Guidelines for Development of Right Livelihood According to Buddhism in the Community

Abstract

The objectives of this research article were 1) to study the principles of right livelihood and Dhamma principles that supported right livelihood; and 2) to study the guidelines for development of right livelihood according to Buddhism in the community. This research was qualitative research and documentary research. The research tool was used, namely a semi-structured interview form. 7key informants were interviewed based on purposive sampling strategy. Data were collected by interviews and document studies. Data were analyzed according to the principles of content analysis. The results of the research found that 1) there were 3 principles of right livelihood as follows: (1) physical cleanliness, (2) verbal cleanliness, (3) mental cleanliness. As for the principles that supported right livelihood, there were 5 principles as follows: (1) the Dhamma principles of protecting the world, (2) the principles of Ditthadammikatthasangvattanikadhamma, (3) the principles of Tiskkha, (4) the principles of Iddhipada,  (5) the principles of Ariyasacca; 2) the guidelines for development of right livelihood according to Buddhism in the community had 4 steps as follows: (1) Dukkha: study of problem conditions,  community scholars should study business operations situations, trends of future change competitiveness and factors affecting business operations and marketing, (2) Samudaya: analysis of community potential, community scholars should explore the career interests of the villagers, analyze community potential before teaching occupations to villagers, (3) Nirodha: setting goals and planning, community scholars should set goals for development of right livelihood in the community, plan the development of right livelihood in a comprehensive manner so that the work achieved the goals set, (4) Magga: development of right livelihood in the community, community scholars should take action by informing the villagers, open to recruit villagers to attend training, teach careers to villagers, assign work to villagers to practice vocational skills and support and promote villagers to form professional groups.