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anything absorbable by the body 
that clouds the 
mind. In general this means 
alcohol, but it also refers 
to other substances such as 
addictive drugs. It 
can mean liquids that are drunk or 
injected or dry 
substances like tobacco that are 
smoked. 
B.2 Definition of `drinking' 
The Pali word `salifiamo' used in 
relation to alcohol 
in this Blessing usually means 
`being careful 
with regard to'. In our context, 
however, `being careful' 
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of intoxicating substances doesn't 
just mean 
using these things with care, in 
normal circumstances 
it means total abstention. It is only 
in exceptional 
circumstances such as medical use 
that careful 
use of alcohol may be considered. 
Some religions 
which prohibit alcohol per se will 
not even allow 
their followers to use alcohol to 
clean a wound or 
to preserve a corpse — however, 
Buddhism allows 
intoxicants to be used for medical 
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purposes (e.g. 
where alcohol must be used to 
extract the active 
ingredients of some medicines). 
This excuse should 
not, however, be abused by those 
who put a teaspoonful 
of medicine in a bottle of alcohol 
to drink 
instead of putting a teaspoonful of 
alcohol in a bottle 
of medicine. Similarly, we know 
that such drugs 
like opium are damaging to smoke, 
but they may 
be used for medicinal purposes. 
However to use 
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them for non-medicinal purposes is 
prohibited. This 
is the only reason why `being 
careful in the use of' 
is used instead of `abstain from'. If 
your sense of 
discretion is good, and your mind 
is clear, then you 
will be able to know for yourself 
what is the appropriate 
use of these substances. Thus we 
abstain completely 
from the general use of these 
substances and 
we use these substances with care 
in the case of medicinal 
use. 
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C. DAMAGE FROM 
DRINKING ALCOHOL 
C.1 Damage arising from 
drinking alcohol 
(visible this lifetime) 
In brief the Buddha taught 
(D.iii.182-4) that, even 
without waiting to see what will 
happen to us as 
the result of drinking alcohol in the 
next life, the 
damage alcohol does is as follows: 
I. It destroys your wealth: it will 
start eating into 
your income from the day you start 
to drink. 
2. It destroys friendship 
in the 
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beginning people 
look like they are drinking to be 
sociable, 
but at the end of the night they 
may be breaking 
bottles over one another's heads 
3. It destroys your health 
4. It destroys your respectability 
5. It destroys your honour 
6. It destroys your intelligence. 
These are all dangers of alcohol 
visible in the present 
lifetime. 
236 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
C.2 Damage arising from 
drinking alcohol 
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(visible next lifetime) 
If we take a longer term view, 
drinking alcohol this 
lifetime stores up countless forms 
of retribution for 
future lifetimes: 
I. Speech impediments: Some 
people are born 
mute, and it turns out that such 
people passed 
away while drunk, while they were 
so drunk 
they couldn't say anything 
coherent. Even after 
a long time in hell, they may still 
not be able to 
throw off their speech impediment. 
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A lesser form 
of the same retribution is to suffer 
from a stammer; 
2. Madness: Some people are born 
mad or mentally 
incompetent as a result of having 
drunk a lot of 
alcohol in their past. The 
hallucinations experienced 
when drunk become a permanent 
state of 
mind in a future birth. Some 
experience paranoia. 
Lesser forms of the same sort of 
retribution 
are to lack steadfastness and 
self-confidence 
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or to be gullible. Some people hear 
only a few 
words of praise from the opposite 
sex and elope 
with them — or hear a few words 
of criticism 
and hang themselves. Some are 
incapable of doing 
anything more than sitting around 
all day 
and daydreaming 
`building 
castles in the air'. 
3. Mental Deficiency: Some are 
mentally retarded 
having been so drunk in previous 
existences that 
they were unable to think straight 
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— in a later 
existence this becomes a 
permanent state of being. 
4. Arising as a Crawling Animal: 
Even the crawling 
animals like snakes and lizards 
have drunkenness 
in previous lives as their causes —
previously 
they were drunks who had been 
rehearsing 
crawling on all fours since they 
were still 
human. The difference between 
poisonous 
snakes and non-poisonous snakes 
is the difference 
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between vengeful drunks who 
create suffering 
for others and those who get drunk 
and 
remain benign. 
It is because the long-term effects 
of drinking are 
so difficult to control that when we 
come to the task 
of adjusting the quality of the 
mind, the Buddha 
had to teach us to avoid alcohol 
repeatedly. 
D. BENEFITS OF NOT 
DRINKING ALCOHOL 
The Buddha taught that if we don't 
drink alcohol, 
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it will pave the way for the higher 
blessings ahead 
on the path — with advantages 
such as: 
• knowing events in the past, 
present and future 
without delay 
• mindfulness in all situations 
(rather than the 
mind wandering continuously) 
• non-recklessness 
• lack of envious enemies 
• respect from others 
• happiness 
• appreciating the virtue of others 
[katafifiE] 
• repaying one's debt of gratitude 
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to others
[katavedE] 
• generosity 
• purity of precepts 
• wisdom 
• worldly wealth 
• heavenly wealth 
• the ability to be a true refuge to 
oneself 
• the wealth of Nirvana 
Furthermore the purity by which 
we can avoid the 
Tenfold Path of Unwholesomeness 
will be avoided 
together with the Subtle 
Defilements of mind. We 
will have less tendency to engage 
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in: 
• lies 
• malicious gossip 
• insults or swearing 
• idle chatter 
• deviousness 
• ill-temperedness 
• lack of shame of evil [hiri] 
• lack of fear of (the retribution) 
of evil [ottappa] 
• wrong view. 
E. PRACTICALITY OF 
GIVING-UP DRINKING 
DEFINITIVELY 
Having realized the harm brought 
by consuming 
alcohol, if you decide to kick the 
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drink habit, prepare 
yourself for a struggle! It is not so 
easy to 
change an addiction and you are 
liable to experience 
withdrawal symptoms. However, 
for those 
who dare to train themselves in 
this way, here are a 
few words of advice to help pave 
the way to your 
eventual freedom from alcohol: 
Blessing Twenty: Restraint from 
Drinking Intoxicants 237 
1. The first thing you have to do is 
see through to 
the danger of alcohol. 
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2. Once you have seen the danger, 
you need to 
make up your mind to give up. 
3. The third thing is to avoid 
contact with anything 
that will remind you of drink any 
more (such as 
collections of old bottles). Don't 
allow any of 
these sort of things into your 
house. 
4. Fourthly, think of your own 
self-respect. Think 
of the things that will create a 
sense of conscience 
for yourself. 
5. The fifth thing you need to do is 
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not to associate 
with your drinking friends any 
more. 
F. 
ILLUSTRATIVEEXAMPLES 
F.1 Metaphor: Just as one match 
can burn a 
town down 
Just as a single match can burn 
down an entire town 
even a little alcohol can cause a 
lapse of 
mindfulness that may ruin your 
whole life. 
F.2 Metaphor: The elephant's 
trunk 
In one metaphor told by 
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Phramonkolthepmuni 
(1885-1959) — the Great Abbot of 
Wat Paknam: 
"abstaining from alcohol is the 
most important 
single Precepts because it ensures 
the reliability 
of all the other four. For this 
reason you must 
strictly abstain from all alcohol. If 
you cannot 
abstain from alcohol then no single 
one of your 
Five Precepts is safe. This precept 
prohibits the 
consumption of any substance 
which causes 
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people to lose their sense of 
responsibility. The 
enlightened ones never think to 
touch even a 
drop of such substances and you 
should follow 
their example too if you really 
want to keep 
the Precepts. If the substance is 
one that causes 
heedlessness, you have the 
intention of consuming 
it, you make the effort to consume 
it and it 
goes inside your body (e.g. down 
your throat) 
then the Fifth Precept will be 
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broken. 
The Buddha compared the first 
four Precepts 
to the feet of an elephant and the 
Fifth Precept 
to its trunk. The whole of an 
elephant's quality 
of life depends on the intactness of 
its trunk. 
With its trunk it can earn its living 
and feed itself. 
Without a trunk it cannot stoop 
down and 
eat grass like a buffalo — because 
its so tall. It 
would have to endure the difficulty 
of lying 
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