'And what is right livelihood? There is the case where a disciple of the
noble ones, having abandoned dishonest livelihood, keeps his life going with
right livelihood: This is called right livelihood.'
A balanced livelihood
'Herein, Vyagghapajja, a householder knowing his income and expenses leads a
balanced life, neither extravagant nor miserly, knowing that thus his income
will stand in excess of his expenses, but not his expenses in excess of his
income.
'Just as the goldsmith, or an apprentice of his, knows, on holding up a
balance, that by so much it has dipped down, by so much it has tilted up; even
so a householder, knowing his income and expenses leads a balanced life, neither
extravagant nor miserly, knowing that thus his income will stand in excess of
his expenses, but not his expenses in excess of his income.'
Its relation to the other factors of the path
'And how is right
view the forerunner? One discerns wrong livelihood as wrong livelihood, and
right livelihood as right livelihood. And what is wrong livelihood? Scheming,
persuading, hinting, belittling, & pursuing gain with gain. This is wrong
livelihood...
'One tries to abandon wrong livelihood & to enter into right livelihood:
This is one's right
effort. One is mindful to abandon wrong livelihood & to enter &
remain in right livelihood: This is one's right
mindfulness. Thus these three qualities — right
view, right
effort, & right
mindfulness — run & circle around right livelihood.'
'A lay follower should not engage in five types of business. Which five?
Business in weapons, business in living beings, business in meat, business in
intoxicants, and business in poison.'
Wrong livelihood for contemplatives
... reading marks on the limbs [e.g., palmistry]; reading omens and signs;
interpreting celestial events [falling stars, comets]; interpreting dreams;
reading marks on the body [e.g., phrenology]; reading marks on cloth gnawed by
mice; offering fire oblations, oblations from a ladle, oblations of husks, rice
powder, rice grains, ghee, and oil; offering oblations from the mouth; offering
blood-sacrifices; making predictions based on the fingertips; geomancy; laying
demons in a cemetery; placing spells on spirits; reciting house-protection
charms; snake charming, poison-lore, scorpion-lore, rat-lore, bird-lore,
crow-lore; fortune-telling based on visions; giving protective charms;
interpreting the calls of birds and animals ... [The list goes on and on]
