..续本文上一页ided into five sorts:

　　a. Government: undertaking responsibility to aid and assist the citizens of the nation in ways that are honest and fair; giving them protection so that they can all live in happiness and security. For example: (1) protecting their lives and property so that they may live in safety and freedom; (2) giving them aid, e.g., making grants of movable or immovable property; giving support so that they can improve their financial standing, their knowledge, and their conduct, establishing standards that will lead the country as a whole to prosperity — "A civilized people living in a civilized land" — under the rule of justice, termed "dhammadhipateyya," making the Dhamma sovereign.

　　b. Agriculture: putting the land to use, e.g., growing crops, running farms and orchards so as to gain wealth and prosperity from what is termed the wealth in the soil.

　　c. Industry: extracting and transforming the resources that come from the earth but in their natural state can”t give their full measure of ease and convenience, and thus need to be transformed: e.g., making rice into flour or sweets; turning fruits or tubers into liquid — for instance, making orange juice; making solids into liquids — e.g., smelting ore; or liquids into solids. All of these activities have to be conducted in honesty and fairness to qualify as Right Action.

　　d. Commerce: the buying, selling, and trading of various objects for the convenience of those who desire them, as a way of exchanging ease, convenience, and comfort with one another — on high and low levels, involving high and low-quality goods, between people of high, low, and middling intelligence. This should be conducted in honesty and fairness so that all receive their share of justice and convenience .

　　e. Labor: working for hire, searching for wealth in line with the level of our abilities, whether low, middling, or high. Our work should be up to the proper standards and worthy — in all honesty and fairness — of the wages we receive.

　　In short, Right Action means:

　　— being clean and honest, faithful to our duties at all times;

　　— improving the objects with which we deal so that they can become clean and honest, too. Clean things — whether many or few — are always good by their very nature. Other people may or may not know, but we can”t help knowing each and every time.

　　Thus, before we engage in any action so as to make it upright and honest, we first have to examine and weigh things carefully, being thoroughly circumspect in using our judgment and intelligence. Only then can our actions be in line with right moral principles.

　　V. Right Livelihood. In maintaining ourselves and supporting our families, expending our wealth for the various articles we use or consume, we must use our earnings — coming from our Right Actions — in ways that are in keeping with moral principles. Only then will they provide safety and security, fostering the freedom and peace in our life that will help lead to inner calm. For example, there are four ways of using our wealth rightly so as to foster our own livelihood and that of others, providing happiness for all —

　　A. Charity: expending our wealth so as to be of use to the poor, sick, needy, or helpless who merit the help of people who have wealth, both inner and outer, so that they may live in ease and comfort.

　　B. Support: expending what wealth we can afford to provide for the ease and comfort of our family and close friends.

　　C. Aid: expending our wealth or our energies for the sake of the common good — for example, by helping the government either actively or passively. "Actively" means donating a sum of money to a branch of the government, such as setting up a fund to foster any of its various activities. "Passively" means being willing to pay our taxes for t…

《The Path to Peace and Freedom for the Mind》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…