THE TEACHINGS OF BUDDHA

THE TEACHINGS OF BUDDHA

 

 

Right Means of Livelihood, the fifth step upon the Noble Eightfold Path, from the teachings of Buddha, the Blessed One, on a lecture given by Annie Besant, delivered at the Ananda College, Colombo, Sri-Lanka in 1907.

 

What are Right Means of Livelihood?

 

They are the gaining of a living by means that do not injure your fellow-men, that serve your family and your community - your neighbours as well as yourself.  So that in mingling in this modern life, in which so much of struggle is now unhappily to be found, that law for the Buddhist is, that in all business, in the gaining of his own livelihood, he shall neither injury nor wrong those amongst whom he lives; that is forgotten unhappily, in most modern minds.  A man earns his livelihood, but he does not stay to ask himself: do I earn it in a right way?

We see and hear of men making great fortunes; if we go behind that fortune, what do we find?  Ruined homes, desperate men, broken-hearted women, starving children.  The fortune of one man has been built upon the suffering of others.  That is a wrong fortune, a wrong wealth, a wrong enriching of one man, at the cost and misery of many.  Such means of livelihood are unworthy of the man who realizes the unity of mankind and the common Brotherhood of all.  Beware, then, how you work and win your livelihood.  As the modern methods spread amongst you, as you take part in the race of the world, if you would not lose more than you gain, if you would not forfeit more than you achieve, if you take to modern methods, if you are careless as to the means by which you gather wealth for yourself, if you trample on the weak, if you cheat the stupid, respecting no law but that which can be enforced by the policeman or administered by the judge, and setting at nought the law which is imposed upon your heart, forsaking the path disclosed to you by the Buddha, The Blessed One - then you will grow wealthier in gold, indeed, but you will grow poorer in honour and virtue; and virtue is more precious than gold, pure character is greater wealth than the gains of this world.  Take this rule to heart then: See that you choose Right Means of Livelihood, and remember ever that such means alone is permissible for the follower of the Buddha, the Blessed One.

 

 

"Nature's bounteous table is loaded with an abundance of good things, yet only a few hands can grasp them.  The rest exist in the world with empty hands, perchance half-starved, certainly insufficiently equipped with the necessities of a decent livelihood. Millions of such beings - men, women and children with warm blood and sensitive nerves that feel pain - live dreary existences that can only be called "cribbed, cabined and confined."  Many sink unregarded by the wayside in the general scramble, or to go the wall in despair, because of the harsh operation of a heartless system.  "Am I my brother's keeper?" is an ancient plaint, but every God-enlightened mas has answered in the affirmative.  For every God-enlightened man knows that the human race must eventually become one giant family, one universal brotherhood; he knows, too, that whatsoever we do unto others is - by the mysterious processes of unseen laws - done unto us in turn."  Paul Brunton, excerpt of the chapter IV on Business, from the book,  A Message from Arunachala, Rider and Company, London 1954.

 

 

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