Page 110 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

which means that ordinary people had little, if any, share in the

government, or in political life and activity. So, in those days,
there was not much point in asking people in general to practise

Perfect Government or Perfect Administration, or even Perfect
Citizenship, when they had very little say in these matters and
very little share. Everyone, however, had to work. They may not

have had a vote or known what the king was up to, but they all
had to earn a living, so the question of Perfect Livelihood was

one which concerned everybody, even in the Buddha's day —
and for this reason, no doubt, Perfect Livelihood was included in
the Noble Eightfold Path. We might even hazard a speculation

here and suggest that the Buddha himself felt that the economic
aspect of our collective existence was even more basic than

either the social or the political aspect, and that for this reason
too he included Perfect Livelihood, as representing that aspect,
in the Noble Eightfold Path. During the Buddha's lifetime trade

and business and finance were all developing rapidly and the
Buddha himself could not have been unaware of this. Quite a

number of his closest lay disciples were what we would call
merchant bankers, whose commercial interests extended as far
as Babylon.

Having understood some of the main reasons for its inclusion in

the Path, let us now try and investigate, in a little detail, what
Perfect Livelihood itself really is. In so doing we should not
forget that this stage of the Path, i.e. Perfect Livelihood, stands

for the transformation of our whole collective existence — our
whole social life, our whole communal life — and not just for the

economic aspect itself. In other words, it stands for the creation

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