Alcohol

[form]

The Buddha talked about alcohol weakening a person self control, which is right on, so crucial that it was a banned item in the precepts, but he did not seem to know it is very harmful to health.

[mjaviem]

That's the point. The Buddha's teachings are not about health issues, they are about well being. They are not about physics and chemistry, and cosmological theories of the universe. They are about the human experience of suffering.

[form]

That's the point. The Buddha's teachings are not about health issues, they are about well being. They are not about physics and chemistry, and cosmological theories of the universe. They are about the human experience of suffering.

I suspect he did not know alcohol is harmful to the physical body. If he knew, he will use it to enforce what he preached.

[Polar Bear]

That's the point. The Buddha's teachings are not about health issues, they are about well being. They are not about physics and chemistry, and cosmological theories of the universe. They are about the human experience of suffering.

I suspect he did not know alcohol is harmful to the physical body. If he knew, he will use it to enforce what he preached.

Health issues relating to frequent alcohol consumption are mentioned in DN 31:

There are these six drawbacks of habitually drinking alcohol. Immediate loss of wealth, promotion of quarrels, susceptibility to illness, disrepute, indecent exposure; and weakened wisdom is the sixth thing. These are the six drawbacks of habitually drinking alcohol.

https://suttacentral.net/dn31/en/sujato ... ript=latin

[form]

That's the point. The Buddha's teachings are not about health issues, they are about well being. They are not about physics and chemistry, and cosmological theories of the universe. They are about the human experience of suffering.

I suspect he did not know alcohol is harmful to the physical body. If he knew, he will use it to enforce what he preached.

Health issues relating to frequent alcohol consumption are mentioned in DN 31:

There are these six drawbacks of habitually drinking alcohol. Immediate loss of wealth, promotion of quarrels, susceptibility to illness, disrepute, indecent exposure; and weakened wisdom is the sixth thing. These are the six drawbacks of habitually drinking alcohol.

https://suttacentral.net/dn31/en/sujato ... ript=latin

Thanks. Then he knew it from medical point of view. He is most amazing to me that he knew about the expansion and contraction if the universe.

[Bundokji]

Health is valued to the extent it supports self control.

[Ontheway]

If possible, please observe Five Precepts and don't drink alcohol.

But if you can't really stop from drinking yet at this stage, at least not Bud Light

[Ceisiwr]

The Buddha talked about alcohol weakening a person self control, which is right on, so crucial that it was a banned item in the precepts, but he did not seem to know it is very harmful to health.

I think most if not all people in ancient times also knew that alcohol damages health, even if they didn’t know the biology behind it.

[Ceisiwr]

That's the point. The Buddha's teachings are not about health issues, they are about well being. They are not about physics and chemistry, and cosmological theories of the universe. They are about the human experience of suffering.

It’s also good to have a healthy body as this can aid meditation. The right kind of environment is important too. Getting the conditions right for Jhana is not just about what goes on in the mind.

[cappuccino]

The Buddha … did not seem to know it is very harmful to health.

"The drinking of fermented & distilled liquors — when indulged in, developed, & pursued — is something that leads to hell, leads to rebirth as a common animal, leads to the realm of the hungry shades.

The slightest of all the results coming from drinking fermented & distilled liquors is that, when one becomes a human being, it leads to mental derangement."

Vipaka Sutta: Results

[Dhammapardon]

The path sharpens what alcohol dulls. They are nearly opposite directions. Why go one way by going the opposite way? It makes no sense.

[dharmacorps]

The Buddha was very clear about the dangers of alcohol. He said it led ultimately to madness. That's a pretty big health problem. Just because he didn't itemize the diseases that it can be associated with doesn't mean he wasn't aware.

[Bundokji]

I think because the overall message is concerned with the mind rather than the physical body. This is manifested in differentiating suffering (mental stress) from pain (physical ailments). The ideal (the arahant) has successfully eliminated the tendency towards mental stress, but not physical ailments such as sickness and death. As such, the overall message should be tuned in a way that coheres with the stated objective. The body on the other hand renew or heal itself though death and rebirth, but the mind as witness will experience suffering through identifying with the body, hence bodily ailments are to be endured for similar reasons as mental stress: to put an end to rebirth and experience it (hopefully) for the last time before parinibbana.

The above is one reason why death is a desirable state, without explicitly mentioning it.

"Then the hell-wardens torture [the evil-doer] with what's called a five-fold imprisonment. They drive a red-hot iron stake through one hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the other hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through one foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the other foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the middle of his chest. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

Here, not dying is a shortcoming - so is the shortcoming of alcohol, it does not exhaust evil kamma.

[Ontheway]

“Drinking liquor and wine, repeatedly pursued, developed, and cultivated, is conducive to hell, to the animal realm, and to the sphere of afflicted spirits; for one reborn as a human being drinking liquor and wine at minimum conduces to madness.”

Quote from Duccaritavipākasutta (AN 8.40)

[Adam1234]

An understated effect of alcohol is emotional damage and the cultivation of hatred. Even if a person doesn't do anything heedless while under the influence, alcohol creates negative emotional patterns, like hatred and anger. And a person may not act on these negative emotions, but they're still lurking. So you're at work, and negative emotions arise and you start thinking about how much you hate a certain person.