Item 5 in Noble Eightfold Path
Right Livelihood
Earn a living without relying on occupations or practices that create serious harm.
- Position
- 5
- 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 Livelihood
Original term: Sammā-ājīva
Source wording
Editorial paraphrase: Earn a living without relying on occupations or practices that create serious harm.
Literal meaning
Earn a living without relying on occupations or practices that create serious harm.
Broader interpretation
The principle extends ethical responsibility from private conduct to economic participation.
Ethical purpose
To shape conduct or character in a way consistent with the wider ethical framework.
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
Sources
- Magga-vibhanga Sutta: An Analysis of the Path Primary source