seventh world of chan buddhism - Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun

man who builds the cocktail lounge or cleans it? May he be the farmer who sells his grain to
the brewer?
May a Buddhist work for a pest control company? May he set rat traps or exterminate
termites and roaches? Clearly not! May he swat a mosquito? No way! (I was once
admonished by a nun in a Buddhist monastery in Taiwan for swatting a mosquito.) May he be
a physician who administers medicines which poison thousands of innocent intestinal worms
that happen to be living in a child's abdomen? May he work for a pharmaceutical company
that makes the medicine?
He knows in his heart that he cannot be a pimp or a drug pusher but he knew that
before he converted to Buddhism.
And he cannot earn his living through "cheating." (Uh, Oh. That lets out used cars,
aluminum siding, politics and TV evangelism.) The more he thinks about it, the shorter his
list gets.
mean?
And so he and the rest of us are all left wondering just what does Right Livelihood
Most religious commentators avoid answering such questions. And nobody can query
a book.
What is necessary, here, is common sense. Religious professionals who earn their
living from the donations of working members of their congregations can afford to be
angelically employed. Having no family responsibilities to anchor them to earthly reality,
they can afford to float above such defilements. (And while we are on the subject, it is
shocking to see how easily The Pure accept `dirty' money. A whore can go from the crib to
the pew and if her trick receipt is put in the collection box, it is welcomed. This, of course, is
true of any religion. None is fussy about a donation's provenance.)
Therefore, the solution we apply to the problem of Right Livelihood is simple: A
Buddhist may earn his living in any way that is honest and legal. He may sell guns... but not
to someone he reasonably suspects is insane or who intends to use the gun for a criminal
purpose. He may be a vegetarian and a cowboy... a shoemaker, a butcher, a soldier, a
bartender, and, lest there be any doubt, he may even be the man who throws the switch on
someone legally condemned to die. If he doesn't approve of capital punishment, he doesn't
have to take the job.
There are limitations which a Buddhist ought to impose upon himself. While he may
be a deerstalker if he believes that the meat will be eaten, it is hoped that he would not
associate himself with frivolous blood sports or trophy hunting. There are people, for
example, who use pigeons for target practice or who kill foxes for the fun of it. The precept
of nonviolence prevents anyone from indulging himself in recreational killing, the wanton
CHAPTER 15 RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
S EVENTH W ORLD O F C HAN B UDDHISM
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