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Compiled by Jayaram V
"And what is right livelihood? There is the case where a disciple of
the noble ones, having abandoned dishonest livelihood, keeps his life going with right livelihood:
This is called right livelihood." — SN XLV.8
Right Living is to avoid wrong way of living and to get ones livelihood by right
way of living.
Right living consists of living a life based on the percepts of the Eightfold
path and observing the Dhamma in letter and spirit. It is avoidance of the pursuit
of desires, developing the equanimity of the mind and aversion to the objects of
the world.
It means to lead a pure and holy life, not wishing injury to any one, not stealing
things that do not belong to one, and not deviating from the path suggested by the
Buddha. It means to remain detached and truly holy, through the awareness of the
transience and impermanence of life and the process of becoming. It means a living
that would finally lead to the extinction of karma and liberation of the being from
all suffering.
Right Living is of two kinds
The Mundane Right Living: This is the same as the above. It leads to worldly
gains and brings good results.
The Ultramundane Right Living: This is the practice of Mundane Right Living,
keeping the mind holy, to remain other worldly and following the holy path in conjunction
with the Eightfold path.
A balanced livelihood
"Herein, Vyagghapajja, a householder knowing his income and expenses
leads a balanced life, neither extravagant nor miserly, knowing that thus his income
will stand in excess of his expenses, but not his expenses in excess of his income.
"Just as the goldsmith, or an apprentice of his, knows, on holding
up a balance, that by so much it has dipped down, by so much it has tilted up; even
so a householder, knowing his income and expenses leads a balanced life, neither
extravagant nor miserly, knowing that thus his income will stand in excess of his
expenses, but not his expenses in excess of his income." — AN VIII.54
Wrong livelihood for lay followers
"A lay follower should not engage in five types of business. Which
five? Business in weapons, business in human beings, business in meat, business
in intoxicants, and business in poison." — AN V.177
Wrong livelihood for contemplatives
... reading marks on the limbs [e.g., palmistry]; reading omens and
signs; interpreting celestial events [falling stars, comets]; interpreting dreams;
reading marks on the body [e.g., phrenology]; reading marks on cloth gnawed by mice;
offering fire oblations, oblations from a ladle, oblations of husks, rice powder,
rice grains, ghee, and oil; offering oblations from the mouth; offering blood-sacrifices;
making predictions based on the fingertips; geomancy; laying demons in a cemetery;
placing spells on spirits; reciting house-protection charms; snake charming, poison-lore,
scorpion-lore, rat-lore, bird-lore, crow-lore; fortune-telling based on visions;
giving protective charms; interpreting the calls of birds and animals ... — DN 2
Right living for a warrior
Then Yodhajiva the headman went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed
down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed
One: "Lord, I have heard that it has been passed down by the ancient teaching
lineage of warriors that 'When a warrior strives & exerts himself in battle, if
others then strike him down & slay him while he is striving & exerting himself
in battle, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the
company of devas slain in battle.' What does the Blessed One have to say about
that?"
"Enough, headman, put that aside. Don't ask me that."
A second time... A third time Yodhajiva the headman said: "Lord, I have heard
that it has been passed down by the ancient teaching lineage of warriors that
'When a warrior strives & exerts himself in battle, if others then strike him
down & slay him while he is striving & exerting himself in battle, then with the
breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the company of devas slain in
battle.' What does the Blessed One have to say about that?"
"Apparently, headman, I haven't been able to get past you by saying, 'Enough,
headman, put that aside. Don't ask me that.' So I will simply answer you. When a
warrior strives & exerts himself in battle, his mind is already seized, debased,
& misdirected by the thought: 'May these beings be struck down or slaughtered or
annihilated or destroyed. May they not exist.' If others then strike him down &
slay him while he is thus striving & exerting himself in battle, then with the
breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the hell called the realm of
those slain in battle. But if he holds such a view as this: 'When a warrior
strives & exerts himself in battle, if others then strike him down & slay him
while he is striving & exerting himself in battle, then with the breakup of the
body, after death, he is reborn in the company of devas slain in battle,' that
is his wrong view. Now, there are two destinations for a person with wrong view,
I tell you: either hell or the animal womb."
When this was said, Yodhajiva the headman sobbed & burst into tears. [The
Blessed One said:] "That is what I couldn't get past you by saying, 'Enough,
headman, put that aside. Don't ask me that.'"
"I'm not crying, lord, because of what the Blessed One said to me, but simply
because I have been deceived, cheated, & fooled for a long time by that ancient
teaching lineage of warriors who said: 'When a warrior strives & exerts himself
in battle, if others then strike him down & slay him while he is striving &
exerting himself in battle, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he
is reborn in the company of devas slain in battle.'— SN 42.3
Abbreviations
Suggested Further Reading
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