What is Right Livelihood

[Jhanananda]

In Theravadan Buddhism Right Livelihood is defined by putting on the robes and pretending to be holy and begging for your alms.  Since I have yet to find a Theravadan Buddhist priest or monk who clearly has jhana, and jhana was the Buddha's definition of the 8th fold, then apparently their methodology does not work.

So, I believe any livelihood that supports the contemplative life to the point that the contemplative can give rise to the 4 jhanas every day is Right Livelihood.  I explored many jobs, while always maintaining my daily meditation practice.  I found employment that was highly stressful was not conducive to giving rise to a still mind and beyond in the contemplative life, so when I found jobs emotionally stressful, then I left them and found other employment. 

Most of the work I acquired that I found conducive to daily attainment in meditation were technical jobs, not requiring a lot of human interaction. Now that I have retired from the world since 2000 I found traversing all 8 stages of the religious experience (samadhi) is a full-time job, and requires even more isolation, so I prefer to live in the wilderness on my own.

[lizj97]

I think right livelihood in this day and age has to take on different meaning than was preached at the earlier time. I think anything that involves teaching the right path or helping people see the truth would qualify for right livleihood. Of course, it goes without saying that one must be moral and ethical at all times so this has to be included in the definition as well. But although I would love to be able to do nothing except teach people and help them see the truth, I have found that if I do not provide for myself, no one else is going to. I guess what I am trying to say, is I would love to open a place where people could come and ask questions about how to live and awaken from this world. And that would be an ideal way to illustrate right livelihood. But, people become skeptical if they think you expect them to give you a donation for help that you should offer for free. And I would want to offer it free. But sadly, our lifestyles are not conducive to living this way and living in this world means things cost money and so one must have money to exist. This is indeed a sad state of affairs because the truth is, we all already have everything we need and money shouldn't be our prime issue, or in fact, any issue at all.

I think I am rambling. Sorry. I know what I am trying to say but not sure if I am conveying it well.

Lori

[Cybermonk]

Aloha to you Cybermonks,

Well... I once knew a being who wore white clothes and ate only one grain of
rice a day. He was convinced he was a "breatharian" as well, soaking up the
stars energy. He was a very aware being and he died of starvation. Yes... this
is a true story.

So... personally I believe you do exist as pure awareness, however, when you
decide to explore, some of the more interesting and dangerous realities, will
require proper suits of existence. Similar to putting on a wet suit and diving
into the oceans. A common suit is the auto in this reality. A construct of karma's,
which enables a being to do a variety of interesting things. However... if the
auto, or the controlling awareness, loses concentration, pain/death is waiting.

So... some say you can learn the laws of existence well enough that a being
can dispense with the time lag usually found with basic karmic constructs.
So, you can just expect everything to instantly support the life style we chose.
Hold out your hand and wish for a nice non-gmo vegy sandwich and "viola"
it appears. Likewise... how about thousands of fish and bread loaves for the
multitudes of beings who act like they are hanging on your every word.  Yeah,
that's the ticket.

A minor problem with all this is.... what you create, well, your responsible for.
Whoops!! So, if you interact with existence, then it follows you around.
Students/worshipers of guru's. slowly, or quickly learned, that they're own
karma was tied to their devotes, meaning.... they couldn't get to, let's say,
a rainbow body, or pure awareness, until they somehow removed the karma
of this reality. UHohhhhh!! So... if you "heal" someone, you've connected your
life with theirs. They are perhaps alive because of your action, so... if they
become an assassin, or a money changer selling bad mortgages, well, its
your doing, your responsible. Ha!!! Having fun yet?

An old shaman told me once that in order to make things work out, you can
never tell a being you've healed them, or the "action" will dissolve. Perhaps
that's why a true shaman will never approach you, always you must find them.
At least then, you, by your action, want to be healed, or whatever.
So it goes,
Party on,
Kimo

[Jhanananda]

I think right livelihood in this day and age has to take on different meaning than was preached at the earlier time. I think anything that involves teaching the right path or helping people see the truth would qualify for right livleihood.

I agree with you, Lori, but it is not a livelihood until teaching results in acquiring food, clothing and shelter.  If we examine the history of mendicants around the world, then we see in most cases they beg for the food, or eat in free kitchens, and teach for free.  Of course, it goes without saying that one must be moral and ethical at all times so this has to be included in the definition as well. Examples would be: Siddhartha Gautama, Jesus, John the Baptist, al Hallag, Francis of Assisi, Shams, and many, many more.

In most cases these enlightened teachers were in direct conflict with the state religion. Examples would be: Moses, Siddhartha Gautama, Jesus, John the Baptist, al Hallag, Francis of Assisi, Shams, Mohamed, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, many more.

And, In most cases these mendicants were martyred. Examples would be: Jesus, John the Baptist, al Hallag, many more.

If the enlightened teachers were not martyred, then they were most likely the first to go when the culture found itself under stress and could no longer support its poor.  These mendicant mystics are mostly lost to history, because when a culture collapses, often its literature does as well.

As I see the problem with the path to enlightenment is no religion ever supports its mystics, therefore, the path to enlightenment is for ever lost.  The religion is almost always an arm of the hegemony, so it only markets the message the hegemony wants to he heard.

But although I would love to be able to do nothing except teach people and help them see the truth, I have found that if I do not provide for myself, no one else is going to.

Yes, I agree with you, and that is the central problem people are simply unwilling to support their mystics, but they will throw mountains of money at ever fraud who comes along.  Examples would be: The Buddha boy, Chogum Trungpa, Rajnish (aka Osho), and every pedophile priest and Roche.

I guess what I am trying to say, is I would love to open a place where people could come and ask questions about how to live and awaken from this world. And that would be an ideal way to illustrate right livelihood. But, people become skeptical if they think you expect them to give you a donation for help that you should offer for free. And I would want to offer it free. But sadly, our lifestyles are not conducive to living this way and living in this world means things cost money and so one must have money to exist. This is indeed a sad state of affairs because the truth is, we all already have everything we need and money shouldn't be our prime issue, or in fact, any issue at all.

I think I am rambling. Sorry. I know what I am trying to say but not sure if I am conveying it well.

Lori

This is the reason why most genuinely enlightened teachers are mendicants, because they are compelled to teach, regardless of the hazards or the hardships.

Aloha to you Cybermonks,

Well... I once knew a being who wore white clothes and ate only one grain of
rice a day. He was convinced he was a "breatharian" as well, soaking up the
stars energy. He was a very aware being and he died of starvation. Yes... this
is a true story.

Yes, I have met many people in my 40 year spiritual journey who believed they were enlightened for various reasons.  Another part of the problem is most of people claiming enlightenment are either out and out frauds, or crazy.

So... personally I believe you do exist as pure awareness, however, when you
decide to explore, some of the more interesting and dangerous realities, will
require proper suits of existence. Similar to putting on a wet suit and diving
into the oceans. A common suit is the auto in this reality. A construct of karma's,
which enables a being to do a variety of interesting things. However... if the
auto, or the controlling awareness, loses concentration, pain/death is waiting.

Well, a "proper suit" in this context is an astral body, soul, spirit, rainbow body, or whatever term you want to call it.  However, we all have one, we just have to learn how to use it, and paying money and taking classes and doing exercises will not help.  How one learns to gain facility in the spiritual (immaterial) dimensions is by leading a rigorous, ethical, self-aware, contemplative life, and learning to surrender, submit, let go, and very deep levels.

So... some say you can learn the laws of existence well enough that a being
can dispense with the time lag usually found with basic karmic constructs.
So, you can just expect everything to instantly support the life style we chose.
Hold out your hand and wish for a nice non-gmo vegy sandwich and "viola"
it appears. Likewise... how about thousands of fish and bread loaves for the
multitudes of beings who act like they are hanging on your every word.  Yeah,
that's the ticket.

The evidence would suggest that the fantastic stories of all religions are there to bilk the naive slobs out of their money and keep the priesthood of the hegemony fat and sassy.

A minor problem with all this is.... what you create, well, your responsible for.
Whoops!! So, if you interact with existence, then it follows you around.
Students/worshipers of guru's. slowly, or quickly learned, that they're own
karma was tied to their devotes, meaning.... they couldn't get to, let's say,
a rainbow body, or pure awareness, until they somehow removed the karma
of this reality. UHohhhhh!! So... if you "heal" someone, you've connected your
life with theirs. They are perhaps alive because of your action, so... if they
become an assassin, or a money changer selling bad mortgages, well, its
your doing, your responsible. Ha!!! Having fun yet?

An old shaman told me once that in order to make things work out, you can
never tell a being you've healed them, or the "action" will dissolve. Perhaps
that's why a true shaman will never approach you, always you must find them.
At least then, you, by your action, want to be healed, or whatever.
So it goes,
Party on,
Kimo

I do not happen to buy into any of this, because it has not been my experience, but it has been my experience that New-Age beliefs are mostly naive and marketed by just a new brand of fraud.

[Jhanananda]

Friday I worked on the van to replace its brake master cylinder, which had just failed.  When I examined what had to take place in the repair it seemed easy, but as I progressed in the project, what should have been no more than a 30 minute job turned into a grueling four hours of frustration, because the manufacturer had gone out of their way in every aspect of installing the brake master cylinder to make it as difficult as possible to repair.  The effort turned me into a raving lunatic several times, as Nikita is my unfortunate witness.

My conclusion is:
Right livelihood does not involve machines, because all machines are manufactured to fail at a certain rate, and the manufacturer wants people to buy new machines.  They do not want people buying parts, or repairing their machines themselves.  Consequently, living dependent upon machines will always lead to profound levels of stress and frustration.

While working on this insane-making machine I thought of Diogenes of Sinope, who supposedly gave up everything to fish by the sea side.  He had a sea shell that he wore around his neck and used as a bowl.  When he saw a little girl drink from a spring with her cupped hand, he threw away the sea shell.

So, living out of a backpack near a town where they feed the homeless, and living in a tent in the national forest, seems lavish by the standards of Diogenes.  I am; however, too old for that, but younger mystics might find it a useful path to liberation and enlightenment.  I will work on ways that an old person can live a contemplative life, and getting rid of my ancient van is high on the list.

[Valdy]

They call duality the problematic life because everything turns out either this way or that way.

I enjoy staying in a meditation where I can feel oneness but returning to this place is a problem, I have not solved the right livelihood problem.

I do like staying in nature, I am not an artist but I presume they would have fewer problems.

everyting in moderation

Bless Valdy

[Jhanananda]

Thank-you Valdy, yes, I agree right livelihood is taking as much as we can in moderation, which requires discipline and planning.

[Jhanananda]

This morning I made more progress on building a wood-fired outdoor kitchen.  It now has a wood bin on the far left, an oven in the middle and a stove on the right; and the organic garden is right next to the kitchen.  The panels of corrugated steel are meant to protect the neighbor's wall from smoke and flames from the stove.

[Jhanananda]

To me, right livelihood is living a lifestyle that is focused upon a disciplined contemplative life, which means one will have to figure out how to live without a lot of work, and little support.  This involves for me making my own fuel.

Nikita helping me make fuel.

Together we made progress on making about 140 gallons of fuel.  This is 90 gallons of it

Nikita just bought himself a turbocharged suburban, which we had just fueled with waste oil

While camped in the Bradshaw Mountains, which are near Prescott, AZ, USA, I photographed some wildflowers

This is a closeup of the same wildflower.

The manzanita was also in bloom.  Manzanita bares a wild edible fruit.

This is a closeup of the manzanita flowers.

I found some mamalaria also in bloom.

This is a closeup of the mamalaria flowers.  Mamalaria also bear edible fruit.  They tend to bloom after rains, and can bloom several times a year due to rain.

[Jhanananda]

Nikita and I drove in our respective diesel autos powered by waste oil to Prescott, AZ last Friday.  I arrived early enough to eat breakfast at the Salvation Army.  We ate left-overs from a wedding reception the night before. They served us feta with Greek olives on Ziti pasta, beans, scalloped potatoes, and dates baked with bacon rapped around them.

Later we went to the Food bank there on Friday and acquired almost a week's worth of groceries.  I found two cases of Similac. We also ate there, because they have a free-kitchen.

Later that day the local branch of Church on the Street served the rest of the left-overs from the wedding reception, which included breaded salmon.

We camped out in the National Forest for the night.  Before night fall I shoveled up the pile of ash left from previous campfires to turn into fire bricks.

Saturday morning we went to a non-sectarian religious feast that is served in the Park near down-town Prescott.  There were too many dishes to list there.

After the meal Nikita and I checked to see if any of the 2 restaurants that provide me with waste vegetable oil had any to take.  Neither did, but we had nearly 100 gallons waiting for us when we got back to Sedona.

Today, Tuesday, we drove the short distance to the Sedona Food Bank and loaded up on some of the best groceries found at any food bank.  We got a pound bag of coffee, several loaves of whole grain or multi-grain bread, lots of ripe avocados and tomatoes, oat meal, and various canned goods, including a can of asparagus, and 2 pounds of vegan cheese.

We drove back to the GWV's warehouse and dropped off our groceries, then we drove to the Food Bank in Cotton, where we walked out with almost a week's worth of groceries, which included a can of saurcrought, more bread, more oat meal, more Similac.  I use the Similac for milk in my coffee in the morning. Recycling waste oil into fuel, and the food banks make it possible for a 21st century mendicant to survive quite well.

Nikita has been working on his vehicle to turn it into his heavenly chariot.  Last week we changed the oil, which turned out to be a fiasco when we tried to replace his oil filter GM left us a nearly impossible problem to deal with.  I gave up and ordered a set of 3/4" Drive sockets to remove a large bolt that holds the filter adapter in place.  The socket set arrived today, so tomorrow we plan to replace his oil filter, and replace his oil, and make fuel for his vehicle.

Nikita has also been making himself a bed for inside his 4x4 Suburban.  He slept on for the first time last weekend when we were camping.

[Jhanananda]

Nikita has been impressed with the volume of food we get for free from the food banks that we go to.  He thought I should photograph the volume of food.  Certainly we have found a sustainable way to be full-time contemplatives in a culture that does not value its contempaltive, nor its mystics. So, here are some photos.

This is our kitchen table, which is piled high with food from one day's foraging at food banks that we had not put away yet.

This is one of our shelves that is full of canned beans, vegetables and soups.

This is the shelves of boxed foods and oatmeal

This is the shelf full of bags of beans, rice and pastas

This is our bursting refrigerator full of produce

This is the crisper in the refrigerator that is bursting with fresh produce

One food bank does not provide enough food to support one individual; however, going to more than one food bank can support a person quite well, and each person who comes to the food bank receives a bag, or box of food, so that everyone who comes to live here will be able to acquire all of the food they need to sustain themselves while leading a rigorous, self-aware contemplative life here.

Being able to make our own fuel out of recycled garbage is the only way to make going to multiple food banks sustainable, but since we can, then we can sustain ourselves here.  So, those who come to the next GWV wilderness retreat will find a bounty of food that was greater than the 6 crates of food I brought to the last GWV wilderness retreat.

[Jhanananda]

Three days of foraging in 2 towns and driving brought in this food.

Freezer items from the food bank

35 gallons of fuel from three different restaurants.

I also ate at 4 different free kitchens, so I ate well.  A mendicant can live quite well in this area, as long as one knows how to produce the miracle of turning garbage into fuel:-)

I camped in the mountains where it was cool and quite, near where I have liked to camp for the last 3 years. 

Yesterday I helped Nikita get some parts for his roof rack from a local junk yard.  It took 2 or 3 hours, and I did quite a bit of swearing to get them.  The effort left me drained.  Today I could hardly move.

At dusk last night at camp I saw the cat that I had been seeing.  When I first saw the creature a year or more ago it was dark and about the size of a German Shepherd.  Last night I noticed that it had grown to twice the size.  It was now black and as big as a great Dane.  He will due quite well to take care of this failing beast.

[stugandolf]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ken-ilgunas/ten-reasons-to-live-in-a-_b_3293767.html#slide=2467646  ten reasons to live in a van  I lived in my camper for about 6 good months.  This is great for the contemplative mystic lifestyle.  Additionally vanholder living is fun. 

[Jhanananda]

Thank-you, Stu, I enjoyed your link to van living.  My original intention was to live in my van while negotiating a graduate program; however, my work on religious experience was not welcome at any of the graduate schools that I applied to.

Today Nikita built a platform for the top of his Suburban so that he can mount solar panels on it, and sleep on it as well.

[Jhanananda]

Last night Nikita and I camped in a new location to me in the mountains near Prescott.  Nikita scouted it out.  Good scouting.

This is Nikita cooking on a fire-can that he made from examining my experiments in the Sedona research lab.

Last night he baked several potatoes in a fire-can