Precept of Buddhism
Right livelihood.
No trade in weapons, living beings, flesh, poison, or intoxicants — the path constrains the wallet too.
What it asksEarn without harm: not by trading in weapons, living beings, meat, intoxicants, or poison
Who it bindsLay followers — this is the spoke aimed squarely at working life
Where it bitesModern extension is contested: does it cover a factory-farm supply chain, an arms-adjacent employer, a gambling app?
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held
This is the spoke that touches most people's actual lives, and the traditional list — weapons, human beings, meat, intoxicants, poison — is short enough that modern teachers spend most of their effort on the extension question. Does a job that harms nobody directly but props up something that does count? The tradition's method is not a rule but an inquiry: trace the harm your earning depends on, and ask honestly whether you would do that part yourself.
The same ground, other faiths
claims that share this one's ideas
Asteya — and the merchant's word.
Jainism
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Hanuman leaps the strait.
Hinduism · story
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The commandments are how the covenant is lived.
Judaism · core tenet
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The Ten Commandments.
Christianity
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Halal — the lawful.
Islam
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Work honestly, and share what you earn.
Sikhism · core tenet
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