RIGHT LIVING
Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Harming Living Beings
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Harming living beings is
unhealthy. Refraining from harming living beings is healthy. (MN 9)
Abandoning the harming of living beings, one abstains from harming
living beings; with rod and weapon laid aside, gentle and kindly, one
abides with compassion toward all living beings. (MN 41) One practices
thus: "Others may harm living beings, but I will abstain from harming
living beings." (MN 8)
There is a gift, which is a great gift—pristine, long-standing,
traditional, ancient, unadulterated—that will never be suspect. Here a
noble person gives up the destruction of life and refrains from it. In
doing so, one gives freedom from fear, hostility, and oppression to an
immeasurable number of beings. (AN 8.39)
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The path factor
of right living is often called right livelihood, and it has to do with
the practical effects of how we work in the world. Right livelihood is
primarily a teaching for laypeople, as monks and nuns engage in no
worldly affairs. Here we will focus on the so-called "ethical precepts,"
the first of which is to take care not to kill or cause injury to other
living beings. This is the central organizing principle of all Buddhist
ethics.
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Ethical
integrity can be seen as a gift that you give to others, the gift of
harmlessness. It is not a set of rules you have to follow but a set of
guidelines to help you calibrate your behavior toward promoting welfare,
both your own and that of others, and avoiding harm. Try to gradually
develop this attitude so that you will be gentle with other creatures as
an act of generosity rather than of forced discipline.
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Tomorrow: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States
One week from today: Abstaining from Taking What is Not Given
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