Right Action

Right action refers to abstention from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and taking of intoxicants. They are basically the five precepts one accepts when taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. To observe these five precepts is right action. Right action relates to suffering insofar as action is karma, and as long as we create karma that leads to suffering, cessation not possible.

Right Livelihood

Right livelihood means earning one's living in accordance with Buddhadharma, and not causing harm to oneself or others while doing so. There are therefore many kinds of right livelihood, and many kinds of wrong livelihood. The Buddha proscribed earning one's living through breaking any of the precepts of right speech and right action. Wrong kinds of livelihood also include making one's living through deception, through self-aggrandizement through occult practices, through false claims about oneself, and through exaggeration. There are subtle distinctions among these but they all involve deception and exploiting others. In connection with right livelihood, the Buddha said in the nikayas, “...this holy life is not for cheating people, scheming, nor for profit, favor, and honor...this holy life is lived for the sake of restraint, for abandoning [delusion], for dispassion, for cessation.3"

Right Effort