5th precept clarification

Buddhist ethical conduct including the Five Precepts (Pañcasikkhāpada), and Eightfold Ethical Conduct (Aṭṭhasīla).
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Strive4Karuna
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5th precept clarification

Post by Strive4Karuna »

What is the 5th precept as stated by the Buddha word for word? I have seen it interpreted as

1) no intoxicating/alcoholic beverages
2) no intoxicating drinks & drugs
3) no intoxicants that cause heedlessness/carelessness.
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lyndon taylor
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Re: 5th precept clarification

Post by lyndon taylor »

Seems like you are looking for some loophole you can get high on, just stay sober!!!!
18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community, sincerely former monk John

http://trickleupeconomictheory.blogspot.com/
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waterchan
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Re: 5th precept clarification

Post by waterchan »

Strive4Karuna wrote: What is the 5th precept as stated by the Buddha word for word?
See this thread for an in-depth discussion.
lyndon taylor wrote:Seems like you are looking for some loophole you can get high on, just stay sober!!!!
Where in his question or post history does it indicate that he's looking for a loophole to get high?
Last edited by waterchan on Thu Mar 06, 2014 7:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur
(Anything in Latin sounds profound.)
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lyndon taylor
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Re: 5th precept clarification

Post by lyndon taylor »

Because he's started several threads with the same topic.
18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community, sincerely former monk John

http://trickleupeconomictheory.blogspot.com/
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Cittasanto
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Re: 5th precept clarification

Post by Cittasanto »

Hi Strive4Karuna
I do this for each of the precepts and some other ethical guidelines here
Surāmerayamajjapamādṭṭhānā
Surāmeraya – rum & spirits.
Surā - intoxicating liquor.
meraya - fermented liquor.
Majjapa - one drinks, strong drinks.
Majja - an intoxicant.
Pamāda - negligence; indolence; remissness; carelessness.
Māda - pride; intoxication; conceit; sexual excess.
ṭhānā - place; locality; condition; reason; office; cause;
Veramaṇī
Vera – hatred; enemy.
Viratta – dispassion; non-attached to.
Mana – pride; conceit.
Mānī – one who is proud.
Maṇi – a gem jewel.
Veramaṇī – abstinence.
Sikkhāpadaṃ
Sikkhā – discipline; training
Pada - a line of stanza.
Sikkhāpada - a precept; a religious rule.
Samādiyāmi
Samādiyāmi – Take upon oneself, 1st person.
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He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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seeker242
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Re: 5th precept clarification

Post by seeker242 »

Cittasanto wrote:Hi Strive4Karuna
I do this for each of the precepts and some other ethical guidelines here
Surāmerayamajjapamādṭṭhānā
Surāmeraya – rum & spirits.
Surā - intoxicating liquor.
meraya - fermented liquor.
Majjapa - one drinks, strong drinks.
Majja - an intoxicant.
Pamāda - negligence; indolence; remissness; carelessness.
Māda - pride; intoxication; conceit; sexual excess.
ṭhānā - place; locality; condition; reason; office; cause;
Cittasanto. :anjali:

Curious! What do you think of the idea that this precept only applies to alcohol drinks? Some people insist that it only applies to alcoholic drink and not to other substances, like psychedelic drugs, because they claim the pali words technically only mentions liquors, drinks, etc.?
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lyndon taylor
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Re: 5th precept clarification

Post by lyndon taylor »

It would also include strong drinks made with hashish which are popular in India, so not only alcohol is covered, I would think.
18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community, sincerely former monk John

http://trickleupeconomictheory.blogspot.com/
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Cittasanto
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Re: 5th precept clarification

Post by Cittasanto »

seeker242 wrote: Cittasanto. :anjali:

Curious! What do you think of the idea that this precept only applies to alcohol drinks? Some people insist that it only applies to alcoholic drink and not to other substances, like psychedelic drugs, because they claim the pali words technically only mentions liquors, drinks, etc.?
I think those who say this only applies to alcoholic drinks forget the great standard.
I do not know about what happened in india 2500 years ago, but magic mushrooms and other similar "products" are made into infusions; and some fermentations, I have been told, result in other heedlessness leading substances. I believe it safe to include any substance that leads to heedlessness within this rule with obvious exceptions as briefly talked about in another thread.
Last edited by Cittasanto on Fri Mar 07, 2014 8:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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cooran
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Re: 5th precept clarification

Post by cooran »

Hello Cittasanto,

Do you mean "heedlessness" not "heedfulness" ?

With metta,
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
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Cittasanto
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Re: 5th precept clarification

Post by Cittasanto »

Hi Chris,
Thanks for noticing the mistake, I meant heedlessness.
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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