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)
Gain and loss are two of the eight worldly conditions. These are
conditions that people meet—impermanent, transient, and subject to
change. A mindful, wise person knows them and sees that they are subject
to change. Desirable conditions do not excite one’s mind nor is one
resentful of undesirable conditions. (AN 8.6)
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The conditions
of gain and loss are the first pair of the eight “worldly winds”
described in the texts, and they constitute the Buddhist equivalent of
the phrase “You win some and you lose some.” The idea is that some
things are inevitable in life, and the appropriate strategy in such
cases is not to hope for them not to happen but rather to adjust
yourself to them in a way that is skillful and conducive to overall
well-being.
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Notice how
natural it is to feel good when you gain something you value and to feel
bad when you experience loss. Notice also how, in such circumstances,
you allow yourself to be buffeted by the worldly winds of gain and loss.
See if instead you can remain firm, grounded in equanimity rather than
in favoring or opposing what happens. This is one way to remain
clearheaded when facing intoxicating conditions.
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Tomorrow: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States
One week from today: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings
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