The full paper will attempt to demonstrate ways in which Buddhist social pragmatic values found in the Theravada Buddhist dialogic tradition as practiced at the rural farming level in Thailand could serve as an important tool to achieve cultural sustainability, to be more precise, human sustainability. The notion of cultural and human sustainability is clearly framed and connected to the Buddhist concepts of development starting from the development of self, others, community, and beyond, or from outer to inner moral and spiritual cultivation of the Dhamma (Buddhist teachings about truth about human life).

The paper will then propose a concept of Buddhist participatory communication for rural development as an important mechanism to effect sustainable development for rural farming villagers in time of globalization where the influences of capitalism, consumerism and modernity are eroding traditional cultural values. A Buddhist communication environment centered on dialogue demonstrates strong potential in assisting the rural farming Buddhist followers to achieve sustainable development.

Striving to achieve the right view about life (knowledge pertinent to living a happy life), Buddhist rural villagers engage in dialogue on both ends: interpersonal and intrapersonal. Interpersonal dialogue refers to dialogue between small group members, whereas intrapersonal dialogue refers to dialogue between the rural Buddhist village member and the Dhamma (teachings by Lord Buddha about sila (morality), samadhi (meditation or concentration), and panya (wisdom) with which he/she feels comfortable practicing.

The paper will then report the results of field research conducted in a northern province of Thailand to understand ways in which Buddhist rural villagers engage dialogue for knowledge enquiry. The 3-month long research focuses on the concept of RAK (Rural villagers As Knowledge-enquirers). Limitations of Buddhism for cultural/human sustainability are also discussed, with recommendations made for future research to improve on this model.

I received my BA and MA from the US in Technical Communication and Mass Communication, consecutively. After graduation, I worked as a public relations officer for three years, a newspaper reporter for five years, and a lecturer at a private university in Bangkok for another four years. At the moment, I am doing research full-time in Sydney, Australia.