RIGHT LIVING
Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Intoxication
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Intoxication is unhealthy.
Refraining from intoxication is healthy. (MN 9) What are the
imperfections that defile the mind? Negligence is an imperfection that
defiles the mind. Knowing that negligence is an imperfection that
defiles the mind, a person abandons it. (MN 7) One practices thus:
“Others may become negligent by intoxication, but I will abstain from
the negligence of intoxication." (MN 8)
One of the dangers attached to addiction to intoxicants is indecent exposure of one's person. (DN 31)
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The arguments
put forward in the early Buddhist texts against intoxication were mostly
practical ones. In this case there is the recognition that when you
lose control of yourself through some form of intoxication, the chances
increase that you will do something foolish or embarrassing that you
will regret later. Better to undertake the commitment to abstain from
the kind of negligence that leads to such behaviors.
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See if, through
introspection, you can discern the point at which intoxication begins
to show up in your experience. If you are a drinker, investigate the
moment between the first and second swig, or the first and second glass,
or whatever point you can notice when the mind begins to get a little
sluggish. If you don’t drink, try the same experiment with some other
form of intoxication. There are many to choose from.
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Tomorrow: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States
One week from today: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings
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