Wrong livelihood View in explorer

7 discourses
Sustaining oneself through deceit, exploitation, or manipulation for gain. It includes cheating, flattery, hinting for favors, belittling others, and pursuing gain by means of gain.
Also known as: unwholesome livelihood, wrong way of earning a living
Pāli: micchāājīva
Supported by
Greed

Greed

A grasping mental quality of craving, possessiveness, or lustful wanting that clings to objects or experiences; it fuels attachment and obstructs renunciation and contentment

Also known as: acquisitiveness, avarice, covetousness, rapacity, money grabbing, grabbiness
Pāli: lobha, gedha
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Sexual misconduct

Sexual misconduct

Transgression of boundaries in intimate relations—acting on desire in ways that betray trust, cause harm, or violate the commitments of oneself or others.

Also known as: crossing boundaries, infidelity, inappropriate sexual behavior, unfaithfulness to one's partner
Pāli: kāmesumicchācāra
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Slaughtering

Slaughtering

The deliberate killing of a living being, carried out with the intention of ending its life while disregarding its natural drive to continue living.

Also known as: killing, murdering, taking life
Pāli: pāṇātipāta
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Stealing

Stealing

Also known as: theft, taking what is not given, taking what is not offerred, dishonesty regarding possessions
Pāli: adinnādānā
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Treachery

Treachery

Deliberate deception that exploits another's trust for personal gain. It wears a mask of friendliness while secretly working against the other's welfare.

Also known as: deviousness, scamming, betrayal
Pāli: sāṭheyya
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Leads to
Wrong effort

Wrong effort

Misapplied energy directed toward goals rooted in craving, aversion, or delusion. It manifests as striving for sensual pleasure, gain, fame, or domination, exhausting the mind and feeding defilements.

Also known as: incorrect endeavor
Pāli: micchāvāyāma
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The Buddha expounds the noble right collectedness complete with its supporting conditions, clarifying how the factors of the noble eightfold path give rise to either mundane or supramundane fruits. He shows how right view leads to the sequential development of the path, culminating in right knowledge and right liberation.

When asked about the state of peace and the way of practice to reach it, the Buddha describes this state as being steady and unruffled, like the middle of the ocean where no wave arises. He then shares the way of practice to achieve it without delay: guarding the senses, letting go of indulgence, to be a meditator who cultivates wakefulness, and through investigation, abandoning a host of unwholesome qualities.

The Buddha distinguishes the wrong way of practice and the right way of practice.

The Buddha distinguishes the wrong way of practice and the right way of practice and their outcomes.

The Buddha outlines five types of trade that a lay disciple should avoid: trade in weapons, living beings, meat, intoxicants, and poisons.

Approaching wrongness leads to failure, not success. Approaching rightness leads to success, not failure.

Dhammapada verses 235-255 emphasize on the urgency of striving swiftly, not being negligent, discerning gradually, stains of various qualities. A contrast is drawn on the lives of one who is shameless and one with a sense of right and wrong, on finding the faults of others and one’s own, and on the path of the Tathāgatas.