Understanding Wrong Livelihood and Its Varieties : หน้า 167/263

take advantage of the measure not being completely filled. Again such behaviour is dishonest. Moreover, surveyors in charge of measuring land for a buyer, if they are dishonest or corrupt and don’t get paid protection money, will over-measure the land. However, if they are bribed, will undermeasure it. Judges who can be bribed to come to a biased verdict are no better. All come under the heading of Wrong Livelihood. There are many more varieties of Wrong Livelihood. Some are forgers. They provide the first batch of their work in solid gold. The remainder of their work is in gold-plated brass passed off as solid gold. Whenever a new customer comes, they show them the solid gold and allow them to scratch the surface but when they decide to buy, they substitute the gold-plated one. Even customers can do it! Suppose a hunter has caught two deer, a big one and a little one. At the market he asks two kahapanas for the big one and one kahapana for the little one. A gangster comes up and buys the little one for one kahapana. A while later he comes back and says he changed his mind and he wants the big one. The hunter asks two kahapanas for the big deer. The gangster said that he already gave the hunter one kahapana and that the small deer he is returning is also worth one kahapana. Together they are worth two kahapanas, the price of the big deer. The gangster therefore exchanges the big deer for the small one. Meanwhile the hunter is not smart enough to keep up with the gangster’s trick and is thereby cheated by his customer. On this occasion, the customer is guilty of Wrong Livelihood even though he might say the hunter deserved it. Thieving, pick-pocketing and other forms of stealing for a living of course are also Wrong Livelihood.