Page 114 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

to realize the importance of Perfect Livelihood. They have begun
to realize that unless one conforms to this ideal, at least to some

extent, very little spiritual progress is in fact possible. Among our
English Buddhist friends there are, I know, people who have
changed their jobs, sometimes at considerable financial sacrifice,

simply for ethical reasons, i.e. because they felt that what they
were doing was inconsistent with their profession of Buddhism

— inconsistent with their Going for Refuge. This willingness, on
the part of some Buddhists, to give up even a rewarding
livelihood when it seems morally wrong constitutes, I would say,

a very healthy development indeed. Until very recently in this
country, as in the West generally, interest in Buddhism was

merely intellectual. People went on living in the same way as
before, some sort of interest in or study of Buddhism simply
being added on to that. There was very little attempt, if any, to

change their lives in accordance with Buddhist principles, least of
all in the economic sphere.

In the Buddhist scriptures the Buddha has quite a lot to say
about Perfect Livelihood, usually explaining it in quite simple

terms. First of all it is explained in terms of abstention from
wrong livelihood — the negative coming before the positive.

Various professions are .strongly discouraged. At the top of the
list comes earning a living by trafficking in living beings, whether
humans or animals. This of course rules out the slave trade —

two thousand and more years before Abraham Lincoln, and
dealing in animals for the purpose of slaughter. It also rules out

the profession of butcher, or seller of meat, and so on. This is all
quite simple and obvious.

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