What Tibetan Buddhism says about doing no harm

Do no harm is stated here as a list, which at least makes it possible to check yourself against. The Tibetan tradition takes the Eightfold Path and the ten actions from the earlier canon, then adds a turn of its own: the person who provokes you is the one who makes patience possible. The concepts below cover intention, hands, speech and work, then move to anger, which is where most harm starts. Sources are given where the library names one.

Samma Sankappa - Right Intention

Harmlessness is listed as an intention to cultivate, along with goodwill and letting go. The work begins before the action does.

Dhammapada

Samma Kammanta - Right Action

Three things to abstain from - killing, stealing, sexual misconduct - with three positives behind them: protect life, give, and act responsibly.

Traditional Teaching

Samma Vaca - Right Speech

Four kinds of speech to drop: false, divisive, harsh and idle. Note that chatter is on the list, not only lying.

Pali Canon

Samma Ajiva - Right Livelihood

Some trades are ruled out by what they do to others: weapons, trafficking in living beings, meat, intoxicants, poisons.

The Heart of Buddha's Teaching

Ten Non-Virtuous Actions

Ten actions to avoid, sorted into body, speech and mind. Three of them are mental, which is where this tradition thinks harm is decided.

Traditional Teaching

Ten Virtuous Actions

The same ten stated as what to do instead. Not killing is only half of it; protecting life is the other half.

Bodhicaryavatara

Saving Lives - Tsethar

Buying animals bound for slaughter and releasing them. A literal practice, aimed at the animals rather than at the practitioner's feelings.

Tsethar Teachings

Kshanti Paramita - Patience

Patience is given three fronts: hardship, being wronged, and your own slow understanding. Anger is what turns an injury into more injury.

Dhammapada

Seeing Enemies as Teachers

Shantideva's argument, which readers find either brilliant or exasperating: without someone to provoke you, patience cannot be practised, so a difficult person is doing you a service.

Bodhicaryavatara

The list is not the interesting part of this. The interesting part is that the tradition treats your own temper as the likeliest source of harm, and then finds a use for the people who test it. That is a strange sort of consolation, but it is one you can work with.