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One day, after completing a journey to Savatthi for alms, the Buddha had his meal before making his way towards Angulimala. The villagers warned the Buddha not to take the road because he could be killed. Even forty people could not bring down the mighty Angulimala, and they had all fallen under his hand. But the Buddha kept on walking in silence.

Upon seeing the Buddha, Angulimala thought that he had a vulnerable victim in his path. "This is wonderful, it is marvellous! Men have come along this road in groups of ten, twenty, thirty and even forty, but still they have fallen into my hands. And now this recluse comes along, unaccompanied, as if driven by fate. Why shouldn't I take his life?" he thought.

Angulimala immediately took up his weapons and followed the Buddha from behind. Then the Buddha performed a supernatural feat by shortening the span of time (Einstein's Theory of Relativism posits that time does not exist in absolute terms). Even though Angulimala tried to pursue the Buddha as fast as he could, he could not catch up with him. The Buddha was walking at his normal pace, but one of his steps equalled ten of Angulimala's.

Angulimala was surprised; he could chase after a running elephant or a swift dear, but he could not catch up with this recluse. The Buddha was constantly ahead of him. Finally, he stopped and called out to the Buddha: "Stop recluse! Stop recluse!"

The Buddha said: "I have stopped, Angulimala, you stop too."

Then Angulimala asked the Buddha the real meaning of why he had not stopped and the Buddha had stopped. The Buddha said he had stopped forever and abstained from violence toward living beings, but Angulimala did not have any restraint toward things that lived. "That is why I have stopped and you have not," the Buddha said.

With this revelation, Angulimala understood immediately that this venerated sage was trying to save him and lead him to his dharma (teaching). He asked to be ordained as a monk, and the Buddha agreed to take him as a bhikkhu (novice).

Like the Buddha, King Bhumibol Adulyadej has stopped, but most of us have not stopped with him. The King has foresight. He has stopped since 1974, when he introduced his Sufficiency Economy Model for the first time. But most people have failed to understand or grasp the significance of his underlying message. Some might have thought that the King's model is old-fashioned and that it cannot keep up with globalisation and wealth creation under capitalism, which is moving at too fast a pace.

In his December 4, 1998 address, the King said that we should strive to have enough to live on. "To have enough to live on, of course, means sufficiency economy. If everyone has enough to live on, everything will be all right." Furthermore, if the whole country can subsist, the better it will be."

Thailand at that time was on the verge of "insufficiency". Some individuals had plenty, but some had practically nothing.

"In the past there was enough to live on, but today, impoverishment is creeping in. We must therefore implement a policy of sufficiency economy so that everyone will have enough to live on.

"Sufficiency means to lead a reasonably comfortable life, without excess or overindulgence in luxury, but just enough. Some things may seem to be extravagant, but if it brings happiness, it is permissible as long as it is within the means of the individual.

"However, sufficiency, or to have enough, has a more extensive meaning than this. To have enough is sufficiency, and sufficiency is moderation. If one is moderate in one's desires, one will have less craving. If one has less craving, one will take less advantage of others. If all nations hold this concept - I don't mean sufficiency economy - but this concept of moderation, without being extreme or insatiable in one's desires, the world will be a happier place. Being moderate does not mean to be too strictly frugal; luxury items are permissible, but one should not take advantage of others in the fulfilment of one's desires. Moderation, in other words, is living within one's means, and should dictate all actions. Act in moderation, speak in moderation; that is, be moderate in all activities."

We all are like Angulimala, who tried in vain to catch up with the walking Buddha. King Bhumibol's Sufficiency Economy Model, static as it might seem to many modern-minded people, is in fact a universal model that capitalism can't catch up with - with its boom-and-bust cycles and self-destructive elements.

Our King has stopped. When are we going to stop?