What is Right Livelihood?
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- Опубликовано: 20 окт 2024
- When looking at right livelihood within Buddhism, traditionally there are five prohibited livelihoods. However there is also a great deal of interesting additional material about inappropriate livelihoods for monastics, as well as a couple of wrong livelihoods for laypeople that the Buddha was reluctant to discuss. We'll go over it all!
It's worth pointing out that the material about wrong livelihood for monastics may be product of a later interpolation. Anālayo suggests this in his Early Buddhist Meditation Studies, p. 169. If so then the issues I mentioned in the video might be product of dallying by later monastics with these practices, and its censure by those closer to the textual tradition, rather than any skepticism per se on the part of the Buddha himself.
Music on this video:
ambient_73 by Jukedeck
"SAME BOAT" by Josh Woodward. Free download: joshwoodward.com/
The Sea Beneath our Feet by Puddle of Infinity
Pictures from the Metropolitan Museum, Pixabay, and openclipart.
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Thank you, Doug!
My pleasure!
Interesting points about magic, acting and military activities that I really hadn't considered before.
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Hi Doug. I'm interested besides the military & actors, what other professions the Budda does not encourage? How can get the list you regeted to? I plan to visit Nepal & India this November 2023 so I want to understand more about Budda mind development. We know his heart is pure & with deep love & compassion ❤
This is the traditional list of five: suttacentral.net/an5.177/en/sujato
I had no idea about the views on acting! I also found the debased arts section very interesting. :D
Yes, interesting!
Thank you, Doug, this video really helped answer some questions for me - and offered insight I was not expecting.
Glad it was helpful! 🙏
The Buddha may have realized that military service also involves defense and protection.
Great sir
Thanks Yu!
Piya Tan mentioned in one of his article about right livelihood that prostitution is wrong,because it is rooted with lust & can create STI.
Interesting, thanks!
Thanks, Doug, great video and a very interesting analytical and historical point of view.
Thanks for watching, Félix!
To me the issue with acting is easy to understand- actors are literally paid to lie. One should never trust an actor!
I think there really are many unethical professions, unfortunately, especially if you take intentions as the most important factor.
If an actor doesn’t have the intention to make the audience believe lies they aren’t going to be a very enjoyable actor to watch. It probably plays a big role in why watching/enjoying entertainments should be avoided.
Right livelihood is really a deeper issue than it appears at first glance.
If meat business is wrong ,then how can meat consumption is OK?
For the Buddha, ethics is all about intention.
lemme give in example: depending on your country agriculture systems are different. In my country cows are mostly grass fed and live a relatively decent life aside from getting killed, however in other countries cows can be kept in cages and fed grains all day and live a very awful life. Additionally, mass crop farming is also not ideal because it kills feild mice and bugs, but for some people they grow their own veggies instead. My point is that context matters, whats going to be considered harmful differs for everyone and their situations. not only this but depending on how much money you have, you may not be able to afford the most organic ethical food.
Also there are family members i have that can only eat meat due to illness and allergies, because of this its more ethical for them to eat meat so that they can be more healthy and be able to make the world a better place
I am glad to listen buddhism...
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Earning a vast amount of money as a greed but not as a need is a wrong livelihood.
This seems reasonable to me as well though it's not something the Buddha ever seems to have said.
Hi Doug, thanks for the great content. I eat almost exclusively meat for health reasons. I have a hard time believing that it is wrong to eat meat, considering that our digestive systems seem to be optimized for processing meat (based on the ratio of our colon, small intestine, and large intestine) like carnivorous animals, and only capable of digesting a plant based diet, but not very good at it. Did the Buddha say anything about why killing animals for meat is any different than killing plants for energy? Did the Buddha ever talk about whether humans were "part of" nature, i.e. are "animals", or are a separate category? Thanks!
Well the Buddha wasn't a vegetarian, but he did believe that it was wrong to kill sentient beings. (A category which included both humans and animals). For more on the Buddha's attitude towards such things see my earlier video: ruclips.net/video/r5oncPD7jKo/видео.html
I work in a vape shop. I help people quit smoking through the use of vaping products which could theoretically help save their lives. I quit smoking myself through the use of such products. I also sell nicotine infused products to non smokers, thereby strengthening their addictions to nicotine. I'm not sure where I stand on the subject of right livelihood. I do know that doctors have begun recommending that smokers use e-cigarettes in order to quit. However, I doubt that they would condone a non smoker beginning a nicotine addiction through the use of them. My job seems like it has its feet in both worlds of bad and good. I'm looking for something better but for now its paying the bills and keeping us fed.
Aaron, thanks. To be fair the Buddha talks about alcohol but not smoking, though arguments can be made on both sides, and I know of some very good people who work in wine stores too. It’s a place of practice.
You are still helping cycle addiction and nicotine use. I would reconsider, this is a wrong livelihood
Doug what do you say about being a lawyer and right livelihood? I meditate for 2 years and now I started going full buddhism. So I try to live according to everything. I am going to be a transactional lawyer. So maybe helping a big company doing capitalist things. (Of course, legally). I wonder if It is “kosher”. I think about it too much, it is a very important issue for me. Any thoughts?
Make it part of your ongoing practice to consider that question Raskolinkov. It's the only way you can make a real difference: by seeing for yourself if what you're doing is beneficial or not.
@@DougsDharma I guess you are right. I just realised that there are no right or wrong answers to most of these questions. Only noticing what is true for yourself through honest observation. Thank You!!!
If prostitution is sexual misconduct,how can it be right livelihood?
Sexual misconduct doesn't include prostitution, to my knowledge, unless one of the people involved is married for example, or there is coercion involved.
@@DougsDharma If third precept only applicable to married,why non married also take this precept?
@@jacksonbarua7574 It's applicable to all: it's not right to commit adultery, whether you are the married or the unmarried person for example. It's also not right to commit rape.
@@DougsDharma Do Buddhism support fornication?
Thanks for the information on Brahmajala and connection of military with dealing w/weapons. Acting (and our entertainment industry) promotes passion, ill will, delusion. That would extend today in mass media, politics and advertisement (food, drink, beauty). Did buddha say something on usury (gain upon gain) and debt? e.g. Ina sutta
Not to my knowledge Susmita, though he did advise laypeople not to carry debt.
Can monk chant buddhist sutta on marriage?Is it wrong or right livelihood for monastics?
I don't think so, but then I'm not really sure about what the Vinaya might say about such things, as I'm not a monastic.
@@DougsDharma Buddha spoke in pali to make people understandable about the dhamma.Now monk chant buddhist pali sutta everywhere though many householder can't realize the meaning of those.Monks tell laity to hang the pali sutta on house corner. Isn’t it wrong livelihood?
Can monk ask for money when invited by laity?Is it wrong or right livelihood.
I'm not sure about what the Vinaya says about such things.
@@DougsDharma Monk has no need of money,they are dependent on laity fully for food, clothes, medicine,treatment;so how can they ask for money ;isn’t it greed, so wrong livelihood?
we can say that , Buddha , banned slavery for his followers , 2500 year ago . it is amazing .
Can monk earn money by teaching in College or University?
Monks aren't supposed to earn money, so if they are employed somewhere they shouldn't be taking a personal salary.
@@DougsDharma The purpose of monkhood is achieving nibbana.The first three stages of enlightenment can be achieved by laity.So what is the need of teaching in college or university?If they want to teach or forced to teach,why they have become monk?Isn’t it wrong livelihood?
It's interesting, and ironic, that given the Buddha's thoughts on the military, that some of the world's most effective martial arts/weapons systems would be developed by the monastic class. Of course, these systems were meant to protect society rather than to oppress...an example being the Shaolin Temple's promoting of resistance to the Ching Dynasty (hence, the birth of the Wing Chun system, for weaker opponents to defend against stronger aggressors).
I don't really know much about the development of the martial arts in China, but certainly it would be ironic if they arose from Buddhist monastics!
@@DougsDharma Yes, it's a fascinating history....the Shaolin Temple was key to much of the resistance against Manchu oppression in China. In fact, several martial systems evolved from them. But always it was about teaching the under dog to defend themselves against oppressive forces.
@@DougsDharma shaolin did arise from buddhist monastery according to chinese records monk named bodhidharma is credited as the first shaolin master
Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu 🙏🌷
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Thanks for the great video Doug.
I wonder how you relate to this as you are or were a fiction writer, I think I heard you mention in one of your vlogs?
😄 Weeeelll, I'm not much of a fiction writer, more a wannabe. In fact I think some of these concerns about fostering unhealthy emotions were what concerned me about it in my own case. But great question.
Doug's Dharma So would it considered not a good livelihood to create or consume fictional books, movies, tv?
On the point of military service.. I think that because armed forces are necessary (unfortunately) to the defense and maintenance of a free society, in order for all of a peoples to 'sign the social contract' so to speak, there must be a contingent of people who dedicate themselves to that defense. And they, therefore would live with right and beneficial livelihood. I have not served in the military, nor do I feel particularly biased on this issue. Just my 2¢
Yes, this is one of those complicated issues. It seems a kind of 'necessary evil' on an early Buddhist understanding.
Really appreciate your videos but the music is too loud and distracting. Your voice is soothing enough without the music :-)
Thanks Leo, sorry again for the music, I know it was a bit too distracting. If I decide on putting in background music again someday I’ll do it differently, that’s for sure! 😄
Other than dhamma teaching, medical what other occupations promote wisdom and life?
Well many occupations may not be as immediately vital as medicine but still promote life, such as giving us shelter, clothing, food, communications, electricity, knowledge, and on and on.
A huge and vast variety of professional occupations can probably be used in creative ways to serve the needs of other beings, and even relatively unskilled jobs can be performed in ways that are beneficial to others while also helping one's own development of wisdom. For instance, a lawyer can provide pro bono legal services to a disadvantaged person, or an administrator or business person can work for a nonprofit charity organization.
Is earning money as a prostitute a wrong livelihood if he or she doesn’t cheat or harm others?
It's not among those listed as "wrong livelihood", and so long as it doesn't involve harm I don't see that it would be. Indeed one of the Buddha's early laywomen followers was a courtesan.
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