a very good society, with care to health education and spiritual well being united in the same place. So this is what I am promoting.
