A Monk Who Is Perfected in Morality A Monk Refrains from Such Base Arts and Wrong Means of Livelihood

Venerable Sir, whereas some Ascetics and Brāhmins, feeding on the food of the dedicated, make their living by such base arts, such wrong means of livelihood as palmistry, divining by signs, portents, dreams, body-marks, mouse-gnawings, fire-oblations, oblations from a ladle, of husks, rice-powder, rice grains, ghee or oil, from the mouth or of blood, reading the finger-tips, house- and garden-lore, skill in charms, ghost-lore, earth-house lore, snake-lore, poison-lore, rat-lore, bird-lore, crow-lore, foretelling a person’s life-span, charms against arrows, knowledge of animals’ cries.

A Monk refrains from such base arts and wrong means of livelihood. Thus he is perfected in morality.

Whereas some Ascetics and Brāhmins make their living by such base arts as judging the marks of gems, sticks, clothes, swords, spears, arrows, weapons, women, men, boys, girls, male and female slaves, elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, cows, goats, rams, cocks, quail, iguanas, bamboo rats, tortoises, deer.

A Monk refrains from such base arts and wrong means of livelihood. Thus he is perfected in morality.

Whereas some Ascetics and Brāhmins make their living by such base arts as predicting: The chiefs will march out - the chiefs will march back, our chiefs will advance and the other chiefs will retreat, our chiefs will win and the other chiefs will lose, the other chiefs will win and ours will lose, thus there will be victory for one side and defeat for the other.

A Monk refrains from such base arts and wrong means of livelihood. Thus he is perfected in morality.

Whereas some Ascetics and Brāhmins make their living by such base arts as predicting an eclipse of the moon, the sun, a star, that the sun and moon will go on their proper course - will go astray; that a star will go on its proper course - will go astray; that there will be a shower of meteors, a blaze in the sky, an earthquake, thunder; a rising, setting, darkening, brightening of the moon, the sun, the stars; and such will be the outcome of these things.

A Monk refrains from such base arts and wrong means of livelihood. Thus he is perfected in morality.

Whereas some Ascetics and Brāhmins make their living by such base arts as predicting good or bad rainfall; a good or bad harvest; security, danger; disease, health; or accounting, computing, calculating, poetic composition, philosophizing.

A Monk refrains from such base arts and wrong means of livelihood. Thus he is perfected in morality.

Whereas some Ascetics and Brāhmins make their living by such base arts as arranging the giving and taking in marriage, engagements and divorces; [declaring the time for] saving and spending, bringing good or bad luck, procuring abortions, using spells to bind the tongue, binding the jaw, making the hands jerk, causing deafness, getting answers with a mirror, a girl-medium, a heavenly being; worshipping the sun or Great Brahmā (God), breathing fire, invoking the goddess of luck.

A Monk refrains from such base arts and wrong means of livelihood. Thus he is perfected in morality.

Whereas some Ascetics and Brāhmins, feeding on the food of the dedicated, make their living by such base arts, such wrong means of livelihood as appeasing the heavenly beings and redeeming vows to them, making earth-house spells, causing virility or impotence, preparing and consecrating building-sites, giving ritual rinsings and bathings, making sacrifices, giving emetics, purges, expectorants and phlegmagogues, giving ear-, eye-, nose medicine, ointments and counter-ointments, eye-surgery, surgery, pediatry, using balms to counter the side-effects of previous remedies.

A Monk refrains from such base arts and wrong means of livelihood. Thus he is perfected in morality.

And then, Sir, that Monk who is perfected in morality sees no danger from any side owing to his being restrained by morality. Just as a duly-anointed Khattiya King, having conquered his enemies, by that very fact sees no danger from any side, so the Monk, on account of his morality, sees no danger anywhere. He experiences in himself the blameless bliss that comes from maintaining this Noble morality. In this way, Sir, he is perfected in morality.

(Reference: DN 11)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares that a Monk (i.e. Ordained Practitioner) should not practice any of the lowly arts and by doing so, will not experience any “danger” (i.e. harm).

He explains that these are all “wrong livelihoods” and that Ordained Practitioner refrains from practicing these as a livelihood. An Ordained Practitioner would be unable to attain Enlightenment if they were practicing any of these “wrong livelihood”.

Whereas some Ascetics and Brāhmins make their living by such base arts as judging the marks of gems, sticks, clothes, swords, spears, arrows, weapons, women, men, boys, girls, male and female slaves, elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, cows, goats, rams, cocks, quail. iguanas, bamboo rats, tortoises, deer.

Gotama Buddha did not accept animals as offerings and guided his Ordained Practitioners to not accept animals as offerings.

Animal Ownership and a Life of Servitude

There is a great need for caring and compassionate people to care for the massive number of pets that have proliferated throughout the world.

It is important to understand, having a pet is not what will bring permanent peaceful, content, joyful, and satisfying feelings into the mind. Oftentimes, when the unEnlightened mind is experiencing painful feelings, an individual can crave/desire a pet thinking this is going to fix the mind. In reality, it is oftentimes just one more craving/desire/attachment that will lead to discontentedness if the mind becomes attached.

There are multiple challenges associated with taking on the responsibility of another being’s life.

The feeding, bathing, caring, medical, and other responsibilities often challenge one to experience freedom of movement and freedom of mind. There are oftentimes expenses beyond what someone is able to support as well as emotional challenges and physical harms that are experienced by an individual as a result of living side-by-side with animals.

Then, end of life decisions can leave one struggling as they observe the pet aging and experiencing sickness. Euthanasia is often considered which brings a whole host of challenges for the individual as euthanasia would conflict with The First Precept of The Five Precepts, but observing end of life struggles also brings significant challenges to a Practitioner’s mind.

While there are many animals that need kind and loving people to care for them, it can be quite a challenge for someone to do so without attachment. If there is craving/desire/attachment, there will be discontentedness that is experienced in the mind.

So while an individual oftentimes considers getting a pet to experience “pleasant feelings”, this will lead to “painful feelings” due to the mind’s own craving/desire/attachment. The unEnlightened mind is going to chase after the objects of its affection thinking that “the next new shiny object around the corner” is going to bring lasting fulfillment, but it never does. Those feelings are only temporary, they are impermanent due to the mind’s craving/desire/attachment.

I would suggest that for someone who has a sincere interest to actively progress towards Enlightenment, to not acquire the responsibility of caring for an animal’s life. Instead, focus on improving one’s own mind and life, that will be challenging enough, rather than, taking on the added responsibly of caring for another being’s life.

But, should someone choose to take on this responsibility, I suggest adopting an animal from a shelter rather than going to a for-profit breeder. If someone purchased an animal from a breeder, this would be supporting another person’s “wrong livelihood” which only produces more issues in the world.

The mass production of animals for sale is causing enormous issues in the world as these animals oftentimes lack the care they need from responsible individuals. Animals are not meant to be kept inside homes and with human beings living side-by-side with animals. While we do that today, I suspect that as more people understand the harms we are causing due to our own selfish desires to keep animals with us, that less and less people will choose this option.

Human beings can oftentimes be selfish thinking that animals are here to serve us when they are their own beings and are unable to give their permission for us to keep them in a life of servitude based on our own selfish desires. We oftentimes use animals to fulfill our own selfish desires without the animal providing the ability to give their consent, thus, we keep beings trapped into a life to fulfill our own selfish desires, much like slaves. Whether it is for food, food production, pets, or some other purpose, we are using animals to fulfill our own desires without the ability for the animals to consent to our demands.

How would we feel if there was a being more superior than human beings that captured us, bred us, and trapped us into a life of servitude to meet their demands? Are we comfortable and willing to give our life over to this other class of beings to serve their every demand? Would we give over our children, life partner, or members of our family to this more supreme class of beings to control us?

But, we do have this challenge where there are countless animals in the world that do need caring homes. There are some people who are able to manage this well and find “the middle way” as it relates to caring for an animal.

If you choose to do so, it is important to train the mind that this animal is not going to bring lasting or permanent peaceful, content, joyful, and satisfying feelings into the mind. And, if an individual is choosing to take on this responsibility of caring for a pet thinking it will produce these feelings, that is the wrong reason to get a pet and they are only setting themselves up to fail, as the mind is just having craving/desire/attachment that is going to lead to discontentedness.

If the goal is to eliminate the mind’s potential to have craving/desire/attachment, I would suggest not getting a pet. If the mind is well trained and is adopting a pet to provide loving-kindness and compassion for the being’s life while ensuring the mind does not acquire craving/desire/attachment, perhaps they can manage having a pet and provide care but this is going to require a deep understanding and practice of these Teachings or else, one is setting themselves up for discontentedness.

At the end of the day, it is a personal choice. A choice that only each individual can make. Perhaps the thoughts shared here can help you as you consider this decision and make the wisest decision for you.