Utku C.:
i have a rather silly & entwined question about keeping my moral code...
today, i have been asked to design an online shopping website for a well known fast food chain. one that treats chickens like sh..t.
i design. i make my living by selling my design skills. on the other hand i don't feel comfortable working for a company that i dislike & never buy anything from.
does that break my sila?
Hm. Which list of precepts are you training to keep?
The big five - not killing, not stealing, not lying, not raping, and not drinking?
Training in these results in a non-violent lifestyle.
Is your web-shop-design job violent in nature?
i mean, i have lots of clients and every single one of them has negative effects on mankind one way or another... small or big... none of them is clean. they are large corporations. we know about them.
but if i choose not to work with them, how can i pay my rent, or my bills?
so this dilemma has always been bothering me.
Training sila has this effect of rubbing one's nose in all the dirty secrets, whether we consider them our own or someone else's.
It also shows the limits of what we can do.
But don't let the fact that there's always a dirty secret, that it is not possible to live a completely blameless life, keep you from doing what is in your power right now. I don't think a single web developer has the power to change a corporation's business plan. So don't feel bad because you can't single-handedly stop what this corporation is doing.
Best to focus on what one can change. I can abstain from eating meat produced under cruel circumstances (or from eating meat at all, if I'm comfortable living that way - after all, my own body is a living being, too, and deserves being treated well). So that's less demand for such products. I can be a reference for other people who might consider doing the same. That's not bad at all.
I would not like to earn my money killing, or selling weapons or drugs. If I can earn it in non-violent ways, that's not bad at all, either. The life of a web-developer isn't particularly violent, judging from those web-developers I know.
If you are into ancient texts, here is a nice selection on the subject of "right livelihood":
Right Livelihood: samma ajivoCheers,
Florian