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down in order to eat. That's why 
the trunk is 
important. In the same way 
abstaining from alcohol 
is the important part of the Five 
Precepts. 
If you consume substances that 
make you heedless 
then before you realize it, you will 
break 
the other four Precepts. 
Thus the Fifth Precept is the 
important one. 
This is because of greed, hatred 
and ignorance 
in the mind, ignorance is the most 
damaging. 
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This is why the Fifth Precept is so 
important. 
All the benefits of the good things 
in the whole 
of the Buddhist Canon hinge upon 
our responsibility 
towards practising them. If you are 
reckless 
then you will estrange yourself 
from all 
these good things and furthermore 
do evil 
things instead. Alcohol and drugs 
that dull the 
mind causing one to slip into 
recklessness. Thus 
only when you are able to abstain 
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strictly from 
all such substances will you set 
yourself upon 
a foundation of non-recklessness." 
F.3 Ex. BhagraghaEa JAtaka 
J.11.431ff. 
Once the banker AnAthapiAIika 
had a nephew 
who had squandered 40 million by 
his drinking 
habits, leaving him penniless. The 
nephew therefore
came to AnAthapiAIika's home 
asking for 
some financial help. The nephew 
said he would use 
the money to invest in business 
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to set himself up
in life. AnAthapiAlika was 
pleasantly surprised to 
hear his drunken nephew wanted 
to earn his living. 
He gave him 1,000 and taught him 
a few tricks 
of the trade. The nephew thanked 
AnAthapiAlika 
and wasted no time in going out 
with his friends at 
spending all the money on booze. 
Later he came back to 
AnAthapiAlika saying he 
had lost all his money in business 
due to lack of 
experience and asked for money 
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again. AnAthapiAlika 
pretended he didn't know what 
was going 
on and this time gave the nephew 
only 500, 
again telling him to invest it 
wisely. The shameless 
nephew spent all 500 on the 
alcohol again. 
For a third time, the nephew 
returned to ask for 
more. AnAthapiAlika gave him 
two pieces of 
coarse cloth instead of money, 
knowing he would 
238 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
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be more likely to make an effort to 
sell it. The 
nephew did sell the cloth but again 
he spent all he 
had earned on alcohol. 
He came back to AnAthapiAlika 
for a fourth time 
with an outstretched palm. This 
time AnAthapiAlika 
had his nephew thrown out into the 
street. 
The nephew was destitute and 
lodged at this person's 
house or that, until eventually the 
nephew 
died in poverty. 
AnAthapiAlika felt somehow 
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blameworthy for 
his nephew's death. Was there 
something more he 
could have done? He sought 
audience from the 
Buddha telling him the whole 
story. The Buddha 
said that it was not only this life 
that the nephew 
had been beyond help. 
In a previous lifetime when the 
nephew had been 
given a wishing cup, it still 
couldn't help him. It 
still couldn't satiate his appetite 
so it is no surprise 
that with AnAthapiAIika's limited 
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means 
weren't enough to help him. 
The Buddha concluded briefly, but 
AnAthapiAIika 
invited him to give more detail. 
The Buddha 
thus revealed the story of the past 
as follows: 
In the past, when King 
Brahmadatta reigned in 
Benares, the Bodhisattva was born 
as a millionaire, 
inheriting a fortune of 40 million 
from his father. 
He had only one child — a son. 
The Bodhisattva 
liked to perform acts of charity 
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regularly, giving 
alms and pursuing other forms of 
virtues until the 
end of his life. When he passed 
away the 
Bodhisattva was reborn as Indra, 
the king of heaven. 
The only son inherited the fortune 
of 40 million, 
but instead of investing it in 
business, he had a huge 
pavilion built — not as a place of 
worship but as a 
drinking place. 
There he whiled away the time 
drinking with 
friends, hiring dancers and singers 
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and gave them 
extravagant prizes for their 
performances. He did 
the same things every day — this 
and nothing else 
— living a life of drink and 
recklessness. Eventually 
his wealth was exhausted. He had 
to sell-up 
everything he owned. He was left 
destitute, wearing 
only rags and wandering the 
streets. 
Indra surveyed the world and saw 
his former son 
destitute — his inheritance 
squandered on alcohol. 
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Out of mercy, Indra appeared to 
the son saying 
"Now you are in great hardship. I 
feel sorry for you, 
so I'm giving you this magic pot 
— take good care 
of it. Never drop it. If it breaks, it 
will lose its magic 
powers. It will produce whatever 
you wish for." 
The son accepted the cup and Indra 
gave him a 
sermon before returning to heaven, 
re-iterating that 
he should never let the cup break. 
The son promised 
to take good care of it. "Good," 
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said Indra, "Because 
its your last chance to liberate 
yourself from 
hardship and poverty!" 
As soon as Indra was gone, he 
made a wish for 
all types of wealth and spent all the 
wealth on alcohol. 
He drank alone or in company 
singing and 
dancing merrily, holding the 
wishing cup in one 
hand and a bottle of liquor in other. 
He felt more 
and more incapable. He came to 
the point where 
his merit had run out 
because 
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the alcohol had 
uprooted the last of his merit. He 
started to play 
with the wishing cup for fun, 
throwing it in the air 
and catching it. Eventually it fell to 
the ground and 
broke — irreparably. And so he 
returned to his 
former hardship, with a begging 
bowl, a burden 
on society to the end of his days." 
"AnAthapiAlika! As it was in the 
past, so it is 
now — this man has not changed 
his ways." Thus 
for an alcoholic even the gift of a 
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wishing cup is 
still unable to bring happiness or 
prosperity. From 
their foolishness drinkers even 
destroy the luck they 
already have. Even though he had 
had the chance 
to help himself with a magic pot 
even more powerful 
than any money, as a drunk he 
could not do 
anything to help himself. He was 
beyond help. 
Therefore before helping someone, 
look to see 
whether they are going to use the 
money you give 
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them to buy alcohol. Sometimes 
you pay labourers 
more wages — instead of the work 
they do improving, 
it gets worse because they have 
more money 
left at the end of the week to spend 
on drink. Make 
sure that before you help someone, 
they stop all 
forms of the Six Roads to Ruin, 
even if they are your 
own family or parents. 
F.4 Ex. Putting your land in a 
whisky bottle 
There was an old uncle who loved 
to drink liquor. 
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His wife and children warned him 
again and again 
Blessing Twenty: Restraint from 
Drinking Intoxicants 239 
but he would not listen. He sold all 
his land to buy 
liquor. One day the son came 
home tired from the 
fields and saw his father drinking 
and thought, 
"How can I teach my father to see 
through his stupidity?" 
The boy took a goad and beat a 
buffalo 
trying to force the buffalo into an 
earthenware pot. 
The father said, "Stop that at once! 
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How can you 
expect to force a buffalo into a tiny 
jar like that?" 
The boy said, "Father it's no more 
illogical than 
what you do every day — you 
have managed to 
put all of the land on this farm in 
your whisky bottle!" 
Then the father managed to see 
what his son was 
teaching him — if his son was 
doing something 
crazy, then he was the crazier of 
the two of them. 
F.5 Ex.MahAdhana: a 
millionnaire reduced to 
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rags (DhA.iii.129ff) 
In the time of Lord Buddha there 
was a family of 
bankers who had 80 million to 
their name. The son 
was born with a silver spoon in his 
mouth and his 
parents loved him so much that 
when they got older 
they pleaded with him just to live 
off the family 
inheritance and never to earn his 
living. They said, 
"You are our only child. Even if 
you were to spend 
the money all your life, there is so 
much you would 
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surely never manage to use it all 
up. So just take it 
easy. It would be much better then 
the stress of earning 
a living." 
The son didn't like working for a 
living anyway, 
so he agreed wholeheartedly. He 
settled down to 
the onerous task of spending his 
parents' fortune 
and passed the time playing the 
guitar or singing 
songs. 
In another nearby town there was a 
daughter born 
to another bankers' family and her 
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parents loved 
her so much that when they got 
older they pleaded 
with her in just the same way, just 
to live off the 
family inheritance and never to 
earn her living. 
They said, "You are our only child. 
Even if you were 
to spend the money all your life, 
there is so much 
you would surely never manage to 
use it all up —
so please take it easy. It would be 
much better then 
the stress of earning a living. You 
could live nearby 
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