The Noble 8fold Path - The Ideal Society: Right Livelihood
Everybody dreams - asleep at night, also everybody daydreams - often a sort of wish-fulfillment - because we find our everyday existence dull drab uninteresting etc - so we try to create a world of our own outside ordinary existence, dream up an ideal world where the miseries of this society don't exist - where everybody is happy.
- sometimes unproductive, but
- sometimes blueprints for a new society
- Plato dreams his dream of the ideal society in The Republic.
- The dream or vision of the Book of Revelations with a vision of the New Jerusalem with mythical or archetypal existence
- Thomas More, Francis Bacon etc even HJ Wells
- Buddhism too has its day dreams. Its concept of the ideal society is in the vision of the Pure Land from Mahayana especially from Japanese Shin Buddhism - a place where there is no suffering, conflict, death, misunderstanding... where there is no distinction of sex, no toil... nothing to do other than sit on one's lotus at the feet of the Buddha and study Buddhism... the weather is always perfect.
Buddhism isn't content with only dreaming - it also tries to create the ideal society / the ideal community on this world, in various ways. One way is through the teaching of Right Livelihood - step 5 of the noble 8fold path.
- In the context of the total path: Perfect Vision = some insight into the nature of existence, experience rather than intellectual. It transforms all aspects of our being = path of transformation.
- Usually played down, but definitely a part of the total teaching.
- Has 3 printcipal aspects:
- Strictly social
- Political
- Economic
- Buddhism has teachings covering all three aspects.
- Social: Buddha v much against the Caste system - said the criterion of someone's place in society should be worth not birth
- Political: upholds the ideal of the Dharma-Raja - Government of Righteousness - ethical principles should be supreme, rather than just politics. Greatest example is king Ashoka who ruled most of India. He saw the misery of people caused by his own wars & remorse overcame him and he gave up his career of conquest - seems then to have considered himself as the father / servant of his people - upheld their good as his main political objective.
- HJ Wells pays tribute to Ashoka in his History of the World.
- Economic: Buddhism teaches Right Livelihood.
- Teaches the whole transformation of our whole collective life - stands for the creation of an ideal society - we are all members one of another. Hard to change oneself without changing society.
- Can't live in a corrupt society without being somewhat besmirched by it - hard to transform oneself otherwise.
- An ideal society = a society in which it is easier for us to follow the path.
What is perfect livelihood?
- Greater part of our waking life is spent earning a living - in India everyone had the rainy season off (3-4 months) (still true at least in the villages)
- Therefore it has a great effect on the mind. We should consider what sort of effect it has.
- In olden days, the dyer's hands got stained, the tailor would get a stoop, the office worker looks unfit :-)
- Even greater effect on the mind - it might get deformed - often without one's knowing it.
- What is the mental state of a stockbroker, S. wonders? Or a bookmaker? Or worse of someone who works in a slaughterhouse - which many people do?
- An Australian monk found there was 60% of insanity among slaughterhouse workers, and most lasted only 2 years.
- Our demand for meat necessitates that people degrade themselves in this way.
- Can see that some livelihoods would make it very difficult to engage on the path - hence the need for right or perfect livelihood.
- Some change their jobs for ethical reasons, even at a cost to themselves - because they feel the way they were earning money was inconsistent with Going For Refuge.
- Buddha usually explains right livelihood in simple terms - as the opposite of wrong livelihood, described as earning a living by trafficking in living beings (human or animals), purveying poison, selling anything that stupefies the mind, dealing in weapons of war (watch where your money is invested), also disapproval of various other trades: fortune telling, palmistry, astrology, divination, acting (because it increases the craving / anger / unawareness etc of others - it degrades both self and other - presumably doesn't apply to all acting...)
- Whole area needs restatement in a more modern context:
- Occupation - those positively wrong; those not blatantly wrong but increase peoples' greed (e.g. advertising); those that can be right livelihood so long as you make an effort to do them well and ethically; those that don't involve undue mental strain - if they make you so tense that you can't meditate, shoudl consider your position; those that are a vocation because they are related to what is of ultimate importance in one's life - e.g. medicine or nursing or teaching or arts - in this case there is no distinction between one's work and one's play.
- Time: most people have to spend most of their waking lives earning a living - is that reasonable? Sangharakshita thinks one should spend as little as possible of one's time working - specifically speaking to Buddhists and indeed young Buddhists - too late for the rest - he suggests to make just enough money to live on very simply, and devote the rest of their lives to meditation, study & helping out - e.g. a part-time job, or working 6 months then stopping for 6 months etc. Not only good for oneself but also for Buddhism - the movement needs people who will be part-time monks as it were - people who can act as a bridge between 2 worlds.
Summary: transformation of entire collective existence - primarily in its economic aspect - though social and political also need to be transformed. So it represents the need to create an ideal society.
Sangha / Spiritual community represents the ideal society on a very small scale - anticipation in miniature of what society could be like later on in human progress. It is a community fully based on ethical and spiritual principles. Most important is right relationships between the various members of the sangha - can only spring out of people in relationship with one another.
It looks forward to a future society where right livelihood is practiced to the full - as it isn't today.
* 1. “Buddhism … tries to create the ideal society, the ideal community, here and now on this earth.”
To what extent do you see your practice as being about creating the ideal community? How
could you make this a more prominent part of your spiritual life?
If I treat people respectfully I think it does rub off over time - think the group I work with have become a lot easier with each other, less afraid in communication, more confident and using a collaborative / problem-solving / no blame mindset. This does feel very good to me, & it probably feels good to others too.
2. The Buddha disapproved of monks earning money from palmistry, fortune telling, astrology
and divination? Why do you think this was? What might be the modern equivalents?
Boring question - or is it??
* 3. “If [your livelihood] involves so much mental strain that you become tense and cannot meditate,
then as a Buddhist you need to consider your position.”
What effect does your livelihood have on your ability to meditate? How do you feel when you
get home from work?
... and can one understand the causes / make this better? Not getting wound up helps. But I find I inevitably pick up emotions if someone else is being emotional - in the days when I cycled every day that was helpful in working through the physical effects of the stress. Now I sometimes try to get up and have a bop or something.
4. Do you consider your livelihood to be a vocation, in the sense that Sangharakshita uses the
term? (One crucial test might be whether you would still do it – and put as much time and
energy into it – if it only paid the very barest level of support.)
10 years ago I would have answered yes - but actually it was because my ego was so wrapped up in my role. Now: no.
5. “In reply to the question, ‘How much time should one devote to earning a living?’ I would reply, ‘As
little as possible’.”
Do you think Sangharakshita is advising a life of inactivity? How might we use the energy we
would otherwise spend on our livelihood
Building Triratna! Or really serious practice, so that we can bring back something of real value.
6. “We need … people who will be part-time monks.”
On a scale between being a full-time monk and being fully engaged in family and career,
where would you like to be?
Difficult question!
7. This lecture was given in 1968. Do you think there are other topics Sangharakshita would raise
if he were giving the talk today?
Bonus question: are you able to observe Buddhist truths, such as conditionality or impermanence, in action at work, or in your usual everyday networks? In what ways?
8. In your preparation for this week’s group, make an assessment of your own current livelihood:
Ethics
What are the implications of your livelihood for your practice of ethics? Very good opportunity to practice most of them as my job is a lot to do with other people and with good relationships. Mindfulness and contentment are also important.
Does it enable you to keep the precepts? Yes
Is there a positive vocational aspect to your livelihood? No
Meditation
What effect does your livelihood have on your meditation practice? OK
Does it leave you time for meditation on a regular basis? Yes
Does it leave you too stressed and busy to meditate effectively? No
Are you able to get on retreat regularly? Yes
Wisdom
Does your livelihood provide any specific opportunities for reflection on the
nature of things e.g. impermanence? Yes, massively!
Friendship
What is the quality of your relationships at work? Good but not deep
Are you able to make friendships with like-minded people at work? Not really
Finances
Does your livelihood meet your financial needs? Yes
Does it enable you to give money to Buddhist and other good causes? Yes
Do you invest your money ethically? Some of it.
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