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us so we won't get lonely in our 
old age." The 
daughter agreed and whiled away 
her time spending 
her parents' fortune. 
When both the daughter and the 
son came of age, 
both families looked for a worthy 
partner for their 
child. They found a worthy partner 
in each other 
and so their marriage was 
arranged. This couple 
was amply provided for but they 
had no idea how 
to manage their wealth. At the time 
when the parents 
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on both sides of the family passed 
away the 
couple had been left with a total 
inheritance of 160 
million — the millionaire boy 
would seek audience 
with the king three times a day. 
In that town there was a group of 
drunkards. They 
would get drunk and chatter idly 
and dream of 
ways to be able to get free drinks 
their whole life 
long, because they thought alcohol 
was the greatest 
drink in the world. One day, they 
came up with 
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the idea of persuading some 
wealthy person to become 
an alcoholic like themselves —
then they 
would be able to manipulate that 
millionaire's 
wealth. They did their homework 
and found out 
how rich the millionaire boy was. 
They found out 
that he went for royal audience 
three times a day 
and what route he took on the way 
back from the 
palace with his retinue. The next 
day the drunkards 
waited nearby the millionaire 
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boy's usual route 
and acted like they were having 
tremendous fun. 
When they saw the millionaire boy 
they toasted him 
shouting, "May you live to be a 
hundred years old". 
The millionaire asked his 
man-servant (who was a 
drunk himself) what the group was 
doing. The 
manservant said, "the men are 
drinking a drink 
called `alcohol' (which at that time 
was not well 
known)". The millionaire asked 
what alcohol was. 
EFTA01162099

8miq 'D
o o琅 
p n„ 'Rut s oq 
uomuu ota 
‘人rA簋km° 
UI no/C Joj 
po8 s'11 ・ omssoid 
moic osIviillm ）1 `omssoid 
poom MOT °AULT 
no C 
' oinssoid pooIq ino C oonpoi 
44 
pooTq 
4I `omssonl 
poom q8
om q noAn ' oiolsoToqo 
oonpal 
' 
uosJod 
Ou ℃a HIM nO入‘御
AJ0A 
Tooj pnom no/C 
loqoop Jo dis v 
om q 1 00M 
noic 
' ppoM oi . 
Tiup snoiollop Isom otp. ll„ 
`oHogooIt jo num m 
0q1. 
`poildoi 1URAJ0S-UVUI 0T4l 
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some alcohol for me to try!" 
He thought he would only have a 
sip, but the taste 
was so seductive he felt 
intoxicated. All the drunkards 
gathered around him cheering him 
on to drink 
240 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
more and that is exactly what he 
did. He drank more 
and more until he wasn't himself 
any more. The 
drunkards smirked to themselves. 
The millionaire 
boy kept on paying for more drinks 
— drinks for 
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himself and drinks for all the other 
cronies too 
because it's no fun to drink all 
alone. You have to 
have company when you are 
drinking, so that you 
can chat and boast and tell tall 
stories. And just getting 
drunk wasn't enough 
he would 
go out buying 
expensive flower garlands and 
would invite 
musicians and dancers to perform 
for him and 
would always reward them with 
lavish prizes. He 
would do the same thing every 
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day. Before long all 
that was left of his fortune were 
empty treasure 
chests. The treasurer came to 
advise the millionaire 
boy that there was not nothing left 
of his fortune 
of 80 million. The millionaire boy 
asked 
"Doesn't my wife have some 
money to her name?" 
The treasurer answered, "Yes sir! 
She does still have 
some wealth." 
Therefore as soon as the 
millionaire boy got his 
hands on his wife's fortune he 
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continued his 
drunken extravagance as before, 
until eventually 
the fortune was exhausted again. 
Now in order to 
raise some cash, he was reduced to 
selling all his 
beautiful estates. To slake his 
thirst, he sold off his 
orchards, his coach and horses, 
trinkets around the 
house and eventually the house 
itself. 
In the beginning they asked the 
permission of the 
new owner to stay on in their 
former house. Their 
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handsome looks became forlorn. In 
their old age 
they were driven from the house 
by the new owners. 
So they had to wander from one 
house to another 
looking for refuge. Eventually they 
had to 
resort to a begging bowl to feed 
themselves. 
One day the Lord Buddha, with 
/nanda as his 
attendant, passed through that 
town and seeing the 
husband and wife begging for the 
monks left-overs 
by the monk's refectory, the 
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Buddha smiled to himself. 
Seeing the Buddha smile,/nanda 
asked the 
reason. The Buddha replied, 
"/nanda! Look at this 
millionaire son formerly rich, but 
who has squandered 
160 million and who must now 
take his wife 
around begging for a living in the 
city." 
"If this millionaire's son hadn't 
squandered his 
wealth, but in his youth had 
invested in business, 
he would be the richest man in the 
city by now, 
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because he has a lot of merit in his 
past. If he had 
renounced the world in his youth 
he would have 
become an arahant. If his wife had 
renounced the 
world as a nun in her youth. She 
would have become 
a non-returner [anAgAmi]." 
"If this millionaire's son had 
squandered his 
wealth only in his youth, but in 
middle age had 
invested his wealth in business, his 
previous merits 
would have caused him to become 
the second 
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richest man in the city. If he had 
decided to renounce 
the world in the middle age he 
would have become 
a non-returner [anAgAmi], and his 
wife if she had 
ordained as a nun, would have 
become a once-returner 
[sakEdAgAmi]." 
"If this millionaire's son had 
squandered his 
wealth in his youth and his middle 
age, but had 
invested his wealth in his old-age, 
his previous 
merit would have caused him to 
become the third 
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richest man in the city and if he 
had decided to renounce 
the world in his old age, he would 
have 
become a once-returner 
[sakEdAgAmi]. If his wife 
had ordained as a nun, she would 
have become a 
"stream-enterer [sotApana]." 
"Unfortunately, this couple have 
completely 
squandered their wealth and have 
lost their opportunity 
to cultivate to path for Nirvana. 
/nanda! 
Foolish people who fail to 
cultivate virtue in their 
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lives, and who fail to earn their 
living when they 
are young, will become forlorn like 
an aging heron, 
living in a dried-up pond with no 
more fish to prey 
upon. They hadn't cultivated virtue 
in their youth 
— nor earned their living either. In 
their old age all 
they can do now is reminisce with 
regret about their 
former wealth like an arrow that 
falls to earth when 
its momentum has run out. 
Therefore the harm of alcohol 
apart from it destroying 
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the drinker also ruins the lives of 
the rest 
of the drinker's family, destroys 
our wealth and 
security and obscures the pathway 
to Nirvana. This 
is the harmfulness of alcohol —
therefore if you 
have alcohol in your possession 
stop drinking it, 
pour it away and discard the 
bottles. Make sure 
your home is alcohol free. 
Blessing Twenty: Restraint from 
Drinking Intoxicants 241 
F.6 Ex. Choice of which Precept 
to break 
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There were once a man and a wife 
who lived near 
the mountains. One day the 
husband left home and 
went to live in a cave in the 
mountains to keep the 
Five Precepts. After a while, his 
wife began to miss 
him and went to him in his cave, 
threatening to kill 
herself if he continued with the 
`Five Precepts nonsense'. 
The man found the threat rather 
worrisome, 
so offered to break one of the 
Precepts in order to 
save the life of his wife. The wife 
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brought him a 
cow, a young woman and a bottle 
of liquor and told 
him to take his pick of which 
Precept to break. The 
man thought that to kill the cow 
would be destructive 
— and equally to rape the young 
woman— so 
he settled for drinking the liquor 
because it didn't 
seem to bring harm to anyone else. 
After one sip of 
the liquor he found it good and 
drank the whole 
bottle. Inebriated, he killed the 
cow and raped the 
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young girl too. The moral of the 
story is that abstaining 
from alcohol serves to preserve the 
intactness 
of all the other four Precepts! 
F. 7 Ex. Kumbha JAtaka (J.512) 
Long ago before alcohol was 
produced industrially, 
it occurred by accident far away, 
deep in a forest in 
Kasi in India. In the forest there 
was a certain tree 
with a cleft between its branches. 
Rainwater collected 
in the cleft. Fruit like myrobalans 
and peppercorns 
from the surrounding trees fell in 
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the water. At the 
foot of the tree was a rice plant and 
the birds in the 
forest would collect the rice seeds 
and perch to eat 
them in the bough of the tree. 
Some of the seeds fell 
in the water in the cleft of the tree 
too. The water, the 
fruit and the rice in the tree cleft 
were warmed by the 
heat of the sun until it fermented 
into alcohol, changing 
its colour, taste and smell. It 
became red in colour 
and the smell attracted birds to 
drink it. The birds 
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