Ways to Cultivate Right Livelihood As a Path toward Honoring Living

This thesis has been conducted to study the way to cultivate right livelihood as a path toward honoring living in the contemporary world based on Buddhist scriptures and scholar’s perspectives. The objectives of the research are: (1) to study the general view of honoring living; (2) to explore the concept of right livelihood in Theravāda Buddhism; and (3) to suggest ways to cultivate right livelihood as a path toward honoring living. The methodology of this study is a qualitative research approach combining documentary research with the in-depth interviews of six key-informants.

The research findings show that right livelihood is an integral part of the Buddhist education and practice, not only for Buddhists, but also for everybody in society. It is a connection between inner transformation spirit with external transformation spirit. The development of any society strives together with spiritual development. The right livelihood will lead that society to development and prosperity through spiritual development, and vice versa, wrong livelihood propriety will lead that society closer to superstition and other ills and increasingly to the decline of society.

Right livelihood in creative ways to match modern reality is taking positive steps to create a working lifestyle that supports their spiritual development. Proper right livelihood development will be done on a daily basis in every individual or organization's actions and it will deeply reflect the social nature, socioeconomic and many other parts of society, so that be developed further. All in all, the Buddha suggested the way to merge with worldly conditions, so that sentient beings could attain an honoring living like him through training in satipaṭṭhāna, practicing meditation, encouraging positive thinking and contemplate the three characteristics.          

The SMSDE (Sīla, Mutual respect, Samādhi, Dāna, Ethical act) is the suggestions of ways to cultivate right livelihood as a as a path toward honoring living. It is the synthesized ways that are derived from the analyses of the general view, the Buddhist concept and the Key-informants’ notions of right livelihood. Therefore, the SMSDE becomes the suggested foundation of ways toward Honoring Living not only for monks and lay people, but also for all those who seek an honorable, living life.