How can one keep oneself pure in the evil world of the Five Turbidities?

There is another aspect of the precept against stealing: stealing another person's trust through various channels, causing them to let down their guard, so as to make it convenient for oneself to carry out various schemes. For example, gaining someone's trust and persuading them to invest in you, and then the funds end up squandered—not only do they receive no return, they even lose their principal. Or, having done something wrong to others, one offers false repentance to them, insincere, merely seeking to win their forgiveness; when the others develop trust and forgiveness, the offense of stealing trust is established. Therefore, when one is insincere toward others yet pretends to be sincere, this too constitutes stealing. Stealing another person's heart, another person's affections, and so on—all of these constitute the offense of stealing, and all carry evil retribution.

Stealing also includes all kinds of false and deceptive advertising, tax evasion, falsifying accounts, submitting fraudulent receipts for reimbursement, poaching employees from other companies, poaching clients, and stealing business deals—there are far too many such things to enumerate; many people commit stealing without knowing it. In every corner of the world there are the three poisons of greed, aversion, and delusion; no corner is pure. What is meant by the evil world of the five turbidities? This is precisely the evil world of the five turbidities.

Those of you who run companies and serve as bosses in this world should carefully examine your own business practices: do not break the law, do not violate the precepts, do not follow the crowd in indulging the three poisons of greed, aversion, and delusion, do not go along with evil trends and bad habits, and run your business as lawfully, properly, and in accordance with the precepts as possible. The retribution in this life and in future lives is what matters most; cause and effect far outweigh the benefits of wealth and fame in the present life. One should value cause and effect, and not wait until it is too late to regret. The Sahā world as a whole is one great vat of dye; very few can avoid being tainted by evil, very few can keep themselves pure and undefiled, and very few can withdraw with clean hands.

So who, in life, are the truly "successful" people? What is meant by success? What is the definition of success? How long must success last before it counts as success? The myriad states and appearances of the world manifest inversion to the fullest degree. After encountering the Buddha's teachings, if you wish to keep yourself pure and undefiled, you should work from sunrise and rest at sunset, eat and drink your fill, have a dwelling that shelters you from wind and rain, and devote all your remaining time to cultivation, passing your days in peace and stability. Think of nothing else—to think of anything else is to create evil karma.