Scientific Studies & Reports

Abstract

This paper analyses the transnational economic footprint generated by the barefoot pilgrimage of Thích Minh Tuệ through a nine-layer analytical framework. Beginning from the monk's domestic walks across Vietnam and extending to his international journey through Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, and Nepal, the study documents how visible material minimalism — the public practice of radical non-ownership — produces measurable distributed economic consequences across remittances, religious tourism, Buddhist merit-making economies, and digital attention markets. The analysis demonstrates that zero personal accumulation at the centre can coexist with, and even generate, significant aggregate economic circulation at the periphery.

Abstract

This study investigates the causal relationship between social media consumption and religious belief in the context of the Thích Minh Tuệ phenomenon. Using a causal machine learning framework applied to survey data from Vietnam, the authors find that exposure to content about the monk's pilgrimage on platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Zalo causally and positively impacts Buddhism belief, broader life belief, and individual motivation to practice the five Buddhist precepts. The results provide empirical evidence that digital mediation of a physical religious practice can produce measurable spiritual outcomes at scale.