Item 4 in Noble Eightfold Path
Right Action
Avoid killing, taking what is not given and sexual misconduct.
- Position
- 4
- Form
- Step in a path
- Obligation
- Recommended
- Wording status
- Editorial paraphrase
- Intended audience
- Buddhist practitioners, with interpretations adapted to monastic and lay life
- Last reviewed
- 28 June 2026
Names and terminology
Canonical name: Right Action
Original term: Sammā-kammanta
Source wording
Editorial paraphrase: Avoid killing, taking what is not given and sexual misconduct.
Literal meaning
Avoid killing, taking what is not given and sexual misconduct.
Broader interpretation
Interpretation depends on the framework's historical purpose, intended audience and relationship to its other principles.
Ethical purpose
To reduce direct harm caused through bodily conduct.
Modern application
Modern application requires attention to consent, rights, evidence, foreseeable harm and changing social conditions.
Criticism and difficult cases
Application can become difficult when this principle conflicts with another duty, when harm is indirect, or when ancient social assumptions do not fit modern conditions.
Truth By Reason analysis
Truth By Reason assesses this principle according to evidence, rights, intentions, foreseeable consequences and consistency with the treatment of all affected beings.
Ethical themes
Explanations, comparisons and discussions
Comparison
Eightfold Path and Ten Commandments: Similarities and Limits of Comparison
The two systems both regulate conduct, but differ in structure, authority and purpose.
Sources
- Magga-vibhanga Sutta: An Analysis of the Path Primary source