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oneself, agitation 
in society or degeneration of the 
ecosystem, 
but rather enhance well-being in 
these 
three spheres. 
A.3 Three types of Worker 
Workers in the world have many 
styles and qualities, 
but in conclusion you can divide 
successful 
workers into three major kinds: 
1. those who finish what they do 
without being 
interested in the quality; 
2. those who finish their work to 
the best of their 
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quality; 
3. those who care that the result of 
their work is 
beneficial to society; 
The Buddha taught that anyone 
who wants to be a 
pillar of society must pay attention 
to the quality 
of every piece of work they do as 
well as finishing 
it. 
A.4 Three types of work 
Work in Buddhism, as already 
discussed in Blessing 
Fourteen (a source of food both for 
body and 
mind) is a term which relates to a 
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much wider scope 
of activities that that implied by 
our 40-hour week! 
Thus, before going into further 
detail as to which 
sort of work is blameworthy and 
which not, it is 
important to recognize the scope of 
this analysis. 
The term `work' includes: 
1. physical work (e.g. cooking or 
governing the 
country); 
2. verbal work (e.g. training our 
children or 
grandchildren, business 
negotiation or chanting) 
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(most of the details of this sort of 
work 
have already been discussed in 
Blessing Ten); 
3. mental work (adjustment and 
development 
of our own thoughts to overcome 
the inbuilt 
tendency of our thoughts to 
degenerate into 
preoccupation with sensuality 
[kAmavitakka], 
vengefulness [byApAda-vitakka] 
or 
aggression [vihiOsavitakka].; 
The principles of `blame' 
discussed in relation to 
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work, although mostly dealing 
with the context of 
physical work here, can in fact 
equally be applied 
to verbal and mental work too. 
B. JUDGING THE ETHICAL 
VALUE OF WORK 
Often when people are looking to 
measure the 
standard of the work they are 
doing they rely too 
heavily on the amount of praise or 
criticism they 
receive from others (see example 
§E.1 below). The 
Buddha warned us that to use such 
an arbitrary 
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measurement as our standard is not 
foolproof. In 
the world there are so many people 
of different 
viewpoints that you could never 
please all of the 
people all of the time. Some 
people cannot find a 
Blessing Eighteen: Blameless 
Work 215 
word of praise for anyone. Thus 
whatever the task 
you do, you cannot listen simply to 
the criticism of 
others — because some people's 
criticism is possibly 
without any foundation. You have 
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to measure 
the quality of work based on 
reason. Therefore 
whatever work you are doing, 
never base your decisions 
on the criticism of others. What 
then can you 
base your decisions on? The 
Buddha taught that 
we should make sure any work we 
do is: 
I. Not illegal: this is the grossest 
filter of 
blame in work — but it is too gross 
to cover 
all eventualities, and this is why 
we need 
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to resort to the other three criteria 
too; 
2. Not breaking with tradition: 
Some things 
don't break the law, but because 
they are 
out of keeping with local customs 
or traditions, 
they may bring you into conflict 
with 
others. Supposing a man wears 
women's 
clothes — will the police arrest 
him? Probably 
not, but it is certainly not very 
good. 
Or when you are eating, there is a 
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division 
made between sweet and savoury 
food. 
Some countries eat savoury food 
before 
they eat sweet desserts. Some, like 
Japan, 
eat their sweet food first. Not all 
customs 
are universally good. They may be 
applicable 
only to the particular locality or 
climate 
in a place. So how can you tell if a 
custom is worth respecting or not? 
Supposing 
you want to choose what to wear 
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to go 
to the temple. You know that it 
certainly 
won't break the law. As for 
customs, you 
know that in different places, the 
way people 
dress is not the same 
to go to 
the 
market you dress in a 
cosmopolitan way, 
to go to the cinema you dress in a 
fun-loving 
way, to go to the seaside you dress 
to 
the minimum — but if you go to 
the temple, 
EFTA01161905

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human 
dignity of others or of yourself (as 
already 
described in Blessing Nine). 
4. Not compromising your Five 
Virtues 
Iparicadhammal: This ensures that 
you 
don't fall into unwholesome ways 
which 
compromise virtue or justice (in 
the ways 
already described in Blessing 
Seventeen) 
Thus, if in the future, you want to 
be a pillar of society, 
then give things careful 
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consideration before 
you do them. You have to do 
things well — not just 
finish them. If you want to know if 
there is going to 
be any bad side-effects occurring 
as the result of 
something we do, check by using 
these four principles. 
Check the law, customs, Precepts 
and virtue. 
C. AVOIDING WRONG 
LIVELIHOOD 
The Buddha taught that we should 
earn our living 
by working for it and by working 
honestly too — 
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otherwise the economy and society 
cannot truly 
prosper. Of course earning your 
living by thieving, 
shop-lifting or pick-pocketing is 
not supported by 
Buddhism 
these forms of work 
have already been 
ruled out in our consideration of 
the ethical value of 
work above. But there is a grey 
area of what constitutes 
a fair profit, which the Buddha 
charted for us 
with the concept of Right and 
Wrong Livelihood. 
Those who make a success out of 
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Right Livelihood 
in business will have a positive 
effect on the economic 
situation of their country too 
but those involved 
in Wrong Livelihood enterprises, 
whether directly 
or indirectly are undermining the 
well-being of their 
country by so doing. The Buddha 
said that a person 
who earns their living by Wrong 
Livelihood is like 
someone who intentionally advises 
a traveller to take 
a dangerous road, saying that it is 
safe, but when 
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travelling themselves, will always 
take another 
(safer) route. The main ways 
people earn a living 
are in either in the public or in the 
private sector —
and we will look at the specific 
considerations of 
Right and Wrong Livelihood for 
each in turn: 
C.1 Private Enterprise 
Most work in private enterprise 
can be simplified 
216 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
down to trading a product or a 
service. For Right 
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Livelihood in the trading scenario 
the Buddha 
taught us to avoid five specific 
types of Wrong Livelihood: 
I. Dealing in slaves 
[sattavaAijjA]: This means 
buying people at a low price and 
selling them 
at a higher price and supporting 
oneself from 
the profit made — or running a 
brothel where 
you are making a profit out of the 
loss of another 
person's dignity. Taking on such 
an occupation 
will change the quality of your 
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mind 
it will cause you to see people 
as something 
inanimate. You will eventually 
lose your sense 
of humanity because you will no 
longer be 
able to appreciate others' human 
dignity. 
2. Dealing in weapons 
[satthavaAijjA]: This 
means weapons for killing animals 
or people 
and supporting oneself from the 
profit made 
— selling weapons will make you 
see the 
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world in a strange way. The 
quality of the 
wares you are selling all depend on 
the efficiency 
with which the weapons can kill 
men 
or animals — eventually it will 
cause your 
own Precepts to suffer. 
3. Dealing in flesh 
[maOsavaAijjA]: This means 
rearing live animals (like buffalos, 
pigs, ducks 
and chickens) to slaughter oneself 
or have 
someone else slaughter for us and 
supporting 
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oneself from the profit made —
most people 
see animals with compassion, but 
if you 
kill them or trade with those in the 
abattoir, 
instead of seeing the nice side of 
animals, you 
will see animals as nothing more 
than a walking 
meat counter. Even though you 
might not 
be directly involved in such a 
trade, your appreciation 
of the preciousness of life will 
disappear. 
If ever you lose your temper there 
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