Money and Right Livelihood

<p>Every now and then I get comments about charging for what I teach. Like how dare I teach certain tools and charge for them. How can I charge to help people to stop overdrinking? Or have less anxiety? Or how to manage their mind? Or how to feel free?</p><p>They say it is very “unspiritual” of me, very “un-Buddhist” of me, to earn a living helping people this way.</p><p>So I wanted to discuss the concept of “right-livelihood” more in-depth, because I think there are some big misunderstandings of what right livelihood is - and a misunderstanding of the teachings and how they were created for monastics and the way it is different in teachings for lay people.</p><p>These misunderstandings lead to a lot of people with good hearts and amazing skills <strong>not </strong>making a living doing what they love because they have some old stories about what is a noble way to earn a living.</p><p>“Right Livelihood” is a traditional Buddhist teaching and is considered one of the factors of the eight-fold path to enlightenment. The idea is you follow these 8 guidelines and they help create the conditions that make attaining enlightenment <strong>easier</strong>.</p><p>I find it helpful to not interpret these as <i>commandments </i>per se, which a lot of people are used to. Many of us grew up being told hey if you do this spiritual thing you're good and will go to the happy place, and if <strong>not </strong>then you go to the really bad place.</p><p>So when most of us hear about things we “should” or should not do, we run for the hills, right? Or we run straight towards what we’re not <i>supposed </i>to do</p><p>I know I do! And I know many of you rebels do too.</p><p>The way <i><strong>I</strong></i> was taught was to see them like they are like a <strong>recipe</strong>, a proven recipe from a really good chef.</p><p>Sure, we could come up with our own recipe, but if we want to make life easier on the path that we choose, we might want to follow some advice from those that have gone before us and see if it works for us. So