From Individual Happiness to Relational Citizenship: A Buddhist Perspective on Interdependence and Collective Well-Being
Tran Quoc Hung
Innovative Research Journal of Sociology and Humanities June 1, 2026 DOI: 10.58806/irijsh.2026.v3i6n01 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism Addiction |
| Keywords | Bodhisattva Praxis Happiness Individualism Compassion Perspective graphical Introspection Epistemology Environmental ethics State computer science |
| Key points | Argues that Buddhist-inspired relational ethics provides a conceptual framework for rethinking citizenship amid social and planetary crises, offering an alternative to liberal individualism. |
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.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience | 1995 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |