The fifth precept: not selling intoxicating liquor
from Hoko
Some versions of this precept talk about not drinking intoxicants and others about not selling intoxicants to others. If we like our intoxicants, we can use these differences to find ways around this precept, such as: It’s OK to enjoy these things ourselves as long as we don’t encourage others, or It’s OK to work in a bar as long as we don’t do it to get free liquor, or It’s OK to drink as long as we don’t overdo it.
There is plenty of drinking in local temples in Japan (not in the senmon sodo, or training temple) and I’ve certainly seen clergy who’ve had a few too many helpings of sake. This confuses Westerners with ideals. I was doing some budget planning with another Westerner for a little party we visitors were throwing for the temple supporters. "At least there won’t be any alcohol,” she said. Oh, honey. You bet there will, and everyone will be bringing it.
Then there was the sangha member I was helping to sew his rakusu and prepare for receiving lay precepts. He was concerned that as a single dad, he had to support his young daughter with the only job he could find: driving a beer delivery truck. Didn't this violate the precepts he was about to take? Ultimately, the universe resolved the issue for him when his truck was stolen and he was fired.
What does this precept really mean for us? When our friends get married, do we not get to do the champagne toast? When people come over to watch the Superbowl, do we have to ban the beer?
To understand this precept we have to understand what an intoxicant is. It's not just alcohol, and not just drugs or mushrooms or addictive substances. Intoxicants can be anything that obscures our complete and accurate view of reality. Interestingly, the root of “intoxicant” is the Latin toxicum, or poison. That's really appropriate, because in Buddhism the basis for all delusion is the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance. When we’re caught up in these three poisons, we don’t see clearly and we make unwholesome choices that lead to suffering for ourselves and others.
In general English, an intoxicant is something that makes us lose control of our faculties or our behavior. In other words, we aren’t able to make best use of our abilities. The intoxicant might be alcohol, drugs or other mood-altering substances, but it might be an addictive behavior. It might be any everyday compulsion or habit we have that’s driven by the delusion of self: overeating, buying stuff we don’t really need and maybe can’t afford, engaging in anything that clouds our perception of reality.
It’s harmful enough when we’re doing this ourselves, but encouraging or enabling others is also a problem. Sometimes it takes the edge off of our guilt or shame when others are doing it too. It’s more fun to drink or shop or engage in risky behavior with friends. Now it's OK because, see, they’re doing it too! Of course, children copy what they see adults do, and we may not even realize our impact. Now not only are we clouding our own view of reality, we’re enabling the delusions of others. However, bodhisattva leadership is about modeling wholesome behavior.
Okumura Roshi points out that ideas and teachings can also be intoxicants. Our ancestors remind us that Buddha’s teachings can be both medicine and disease. If we attach to various ideas, even helpful ones, we can go off course; even precepts sometimes have to be broken. We can't even attach to the idea of enlightenment or Nirvana. As long as we have ideas about it, we’re not liberated because the Buddha way is unsurpassable. If you say you’re enlightened, you’re still attached and bound -- throw it away! Yet we can still hold out Nirvana as the “goal.”
Clinging to the idea that there is One True Way is also a problem. There are myriad kinds of Buddhism just like there are myriad kinds of Christianity. What works in Asia may or may not be appropriate here; this practice has always changed and adapted across time and space. We may need to make changes to accommodate changing causes and conditions -- but we need to understand what we’re changing so we don’t lose something important. It's not OK to decide some element is irrelevant or not valuable just because we’re not comfortable with it. That discomfort is a dharma gate. What’s being challenged? It's helpful if we can let go of the intoxication of our ideas about practice and maintain balance. If we're struggling, it’s usually about our ego,
For example, as a beginner I always wanted to do the toughest and most Japanese practice going. I wanted to be the purest and most advanced practitioner around. Looking back now, I shake my head -- so much ego intoxication! I was such a beginner with such a limited view, and so much attachment to the exotic as a way to stand out, which meant that I couldn’t understand what Western practice really was or needed to be. The everyday-ness of the practice was not OK with me, and yet that’s such a crucial teaching, this moment-by-moment living. Even when I did pay attention to the moment, it was a performance of my idea about being special, and so, Buddha’s teachings go from medicine to disease.
We can become attached to vegetarianism, to silence, to liberal politics, to zazen, to robes, and whatever else we see as part of our Zen practice. Those things are fine and not unwholesome until they become intoxicants, until we are grasping and clinging to them so rigidly we can’t be flexible when we have to be -- and then wisdom and compassion go out the window. This is not a practice of extremes; it’s the Middle Way.
How about when we attach to unhelpful ideas from society, like higher status equals happiness? Or that in order for me to win, you have to lose? Or that some groups in society are more or less valuable depending on their skin color, gender identity, career path, etc.? How about when we help spread these things to other people? This is where it’s useful to do some discernment about why we believe what we believe. Are we being confused by the intoxicants of the three poisons?
The clear mind version of this precept says: Remaining clear, polishing clarity for self and others, seeing and dispelling delusion. The opposite of intoxication is wisdom, and this is the key element of this precept. It isn’t telling us how many glasses of wine we’re allowed to drink or whether or not we’re officially allowed to work in a bar or casino. It's asking us to investigate the sources of our delusion and rely on something else. In the process, we’re also protecting others from our mistakes and perhaps encouraging them to investigate the sources of their own delusion.
This precept is also not telling us to become holier-than-thou and start judging our friends and family and telling them how to live. It can happen that in our enthusiasm for our new practice, we want to pour it all over everyone else we know. That never works anyway, and you just become unwelcome. Just do your own practice. If others ask you about it, you can tell them whatever they want to know, but that’s enough.
There may be times when the skillful thing to do is to participate in the champagne toast and celebrate with your family and friends. If there’s a casino night for someone’s birthday, go along and have a good time. If you don’t engage in attachment and clinging to excess or encourage others to do themselves harm, it's probably fine, but only you know where that line is for you. If you notice that your passion for collecting baseball memorabilia or anime merchandise is getting out of hand and clouding your judgement, then it’s time to step back.
We may also need to participate in societal systems to some degree, even if we don’t agree with them. Shopping can be an intoxicant, but we still need to spend money and buy things we really need. The idea that there is a fixed self that persists through time is an intoxicant, but we still need to function as individuals in the world. We need to continue to investigate what things in our lives inhibit our ability to see clearly, make full use of our abilities and carry out our vows.
Some versions of this precept talk about not drinking intoxicants and others about not selling intoxicants to others. If we like our intoxicants, we can use these differences to find ways around this precept, such as: It’s OK to enjoy these things ourselves as long as we don’t encourage others, or It’s OK to work in a bar as long as we don’t do it to get free liquor, or It’s OK to drink as long as we don’t overdo it.
There is plenty of drinking in local temples in Japan (not in the senmon sodo, or training temple) and I’ve certainly seen clergy who’ve had a few too many helpings of sake. This confuses Westerners with ideals. I was doing some budget planning with another Westerner for a little party we visitors were throwing for the temple supporters. "At least there won’t be any alcohol,” she said. Oh, honey. You bet there will, and everyone will be bringing it.
Then there was the sangha member I was helping to sew his rakusu and prepare for receiving lay precepts. He was concerned that as a single dad, he had to support his young daughter with the only job he could find: driving a beer delivery truck. Didn't this violate the precepts he was about to take? Ultimately, the universe resolved the issue for him when his truck was stolen and he was fired.
What does this precept really mean for us? When our friends get married, do we not get to do the champagne toast? When people come over to watch the Superbowl, do we have to ban the beer?
To understand this precept we have to understand what an intoxicant is. It's not just alcohol, and not just drugs or mushrooms or addictive substances. Intoxicants can be anything that obscures our complete and accurate view of reality. Interestingly, the root of “intoxicant” is the Latin toxicum, or poison. That's really appropriate, because in Buddhism the basis for all delusion is the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance. When we’re caught up in these three poisons, we don’t see clearly and we make unwholesome choices that lead to suffering for ourselves and others.
In general English, an intoxicant is something that makes us lose control of our faculties or our behavior. In other words, we aren’t able to make best use of our abilities. The intoxicant might be alcohol, drugs or other mood-altering substances, but it might be an addictive behavior. It might be any everyday compulsion or habit we have that’s driven by the delusion of self: overeating, buying stuff we don’t really need and maybe can’t afford, engaging in anything that clouds our perception of reality.
It’s harmful enough when we’re doing this ourselves, but encouraging or enabling others is also a problem. Sometimes it takes the edge off of our guilt or shame when others are doing it too. It’s more fun to drink or shop or engage in risky behavior with friends. Now it's OK because, see, they’re doing it too! Of course, children copy what they see adults do, and we may not even realize our impact. Now not only are we clouding our own view of reality, we’re enabling the delusions of others. However, bodhisattva leadership is about modeling wholesome behavior.
Okumura Roshi points out that ideas and teachings can also be intoxicants. Our ancestors remind us that Buddha’s teachings can be both medicine and disease. If we attach to various ideas, even helpful ones, we can go off course; even precepts sometimes have to be broken. We can't even attach to the idea of enlightenment or Nirvana. As long as we have ideas about it, we’re not liberated because the Buddha way is unsurpassable. If you say you’re enlightened, you’re still attached and bound -- throw it away! Yet we can still hold out Nirvana as the “goal.”
Clinging to the idea that there is One True Way is also a problem. There are myriad kinds of Buddhism just like there are myriad kinds of Christianity. What works in Asia may or may not be appropriate here; this practice has always changed and adapted across time and space. We may need to make changes to accommodate changing causes and conditions -- but we need to understand what we’re changing so we don’t lose something important. It's not OK to decide some element is irrelevant or not valuable just because we’re not comfortable with it. That discomfort is a dharma gate. What’s being challenged? It's helpful if we can let go of the intoxication of our ideas about practice and maintain balance. If we're struggling, it’s usually about our ego,
For example, as a beginner I always wanted to do the toughest and most Japanese practice going. I wanted to be the purest and most advanced practitioner around. Looking back now, I shake my head -- so much ego intoxication! I was such a beginner with such a limited view, and so much attachment to the exotic as a way to stand out, which meant that I couldn’t understand what Western practice really was or needed to be. The everyday-ness of the practice was not OK with me, and yet that’s such a crucial teaching, this moment-by-moment living. Even when I did pay attention to the moment, it was a performance of my idea about being special, and so, Buddha’s teachings go from medicine to disease.
We can become attached to vegetarianism, to silence, to liberal politics, to zazen, to robes, and whatever else we see as part of our Zen practice. Those things are fine and not unwholesome until they become intoxicants, until we are grasping and clinging to them so rigidly we can’t be flexible when we have to be -- and then wisdom and compassion go out the window. This is not a practice of extremes; it’s the Middle Way.
How about when we attach to unhelpful ideas from society, like higher status equals happiness? Or that in order for me to win, you have to lose? Or that some groups in society are more or less valuable depending on their skin color, gender identity, career path, etc.? How about when we help spread these things to other people? This is where it’s useful to do some discernment about why we believe what we believe. Are we being confused by the intoxicants of the three poisons?
The clear mind version of this precept says: Remaining clear, polishing clarity for self and others, seeing and dispelling delusion. The opposite of intoxication is wisdom, and this is the key element of this precept. It isn’t telling us how many glasses of wine we’re allowed to drink or whether or not we’re officially allowed to work in a bar or casino. It's asking us to investigate the sources of our delusion and rely on something else. In the process, we’re also protecting others from our mistakes and perhaps encouraging them to investigate the sources of their own delusion.
This precept is also not telling us to become holier-than-thou and start judging our friends and family and telling them how to live. It can happen that in our enthusiasm for our new practice, we want to pour it all over everyone else we know. That never works anyway, and you just become unwelcome. Just do your own practice. If others ask you about it, you can tell them whatever they want to know, but that’s enough.
There may be times when the skillful thing to do is to participate in the champagne toast and celebrate with your family and friends. If there’s a casino night for someone’s birthday, go along and have a good time. If you don’t engage in attachment and clinging to excess or encourage others to do themselves harm, it's probably fine, but only you know where that line is for you. If you notice that your passion for collecting baseball memorabilia or anime merchandise is getting out of hand and clouding your judgement, then it’s time to step back.
We may also need to participate in societal systems to some degree, even if we don’t agree with them. Shopping can be an intoxicant, but we still need to spend money and buy things we really need. The idea that there is a fixed self that persists through time is an intoxicant, but we still need to function as individuals in the world. We need to continue to investigate what things in our lives inhibit our ability to see clearly, make full use of our abilities and carry out our vows.
