kristof Gabriel carina van hooymissen [my ancestor lieven once brewed the beer saint-michael]

What Is Right Livelihood?

Along with Right Speech and Right Action, Right Livelihood is part of the "moral conduct" section of the Path. These three folds of the Path are connected to the Five Precepts. These are:

1. Not killing
2. Not stealing
3. Not misusing sex
4. Not lying
5. Not abusing intoxicants

Right Livelihood is, first, a way to earn a living without compromising the Precepts. It is a way of making a living that does no harm to others. In the Vanijja Sutta (this is from the Sutra-pitaka of the Tripitaka), the Buddha said, "A lay follower should not engage in five types of business. Which five? Business in weapons, business in human beings, business in meat, business in intoxicants, and business in poison."

Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh wrote,

"To practice Right Livelihood (samyag ajiva), you have to find a way to earn your living without transgressing your ideals of love and compassion. The way you support yourself can be an expression of your deepest self, or it can be a source of suffering for you and others. " ... Our vocation can nourish our understanding and compassion, or erode them. We should be awake to the consequences, far and near, of the way we earn our living." (The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching [Parallax Press, 1998], p. 104)

Consequences, Far and Near

Our global economy complicates the precaution to do no harm to others. For example, you may work in a department store that sells merchandise made with exploited labor. Or, perhaps there is merchandise that was made in a way that harms the environment. Even if your particular job doesn't require harmful or unethical action, perhaps you are doing business with someone who does. Some things you cannot know, of course, but are you still responsible somehow?

In The Seventh World of Chan Buddhism, Ming Zhen Shakya suggests finding a "pure" livelihood is impossible. "Obviously a Buddhist cannot be a bartender or a cocktail waitress, ... or even work for a distillery or a brewery. But may he be the man who builds the cocktail lounge or cleans it? May he be the farmer who sells his grain to the brewer?"

Ming Zhen Shakya argues that any work that is honest and legal can be "Right Livelihood." However, if we remember that all beings are interconnected, we realize that trying to separate ourselves from anything "impure" is impossible, and not really the point.

If you keep working in the department store, maybe someday you'll be a manager who can make ethical decisions about what merchandise is sold there.

Honesty the Best Policy

A person in any sort of job might be asked to be dishonest. You may work for an educational book publisher, which would seem to be a Right Livelihood. But the owner of the company might expect you to boost profits by cheating the vendors—typesetters, freelance artists—and sometimes even the clients.

Obviously, if you're being asked to cheat, or to fudge the truth about a product in order to sell it, there's a problem. There is also honesty involved in being a conscientious employee who is diligent about his work and doesn't steal pencils out of the supply cabinet, even if everyone else does.

Source : https://www.learnreligions.com/right-livelihood-the-ethics-of-earning-a-living-450071