Page 119 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

(3) Duration

By duration I mean the question of how much time one ought to
devote to earning a living. As I mentioned earlier on, people

usually spend the greater part of their waking lives doing this,
just as they did in the time of the Buddha. But do they really
need to? In my opinion they do not. Shocking as it may sound, in

reply to the question, 'How much time should one devote to
earning a living?' I would reply, 'As little as possible.' When I said

this a couple of years ago, at a meeting in London, an elderly
friend of mine who happened to be present was deeply shocked.
He remonstrated with me afterwards, saying, 'How could you say

a thing like that publicly, in a lecture, with all those young people
there? You are simply encouraging them to be lazier and more

useless than ever!' But in saying one should devote as little time
as possible to earning a living I am, of course, speaking especially
to Buddhists, and — quite unrepentantly — to young people,

since old people have much less choice in the matter. (It's very
difficult to 'get out' on the other side of forty.) Young people, I

suggest, who have not yet launched into a career, and whose
lives are still in the formative stage, should consider making just
enough money to live on, very simply, and devoting the rest of

their time to Buddhism, i.e. to the study of the Dharma, to
meditation, and to helping to run the Buddhist movement.

They can do this in either of two ways. They can either have a
regular part-time job which brings in enough money to live on, so

that they are free to devote the rest of their time to Buddhism,
or as some people do — though this is not so easy — they can

work for a period of six months and then take six months off,

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