Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Buddhist ethical conduct including the Five Precepts (Pañcasikkhāpada), and Eightfold Ethical Conduct (Aṭṭhasīla).
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by Sanghamitta »

Constantly repeating that you dont get it suggests that in fact you ARE forming a judgement of other peoples behaviour. Why SHOULD you "get it " ? How is it your business what others do ?
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by Sanghamitta »

PeterB wrote:As I am sure Adosa knows the " very wise man" was the Buddha himself..Dhammapada 4 7....who said " What others do or do not do is not my concern ..what I myself do and do not do, that is my concern ".
I think that this cant be quoted too often.

Taking the precepts is often done in a group, but it is not a group activity. We each take them for ourselves alone. It is entirely a matter between ourselves and , perhaps , our Dhamma mentors.
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mettafuture
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by mettafuture »

Sanghamitta wrote:Constantly repeating that you dont get it suggests that in fact you ARE forming a judgement of other peoples behaviour.
To judge something is to express an opinion or "judgement" about it, and I have yet to say whether I personally think drinking is right, wrong, good, or bad.
Why SHOULD you "get it " ? How is it your business what others do ?
If I don't understand why alcohol and social interactions so often go hand in hand, why shouldn't I be allowed to ask for an explanation?
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by Sanghamitta »

You can ask until you are blue in the face if that seems useful to you. Exactly what do you expect by way of a reply ? On a Buddhist website a detailed description of the delights of alcohol ? Why not go to a Vegetarian website and repreatedly ask why people eat pork chops ? Probably very few people who post on this forum drink much at all...many not at all. Exactly what are you wanting ? To have teetotal or semi teetotal people explain to you why people drink...does that seem rational to you ?
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mettafuture
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by mettafuture »

Sanghamitta wrote:You can ask until you are blue in the face if that seems useful to you. Exactly what do you expect by way of a reply ?
A better understanding.
On a Buddhist website a detailed description of the delights of alcohol ?
I didn't ask for that. All I wanted to know was why alcohol and social meetups so often go hand in hand. It seems like a fairly simple question.
Why not go to a Vegetarian website and repreatedly ask why people eat pork chops ?
I doubt there would be many people defending pork chop meals on a vegetarian website.
Probably very few people who post on this forum drink much at all...many not at all. Exactly what are you wanting ?
A simple answer to a fairly simple question.
To have teetotal or semi teetotal people explain to you why people drink...does that seem rational to you ?
Yes.
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by Sobeh »

Not the faults of others, nor what others have done or left undone, but one's own deeds, done and left undone, should one consider.

~Dhammapada -verse 50- (Pupphavagga - Flowers)
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adosa
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by adosa »

mettafuture wrote:
Sanghamitta wrote:You can ask until you are blue in the face if that seems useful to you. Exactly what do you expect by way of a reply ?
A better understanding.
On a Buddhist website a detailed description of the delights of alcohol ?
I didn't ask for that. All I wanted to know was why alcohol and social meetups so often go hand in hand. It seems like a fairly simple question.
Why not go to a Vegetarian website and repreatedly ask why people eat pork chops ?
I doubt there would be many people defending pork chop meals on a vegetarian website.
Probably very few people who post on this forum drink much at all...many not at all. Exactly what are you wanting ?
A simple answer to a fairly simple question.
To have teetotal or semi teetotal people explain to you why people drink...does that seem rational to you ?
Yes.

I have no idea why I'm doing this but for the third time I'll try......Contact/Craving/Clinging/Becoming. Is that simple enough? I suppose not because it must be seen in action within one's own mind for it to be understood.

Is there nothing you cling to? If so why don't you just stop? Anatta possibly to some degree? Whatever it is you cling to wouldn't you say it leads to becoming? And isn't that what we are striving to cease? Why would this be different for anybody else no matter what the object of clinging is?

That's my last crack at answering your question which I guess has morphed from "Can a Buddhist drink in moderation?" to "Why do alcohol and socializing so often go hand in hand?"

adosa
"To avoid all evil, to cultivate good, and to cleanse one's mind — this is the teaching of the Buddhas" - Dhammapada 183
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mettafuture
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by mettafuture »

Sobeh wrote:Not the faults of others, nor what others have done or left undone, but one's own deeds, done and left undone, should one consider.

~Dhammapada -verse 50- (Pupphavagga - Flowers)
"Furthermore, abandoning the use of intoxicants, the disciple of the noble ones abstains from taking intoxicants. In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the fifth gift, the fifth great gift — original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning — that is not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and is unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & priests. And this is the eighth reward of merit, reward of skillfulness, nourishment of happiness, celestial, resulting in happiness, leading to heaven, leading to what is desirable, pleasurable, & appealing; to welfare & to happiness."

~Abhisanda Sutta
adosa wrote:
mettafuture wrote:I didn't ask for that. All I wanted to know was why alcohol and social meetups so often go hand in hand. It seems like a fairly simple question.
I have no idea why I'm doing this but for the third time I'll try......Contact/Craving/Clinging/Becoming. Is that simple enough?
Carefully look at my question, and look at the answer you gave.
Is there nothing you cling to?
Like I said, I love me some technology.
If so why don't you just stop?
Because I agreed to live by 5 precepts, and I'm not breaking any of them by enjoying technology.
Why would this be different for anybody else no matter what the object of clinging is?
Because one is breaking a precept and another one isn't.
That's my last crack at answering your question
But you haven't answered it. You gave some vague pseudo-Buddhist answer, and then started asking me a bunch of questions. It's a REALLY simple question. When people go out to socialize, why do they all usually order an alcoholic beverage? Does it improve the quality of the conversation somehow? Is it easier for people to be around each other when they're a little intoxicated?
which I guess has morphed from "Can a Buddhist drink in moderation?" to "Why do alcohol and socializing so often go hand in hand?"
Yes, because many "moderate drinkers" usually drink during social meet-ups, and I'd like to know why. I'm not demanding to know why. I'd just like to have a better understanding.
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by Sanghamitta »

I give up.
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Ben
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by Ben »

Greetings MF,
mettafuture wrote:
which I guess has morphed from "Can a Buddhist drink in moderation?" to "Why do alcohol and socializing so often go hand in hand?"
Yes, because many "moderate drinkers" usually drink during social meet-ups, and I'd like to know why. I'm not demanding to know why. I'd just like to have a better understanding.
Perhaps I can help. Alcohol is a 'social lubricant'. It has pleasurable psycho-physical effects even in small quantities. It helps people to relax, feel 'good' and a little less constrained by inhibitions. In some cultures, there is a social norm to consume alcohol in some social situations. My experience over 25 years has been that there is decreasing pressure on me in this society to drink during social gatherings.
kind regards

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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mettafuture
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by mettafuture »

Ben wrote:Greetings MF,
mettafuture wrote:
which I guess has morphed from "Can a Buddhist drink in moderation?" to "Why do alcohol and socializing so often go hand in hand?"
Yes, because many "moderate drinkers" usually drink during social meet-ups, and I'd like to know why. I'm not demanding to know why. I'd just like to have a better understanding.
Perhaps I can help. Alcohol is a 'social lubricant'. It has pleasurable psycho-physical effects even in small quantities. It helps people to relax, feel 'good' and a little less constrained by inhibitions. In some cultures, there is a social norm to consume alcohol in some social situations.
Thank you.

That's all I was asking for. Now it makes a little more sense.
My experience over 25 years has been that there is decreasing pressure on me in this society to drink during social gatherings.
kind regards

Ben
Same here.
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Kim OHara
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by Kim OHara »

I'm glad Ben gave you that answer because otherwise I was going to have to. :smile:

:namaste:
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by yuttadhammo »

mettafuture wrote:"Furthermore, abandoning the use of intoxicants, the disciple of the noble ones abstains from taking intoxicants. In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the fifth gift, the fifth great gift — original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning — that is not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and is unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & priests. And this is the eighth reward of merit, reward of skillfulness, nourishment of happiness, celestial, resulting in happiness, leading to heaven, leading to what is desirable, pleasurable, & appealing; to welfare & to happiness."

~Abhisanda Sutta
Yes, that was the wonderful sutta I was thinking of. It made me cry when I started taking the precepts to know the positive effect it would have on others as well.

I don't think anyone has examined the actual Pali of the fifth precept in this thread, and perhaps doing so would help encourage understanding, as well as soften some of the hard feelings here (apologies if I have helped cause them):

The precept is "surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇīsikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi".

samādiyāmi = I take upon myself

veramaṇīsikkhāpadaṃ = a course of training that is the abstention

surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā = from surā and meraya which are intoxicants and bases for negligence.

To me it seems two things are clear from this formation:

1) as already said, there is no room for moderation; one takes the substances or one abstains from them.
2) one is taking the precept upon oneself.

So, I think if the question were "can someone keep to the five precepts and still drink in moderation?", the answer would be no. I am not sure if anyone here still disagrees with that, but I hope we can all see that the Pali is quite clear.

But in regards to the OP, I don't think the answer is so clear. Personally, I can't imagine calling myself a follower of the Buddha and not at least trying to follow the precepts he laid down, but I can imagine (and know many) others who admire the Buddha and try to follow his teaching, but fail even in the five precepts due to their personal kilesa. Many others admire the Buddha in some way or other but don't even try to train themselves in these five, either because they don't see the importance, or are just plain lazy. I would hope it is clear that drinking in moderation falls into one of the latter two categories.

I don't think anyone here would denounce those who are trying but failing to follow the Buddha's teaching as being "not Buddhist"; for those who are not trying because they are just plain lazy, I think there is room to ask, "in what sense are they Buddhist?" but the answer might be that faith in the Buddha is enough to make someone Buddhist. It depends on your definition.

The only other category, then, is those who don't see the importance in keeping the precepts, or in keeping them all the time. Moderation in drinking, they say, is not intoxicating (which of course is a value judgement), and therefore not harmful to the practice of the Buddha's teaching. Again, it is pretty much up to whether you call such person Buddhist - someone who you could say agrees with the dhamma but not perhaps the vinaya.

In conclusion, I think the problem is not the "drinking in moderation" part of your question. The problem is your use of the term "Buddhist", without defining what you mean by it for us. Once you can do that, I hope this will help give you the answer for which you are seeking :)
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by Ben »

Nice post, Bhante!
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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Re: Can a Buddhist drink alcohol in moderation?

Post by bazzaman »

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Last edited by bazzaman on Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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