I have a jewelry business on the internet.
We do well financially
But, It seems that selling jewelry is not exactly wholesome.
My business encourages desire on the part of the would be customer in order that the item sell.
We do things like making sure that the picture looks good etc to facilitate sale.
I know that jewelry doesn't bring satisfaction.
I know that it is a false Idol.
It does provide a livelihood.
Does anyone have any feedback?
Thanks.

Providing a service for people who want to purchase something that they want, I don't see any moral issues with that. I would imagine the jewelry that they purchase brings them some joy. I would also assume that some people purchase the jewelry as gifts for loved ones, bringing joy to both the giver and receiver.

"Monks, a lay follower should not engage in five types of business. Which five? Business in weapons, business in human beings, business in meat, business in intoxicants, and business in poison.

"These are the five types of business that a lay follower should not engage in."

Vanijja Sutta: Business


Found this quoted on another forum.

Sell everything you have and give the money to the poor. Then you can buy yourself a stairway to heaven.

It's self-interest that makes you ask this question, not concern for others.

hi, first time poster here.. long time lurker. in my opinion, you have nothing to sweat about here. you have to eat and survive given the current economic model that we live in (a sort-of-free market capitalism). and in my opinion, what you are doing to generate income for food/shelter/life is totally fine. you aren't using the proceeds to fund a foreign war overseas or to enslave people against their will or to indoctrinate people into irrational beliefs, right? what you are doing is providing a service in which people voluntarily (of their own free will/volition) pay you money for a harmless item.. a win win transaction that enables you to eat, survive, and explore the dharma. it could be argued that this current (capitalistic-ish, desire driven) market system that you are participating in has in fact helped in bringing people out of starving to death (via advancements in food production brought about by competition in food production/farming methods/advancements) and has directly contributed to technological advancements (look at this internet thing we are using now --which was/is essentially driven to the point it is now by competition and free market forces) that make our lives easier and therefore gives us more free time and access (kfd, dho, etc.) to explore things like the dharma in new and previously unimaginable ways (online!).

it could even be argued (in a logically consistent way) that what you are doing to make a living is far more virtuous than say…how a police officer, politician, social worker of sorts, public servant/employee, or even a public school teacher generates income --as their income comes from a source of funding that is fundamentally structured around acts of coercion/force/threat of violence (if you don't pay for these things you are then threatened with jail time…don't want to go to jail you will be forced at the barrel of a gun to to go to jail via police officers…you defend yourself from being forced to go to jail by these police officers you will be shot/killed or injured. aka violence).

you are interacting with others in as a voluntary, harmless, and peaceful manner as you possibly can given the current system. no worries at all in my opinion. what is your website or mode of putting your items out there, btw? i'd love to check it out.

/Matt

Absolutely nothing to worry about. That being said, I saw a movie called "blood diamonds". Make sure the source of your diamonds is wholesome.

+1 for a logically consistent explication of the non-aggression principle.

ooh..that's really tricky..i think your best bet is to give all of the proceeds to me. i assure you i can do much more for the welfare of the world than you can and you will clear your concience at the same time!

...sorry for the sarcasm. don't do evil. do helpful things. train your mind.

train your mind until you see exactly what is right for you. you aren't selling poison.

cheers

@Claudiu hehe... using an essentially violent, ancient, and barbaric method (that rests upon logical inconsistency and false arguments for morality up the yin yang) to organize human beings and to solve intricate social problems seems to be an epic fail, in my eyes.

maximizing peaceful and voluntary interactions among peeps seems like a good direction to go ; ) -but enough of all that for now, i don't want to derail the thread (these sorts of ideas can erupt in massive debate! and i already feel like a borderline troll for posting the above) haha

(edited to add a little spice and clarification as to who it is i was responding)

Do you sell Buddhist jewelry? Can I see?

Actually I want a triangular-shaped ring that says, "Impermanent", "Unsatisfactory", "Not-self".

......................../ \
Impermanent..../ O \.....Unsatisfactory
....................../____\
......................Not-Self

Or Perhaps ear rings. They say that if you've known two of them, you've known all three.

Cedric, I'll comment on one specific aspect of what you said, and it's not the jewelry aspect. As someone else pointed out, diamonds can be fraught with difficulty, but I'm not addressing that side of things. You said:



It's certainly possible to sell in that way -- to be a "want maker". And in fact, I'd tend to agree with you that there are problems with that approach if you tend to the Buddhist approach to things. How can we regard the Four Noble Truths as useful and then work to make it hard for others to heed them?

But selling can also be simply serving someone else. In fact, I reckon it's most effectively done if you have that approach (see for example the work of Bill Caskey and his team with the Advanced Selling Podcast). If you were a doctor trying to explain to someone who thought they had indigestion that they actually had heart disease, would you feel bad about "selling" your view (and subsequent medication or surgery)? No, of course not.

As I say, I'm not talking about the specifics of any given product. For example, it's hard to imagine how selling tainted heroin to an addict could ever be anything but evil. But it's not "selling" per se that is bad.

As an aside -- I guess you'll have read "The Diamond Cutter" by Michael Roach? I don't endorse the book in total, but I did really enjoy it at the time, and found it thought provoking. (I later found out more about Roach and became less impressed by his book, but that's neither here nor there :-) )