[Buddha-l] Can Buddhists quit smoking?

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Richard Hayes schreef:
> I recently came across an intriguing proposal from a Buddhist in the
> U.K. Noting that strict anti-smoking laws have been passed in the U.K.,
> she wondered whether the time has come for Buddhists to consider the
> possibility of doing ceremonies in rooms in which the air is not
> polluted by clouds of incense smoke. Incense, she observes, has usually
> been used in Asia outdoors or in very well-ventilated and drafty temples
> and used to be used in Europe to mask offensive smells (as in churches
> filled with parishioners who did not bathe except when being baptised or
> prepared for burial). When incense is burned indoors in small
> well-insulated rooms with double-glazed windows, she observes, it
> quickly becomes overpowering, making it difficult for people to
> concentrate while coughing and coping with stinging eyes and burning
> nostrils.
>
>   
Where there is smoke, there's fire. 
Asia is a big continent and it's difficult to say things that hold up in every part. The Tibetans in general don't seem to object to inhaling incense and even use it for medical purposes. I remember one particular case when a room was deliberately clouded with incense and the lama's seemed to enjoy it. The smoke also has agents similar to hashish. The function of incense in Thailand and China seems to me however purely ritual, so I guess it doesn't hurt to go easy on the stuff.
In European churches the stench to be hidden was not so much from the living but mainly from the fresh graves of rich people who were buried inside the church.

Erik


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