A ten-year fieldwork project, starting from his five-year Ph.D. program in Canada and continuing through his five years of teaching and research at Sasin, has led Assistant Professor Hee-Chan Song to delve into many topics in Buddhism. He has practiced monkhood in different countries including Bhutan, Japan, Nepal, Korea, and Thailand, and has traveled to 19 temples, including visiting six temples in Thailand. At the Sasin Research Seminar, he talked about his research on temple management, Buddhism and management, and Buddhism and economic development. First, Dr. Song talked about the three belief systems in Buddhism, which he used as the basis of one of his research papers on Buddhism and economic development. “The first one is Nirvana, which involves removing all ego to achieve enlightenment. The second is Karma, the idea that everything is interrelated. The third is Reincarnation, which holds the belief that when you die, you are born as another creature in another world,” said Dr. Song. Dr. Song’s most recent research aimed to gather information on the participants’ belief in Buddhism with questions like, “How many times do you go to the temple, and how much time did you spend?” “Do you believe in Nirvana, Karma, and Rebirth?” “Why do you go to the temple (as a community hub, emotional haven, or religious belief)?” He also asked about their capitalist spirit, which comprises aspiration, competition, success, and risk-taking. He used the questions to measure three aspects of a person’s being including Happiness, Spiritual being, and Material being. Dr. Song found that Sasin Students are entrepreneurial and less spiritual, scoring 1.48 (out of 5) for Belief in Buddhism and 8.01 (out of 10) for Capitalist Spirit. He also calculated results among different cities with Bangkok having a high score (6.95) in Capitalist Spirit, and less (2.07) in Belief in Buddhism. In contrast, in the Northeastern area of Thailand, religious belief leans towards Theravada Buddhism, which contributes to people having more of a “sabai sabai” (happy-go-lucky) attitude. The research also implies that the more a person believes in the teachings of Buddhism, the less they are interested in material possessions and success. “If you believe in Buddhism, you have less entrepreneurial spirit,” he said. Dr. Song found that people in poverty areas like Bhutan and Thailand’s Isan area are more likely to rely on Buddhism as a coping mechanism, rather than work harder for success. They tend to think, “It is what it is, things will never change, I will die and go to heaven, so why should I work hard?” While city people could adopt more of their relaxed attitude, it does not forebode well for economic development if people rely too much on Buddhism. About this finding, Dr. Song spoke about Max Weber, a German sociologist, who observed that Protestants valued hard work and diligence, contributing to their economic development and success. In contrast, the Romance Catholics appeared demotivated, which Weber believed hindered their economic growth. Another area Dr. Song delved into is temple organization where monks need to manage the conflicts between spirituality and finance. In his research, Dr. Song found that Korean temples separate business monks and meditation monks so that business monks are completely free from meditation and spiritual concerns, and fully able to concentrate on their social aspects and logical skills. On the other hand, meditation monks are free from administrative and managerial duties to focus only on Buddhism. Some Buddhist temples radically try to change from being strictly Buddhist temples to get monks to be more involved in the business strategy. He remarked that it takes considerable challenge to convince meditation monks to embrace the business side of managing a temple. While working on the research topic, Dr. Song discovered the Zen Buddhist depiction of sunyata or “emptiness” when he attempted to talk with a highly ranked meditation monk, who spoke nothing for the entire session. Despite that, he discovered that silence is data, and further research on how to use silence as data would be beneficial. His second research is about the potential linkages of Buddhist philosophy and management theory inspired by his interest in The Application of Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) in Thailand. “I was very excited by the concept of Sufficiency Economic Philosophy. It’s purely based on Buddhism and how Buddhism uses it as a background for this philosophy, and how it can contribute to sustainable development,” said Dr. Song. His interest on SEP led to his research paper on how Thai governments and social enterprises managed the Golden Triangle titled “The War on Drugs: How Private, Public, and International Communities Resolve Sustainability Issues in Culturally Isolated Region?” Professor Song’s research looks at the area of the Golden Triangle, the region where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar (Burma) converge. Dr. Hee-Chan Song’s exploration of Buddhism and its intersection with various facets of life, particularly leadership, economics, and management, offers valuable insights into the contemporary understanding of these disciplines. Through his research endeavors, Dr. Song has shed light on the complex dynamics between spiritual beliefs and capitalist ideals, including the organizational challenges faced by different Buddhist temples in reconciling spiritual principles with pragmatic concerns.