Not an intentional Bodom. Just a fact. We have a range of responses to alcohol. For those with a problem or for those who become heedless its a no-no.
I can and probably will go weeks before another pint or glass of wine.
My monk mentor knows. He has not suggested drumming me out of the Temple.
The going for refuge is the door of entrance to the teachings of the Buddha.
Sanghamitta wrote:Not an intentional Bodom. Just a fact. We have a range of responses to alcohol. For those with a problem or for those who become heedless its a no-no.
I can and probably will go weeks before another pint or glass of wine.
My monk mentor knows. He has not suggested drumming me out of the Temple.
I didn't mean to suggest it was intentional. Its just a bit of a controversial statement to make on a Buddhist forum especially when you emphasize the "AT ALL". I just assumed that there would be some strong opinions on the matter forthcoming.
This is our foundation: to have sati, recollection, and sampajañña, self-awareness, whether standing, walking, sitting, or reclining. Whatever arises, just leave it be, don’t cling to it. Whether it’s like or dislike, happiness or suffering, doubt or certainty... Don’t try to label everything, just know it. See that all the things that arise in the mind are simply sensations. They are transient. They arise, exist and cease. That’s all there is to them, they have no self or being, they are neither ‘us’ nor ‘them’. None of them are worthy of clinging to.
I was a apprehensive about how this would work out socially, but I have been pleasantly surprised to find that the world is pretty accommodating to non-drinkers.
The thing that keeps me going with the precepts is a positive sort of peer pressure. I want to live up to the standard set by the teachers I admire. Keeping the five precepts helps me feel that I am a member of a global community of practitioners, even when I am surrounded by non-Buddhists (which is 99% of the time).
---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 ---
Lucky for me I don't care for alcohol so I was "observing" this precept even before I had heard of it, except for a few occasions. I did indulge in another intoxicant for quite a while but gave that one up many years ago. I consider myself very fortunate that I don't crave alcohol, as I have seen how difficult it is to deal with for those who have issues with it. May all beings be free from the suffering caused by alcohol.
F. I find that having a few drinks, when alone and in a quiet setting, allows me to eliminate excess mental commentary and "just experience." It is particularly pleasant when watching movies, listening to music, and reading poetry. I typically do this a few times a year. Aside from that I will also drink socially, but never more than 1 or 2.
"Just as the ocean has a single taste, the taste of salt, so this Dhamma and Discipline has a single taste, the taste of release."
A. Not even a sip of alcohol, but allow it to be used as supplementary ingredient in cooking
I don't like alcohol at all, so it is easy for me. Nothing I hate more than being sick and/or feeling dizzy! But, I've had some great meals with a wine sauce.
Smoked pot for a bit in college, but got bored of it and have not used it for some years now.
"Upon a heap of rubbish in the road-side ditch blooms a lotus, fragrant and pleasing.
Even so, on the rubbish heap of blinded mortals the disciple of the Supremely Enlightened One shines resplendent in wisdom." Dhammapada: Pupphavagga http://www.accesstoinsight.org/
C. Do entertain some small amount of drinks in social gathering with friends, family or business.
I use to think an occasional drink was at most not being able to practice in the next day. But last time it was stunning to see how the practice was kinda reseted and altered for around 10-12 days after drinking...
I was jus thinking about the use of alcoholic beverages in food. I you cook it all of the alcohol should be evaporated away, so that wouldn't really be a problem.
Suffering is asking from life what it can never give you.
mindfulness, bliss and beyond (page 8) wrote:Do not linger on the past. Do not keep carrying around coffins full of dead moments
If you see any unskillful speech (or other action) from me let me know, so I can learn from it.
2600htz wrote:C. Do entertain some small amount of drinks in social gathering with friends, family or business.
I use to think an occasional drink was at most not being able to practice in the next day. But last time it was stunning to see how the practice was kinda reseted and altered for around 10-12 days after drinking...
I agree, and I find the same goes for indulgence in harsh or otherwise unwholesome speech. I had a night of much joking and laughter with my brother, and it was heaps of fun, but much of the humour was not very wholesome. The next day, there were ripples in the mind which were clearly evident during meditation practice. The ripples manifested themselves as disturbing thoughts, and daydreams. Very annoying, and something I did not used to notice, but now I notice that whatever we put into our mind doesn't just disappear overnight into oblivion. It's recorded...we have to be careful.
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
I remember when I first joined this forum a bit more than a year ago, I had 1.5 boxes of beer in my living room. They are still there, but I didn't touch not even a single drop. But I use cooking wine, and I buy cooked food quite often. I still eat cakes with alcohol though, because they won't make me heedless (not more than how heedless I am normally), and cakes make you full before you much enough to be intoxicated. Not with drinks though, it's slippery! But I have never had any problem with alcohol, I never tasted any when I grew up in a non-alcoholic background, so it's easy.
Speaking of cakes, I feel a bit embarrased even now. Few months ago, I brought a large chocolate cake to our centre for a celebration. I've never eaten that kind of cake, and unknown to me, the middle is soaked in wine. There were some monks attending the celebration, they had lunch before us. I remember wondering the cake was almost untouched, only one slice was taken. After the celebration, we found the truth. Can't imagine that one unsuspecting monk who cut the cake and put it in his pata... I am sure he didn't eat it as soon as he tasted the wine, but still.....
Bodom. Just a fact. We have a range of responses to alcohol. For those with a problem or for those who become heedless its a no-no. 
But, I've had some great meals with a wine sauce.
