Uncertainty, Risk, and Merit-Making

Abstract

The rising importance of the tea business among the Bulang people of Yunnan province, Southwest China, is intimately linked to Theravada Buddhist ideologies and practices. Non-reciprocal merit-making provides a sense of control, and this is particularly important in an increasingly uncertain economic environment. More and more people were ready to engage in high-risk trading, and new rituals emerged precisely at a time when profit margins increased rapidly. The reinvention of local rituals helped people to control risk-taking and to morally legitimize ambiguous market behavior. The result is strong synergies between the ways uncertainty and risk are being addressed in the tea economy and in local religious practice: economic processes are changing religious practices just as much as religious practices are making a difference in economic behavior.

Culture and Sustainability: Evidence from Tea Culture and Corporate Social Responsibility in China

“…Over time, tea culture assimilated Confucian and Buddhist ideologies, developing unique cultural attributes centered around introspection, contentment, and harmony [21,22]. The fusion of Buddhism with Chinese tea culture transformed tea into a tool for meditation, reflecting a pursuit of inner peace and purity [59,60]. Confucianism enriched tea culture with deeper meanings, promoting character cultivation and embodying the golden mean thought [21,61].…”