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28 EASTERN HORIZON | FACE TO FACE

there. They’re not making the alcohol or marketing However, with many situations around livelihood,
it specifically. To carry it from the bar to a table is there’s not that much choice. Sometimes it would be an
not what is meant. To be a janitor, cleaning up after a extreme deprivation and problem to get out of these
nightclub is not what is meant. The people in wrong livelihoods. That’s why one should not be excessively
livelihood are directly involved; for example, the person concerned with secondary aspects. For example,
who has decided to deliberately open a liquor store, there are tens of thousands of people who work in
or market or transport non-medical drugs. That said, the entertainment industry in Las Vegas. Part of that
some medical drugs cross over the line as well, such as industry is alcohol. However, most are not directly
the great scandal with Oxycontin in the United States. responsible for the sale of alcohol and should not be
This was deception, with a very addictive substance. overly sensitive about it, because if we narrow the
There were other forms of pain relievers that should definition too much, very few people will be able to have
have been marketed instead. The general problem a livelihood that they’re entirely at ease with. I don’t
in the West is the excessive sensitivity to secondary think this is the main aim of the Buddha’s teaching. It’s
and tertiary side effects of livelihood, where people of the direct participation in livelihoods which have severe
conscience are hyper-concerned even though they are negative consequences for humans and animals.
not directly involved in these wrong endeavors. They
need counseling to understand they’re not complicit The Tālapuṭa Sutta, SN 42.2 seems to have expanded
and not directly motivated. the list of prohibitions to forms of entertainment
such as acting as an occupation not recommended
Other people who are insensitive to this, who just for Buddhists. Does this also extend to music and
want money and are willing to do anything for it, the performing arts as actors and musicians can
need to be told that trading in these forms of wrong convey both Buddhist values and ethics?
livelihood will disrupt their capacity to have a full sense
of humanity. They won’t be able to enter into states This has been asked of me on a number of occasions,
of compassion, loving-kindness, sympathetic joy, and whether simply acting is wrong and leads to lower
equanimity because they are not recognizing the value destinations. But the sutta, when read in full, obviously
of other people’s lives. This is why wrong livelihood will clears that up. First of all, the fact that you’re on stage
interrupt the capacity to reduce one’s suffering. and playing a character does not exempt you from moral
conditions. If the actor has motivations of greed, hatred,
Would this prohibition also include those not or delusion, they get results from that. If the contents of
directly involved in the above five occupations but the play encourage deception, the actors are not exempt
are indirectly supporting them – e.g. as a clerk in from that. Acting is used quite often by unscrupulous
the defence industry or as a Finance Manager in a warmongers or deceivers. Consider propaganda films
pesticide company? by the Nazis in World War II.

Those who are indirectly involved are not directly Another instance is the tobacco industry. They would
responsible, but in fact they should consider their have actors smoking, and then the movie is played to
role and the results of their employer’s product. The children, which encouraged them to take up these habits.
question comes up, for instance, in the tobacco industry. These are evil purposes, and the fact that it’s just a play
Is tobacco a drug? The marketing of it has negative or a movie does not exempt you from your involvement
health effects. Should one get out of that industry? I ask and the results. Actors have to have a code of ethics,
people if they themselves smoke, or would they allow and this is what is being said. You are not automatically
their children to smoke. If they do not, but at the same exempt just because you’re the lead, or even a great
time would sell cigarettes to others, then they’re in a movie star. If you’re quite willing to participate in
conflict of conscience. So, they should try to remove messages that are negative and destructive, that
themselves from that situation. encourage delusion, and you yourself have greed, hatred,