Vision Article: Our Happiness Must Have Forests
By Pruk Khunpanich
Thai Traditional Medicine Innovation Center
True happiness must include the forest.
The modern world is facing man-made suffering: toxic dust, polluted air, chronic diseases, and stress from haste. Big cities are full of buildings but no trees in their hearts.
So we have to ask ourselves a new question:
“How can we come back to create true happiness?”
The answer is simple…
Our happiness must always have a forest behind it.
3 projects to change Thailand with love and forests
🌱 1. Our happiness project must have a forest.
- Restoring community forests with public participation
- Connecting with the physical and mental health care system by using the forest as a place to practice mindfulness, meditation, and restore health
- Developing a “model city of nature and Buddhism” where people live in harmony with the forest
📱 2. “Herbal Police Community” application project for research
- Use the app as a community herbal data collection system
- Every household joins as a “health police” to monitor and promote safe herbal use
- Support area-based research and create a national herbal database
🧘 3. Body-Mind Care Course Project with Buddhist Wellness System
- Create a learning/training system that combines Thai traditional medicine + Dharma + herbs
- Create a “Wellnet” system to analyze health using EIS/TM-Flow tools
- Everyone in the community can take care of their body, mind, and nature at the same time.
Thailand will return to being the world's most livable home.
- Our home will have fresh air from the forest.
- Our home will have herbal medicine from the kitchen.
- Our home will have a peaceful mind from the Dharma.
- Our home will have love from working together to restore the forest.
Forests are the doctors of the heart
Herbs are the doctors of the body
Dharma is the doctors of the mind
And these three things… are the answer to true happiness.