Buddhist development theory and practice establishes that it is possible to deliberately ground theoretical and actual socio-economic change in clear normative principles, joining the inwardly-oriented realm of personal morality and the outwardly-oriented realm of ethical social engagement. Further, it reveals the sought-after link between theory and practice, the element that gives rise to consistency, to be ethics, which “translate thought into action, world views into movements” (Merchant, 1992, p.62). In Buddhist development theory and practice, as in Buddhist ethics, intention is carried forward to consequence in a clear, ‘mappable’ fashion, so that that the fruits of any goal, strategy, or action bear the stamp of the values that inspired them. This creates a truly alternative vision, in that it is highly internally consistent; that it is rational, and therefore legible to a wide array of development theorists and practitioners; and that it makes plain its ethical foundation and commitments. Deep inside, at the very heart of Buddhist conceptualizations of human flourishing, can be found the ethics of the dhamma-vinyana (Buddhist theory-practice) – and as Gohlert asserts, “development is the process of unfolding from the inside out” (1991, p.189).