[Buddha-l] Fw: Buddhism & Alcohol

[Kate]

Hi Mike,

I found one version of the story I mentioned earlier:

Contrary to what one may assume, the monastic rules were not set down beforehand by the Buddha, but were developed from the living experience of the monks themselves.  The sutras describe incidents which brought about specific rules.  Many are highly humorous.  The Disciple Sugata, for instance, was a monk famous for his psychic powers, and by using them, he had subdued the evil Naga spirits who lived in a mango grove and who were terrifying the local people.  One day, while going on his alms round in a village named Kosambi, he had accepted many drinks given him by the population.  Unknown to him these were all highly alcoholic and by the time he returned to the monastery he was quite drunk.  In a short time he had fallen senseless on the ground.  His fellow monks carried him to the Buddha, who said, "Is this the man who subdued the Nagas with such ease?"  The monks replied, "Yes Lord."  The Buddha responded by saying, "Why, he couldn't even subdue a water lizard now!"  Thereafter the monks decided to avoid alcohol.

This isn't the version I was thinking of that used the term monster instead of nagas, and mentioned alcohol restriction rather than total avoidance.  I'm not sure where I read that now and tried checking the net for any mention of it.  I couldn't find the story so checked out the sites on Buddhism and alcohol.  Most sites do say total alcohol avoidance is necessary, though a number say it's ok to drink a small amount for medicinal purposes, a few mention alcohol restriction instead of avoidance. Thai temples seem to be all for it with alcohol sold in the temple grounds on "joyful days".

Also I couldn't find what I was looking for on the Dalai Lama and wine.  (I've got stacks of folders and files to go through.)  So its probably best to ignore my comments on this until I can confirm in case I got it wrong in any way.  While on the net I did come across the following article:

http://oregonbuddhisttemple.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=1

Regards
Kate

           

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