From Individual Happiness to Relational Citizenship: A Buddhist Perspective on Interdependence and Collective Well-Being

This article analyzes a shift in Buddhist philosophy and ethics from self-centered happiness to what the author calls "relational citizenship." Drawing on teachings such as dependent origination, non-self, compassion, loving-kindness, and the Bodhisattva ideal, it argues that genuine well-being is not a solitary psychological state but a relational way of being expressed through interconnectedness, relational care, and shared ethical participation. By integrating traditional Buddhist teachings with positive psychology and engaged Buddhism, the author recasts collective accountability, social justice, and earth compassion as a praxis of "relational citizenship." The article proposes that Buddhism offers a philosophically integrated and scientifically informed alternative to liberal individualism, significant in an era of social disintegration and environmental disaster.

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Abstract

This article analyses a transformation in Buddhist philosophy and ethics, away from self-centred happiness to what the author calls "relational citizenship". From the fundamental teachings of dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda), anattā (non-self), compassion (karuṇā), loving-kindness (mettā), and the Bodhisattva ideal, it articulates that genuine well-being is not a solitary psychological state but a relational way of being expressed through interconnectedness, relational care, and shared ethical participation. By combining traditional Buddhist teachings with positive psychology as well as engaged Buddhism, the research recasts collective accountability, social justice, and earth compassion as a praxis of "relational citizenship". It establishes that Buddhism provides a philosophically integrated and scientifically informed alternative to liberal individualism in its account of the collective good — an account all the more significant in an era of social disintegration and environmental disaster. Buddhist-inspired relational ethics has the conceptual depth to serve as a principle for rethinking citizenship in the era of intensifying social and planetary danger.