Editing Noble Eightfold Path (section)

=== Right action ===
Right action (''samyak-karmānta'' / ''sammā-kammanta'') is like right speech, expressed as abstentions but in terms of bodily action. In the Pali Canon, this path factor is stated as:
{{blockquote|And what is right action? Abstaining from killing, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from sexual misconduct. This is called right action.<ref name=bucknellkangp12>{{cite book|author1=Roderick Bucknell |author2=Chris Kang |title=The Meditative Way: Readings in the Theory and Practice of Buddhist Meditation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LSaOAQAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-80408-3 |pages=12–13 }}</ref>}}

The prohibition on killing precept in Buddhist scriptures applies to all [[Sentient beings (Buddhism)|living beings]], states Christopher Gowans, not just [[Human beings in Buddhism|human beings]].<ref name="Gowans2004p177">{{cite book |author=Christopher Gowans |title=Philosophy of the Buddha: An Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EbU4Hd5lro0C |year=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-46973-4 |pages=177–78 |access-date=5 October 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060836/https://books.google.com/books?id=EbU4Hd5lro0C |url-status=live }}</ref> Bhikkhu Bodhi agrees, clarifying that the more accurate rendering of the Pali canon is a prohibition on "taking life of any sentient being", which includes human beings, animals, birds, insects but excludes plants because they are not considered sentient beings.<!-- invalid{{Sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2010|pp=57–58}}--> Further, adds Bodhi, this precept refers to ''intentional'' killing, as well as any form of intentional harming or torturing any sentient being.<!-- invalid{{Sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2010|pp=57–58}}--> This moral virtue in early Buddhist texts, both in context of harm or killing of animals and human beings, is similar to ''ahimsa'' precepts found in the texts particularly of Jainism as well as of Hinduism,<ref>{{cite book|author1=Purusottama Bilimoria|author2=Joseph Prabhu|author3=Renuka M. Sharma|title=Indian Ethics: Classical traditions and contemporary challenges|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g78Cw4xQmsMC |year=2007|publisher=Ashgate Publishing|isbn=978-0-7546-3301-3 |pages=311–24 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=John Arapura |editor=K. R. Sundararajan & Bithika Mukerji|title=Hindu Spirituality: Postclassical and Modern |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUWIEfAY-mMC |year=2003|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1937-5 |pages=392–417 }}</ref> and has been a subject of significant debate in various Buddhist traditions.<!-- invalid{{Sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2010|pp=57–58}}-->

The prohibition on stealing in the Pali Canon is an abstention from intentionally taking what is not voluntarily offered by the person to whom that property belongs.<!-- invalid{{Sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2010|pp=58–59}}--> This includes taking by stealth, by force, by fraud or by deceit.<!-- invalid{{Sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2010|pp=59–60}}--> Both the intention and the act matters, as this precept is grounded on the impact on one's karma.<!-- invalid{{Sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2010|pp=59–60}}-->

The prohibition on sexual misconduct in the Noble Eightfold Path refers to "not performing sexual acts".{{Sfn|Vetter|1988|p=12}} This virtue is more generically explained in the ''Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta'', which teaches that one must abstain from all sensual misconduct, including getting sexually involved with someone unmarried (anyone protected by parents or by guardians or by siblings), and someone married (protected by husband), and someone betrothed to another person, and female convicts or by ''dhamma''.<!-- invalid{{Sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2010|pp=60–62}}--><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.176.than.html |title=Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta |access-date=6 May 2008 |publisher=Access to Insight |last=Thanissaro Bhikkhu |archive-date=11 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200911215322/https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.176.than.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

For monastics, the abstention from sensual misconduct means strict celibacy while for lay Buddhists this prohibits adultery as well as other forms of sensual misconduct.<ref name="Emmanuel2015p440">{{cite book |author=Christopher Gowans |editor=Steven M. Emmanuel |title=A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ |year=2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-119-14466-3 |pages=440 |access-date=5 October 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111053956/https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Andrew Powell |title=Living Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XO-qSUMphgC |year=1989|publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-20410-2 |page=24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=David L. Weddle |title=Miracles: Wonder and Meaning in World Religions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lS8tcx-VE40C |year=2010|publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-8147-9483-8 |page=118 }}</ref> Later Buddhist texts state that the prohibition on sexual conduct for lay Buddhists includes any sexual involvement with someone married, a girl or woman protected by her parents or relatives, and someone prohibited by ''dhamma'' conventions (such as relatives, nuns and others).<!-- invalid{{Sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2010|pp=60–62}}-->