5. skillful livelihood
the fifth fold of buddha’s eight fold path. and basically saying our means of sustenance should not interfere with out spiritual development. any job is skillful job as long as it is not doing ( intentionally ) any harm to the person who is doing the job or to someone else.
some of the basic common sense questions to asses if the current work is skillful livelihood.
- is my work intentionally harmful for other people ?
- does my work leads me to break the precept ? is it asking to sacrifice integrity ?
- use some common sense !
it is a common sense that any profession can be made corrupt. and assessing skillful livelihood is an individual thing, same hindrances can disturb the mind for one while for other can catalyse spiritual growth. and as mindfulness deepen we can develop so much calm and patience that just about any honest job become perfect for us.
once we clear away the obstacle in mind everything else take care by itself. just like if we are hungry we eat, when thirsty we drink and so on. but we don’t run around saying. “i must live”, “i must live”.
the best kind of job could be the one that challenges are weak areas without overwhelming. and avoid presenting us with the problems we are not currently prepared for. for example if we are willing to practice mindfulness, and develop sublime state of concentration may be a routine work is the best.
to be honest I think I am blessed enough to have a very very skillful job at the moment.