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Avoidance of Intoxicants and Non-Possession
215:
two rules are directed against theft, and quite a few are related to sexual offence; some are concerned with falsehood, slander, or pretensions to supernatural powers, but there is only one that forbids spirituous liquorsi and is followed by several against lack of good manners. It therefore appears that the only ground for forbidding this might have been decorum and sobriety. This lack of emphasis on this precept, as compared with others, can be noticed easily. The warning against the use of spirituous liquors is somewhat like the war-- ning against such ordinary weakness as those of frequenting theatres and dancing and music halls, for these amusements are regarded as forms of idleness, rather than degrading habit or habits leading to mischief. “One can only wonder how a rule so little insisted on and so little observed by the laity except in fulfilment of special vows can have its place in the fivefold code."
In spite of the leniency about this precept already seen in the Vinaya and the Pātimokkha, Buddhism in some of its important texts shows that this precept, like others, is not only necessary for the monks and nuns but is equally binding upon the laity. It is said that the householder who delights in the dhamma should not indulge in intoxication nor should he sanction the actions of those who drink, knowing that it results in insanity.8 It depicts that the householder is thus expected not only to withhold himself from drinking but also to refrain from asking others to drink or from appreciating. those who drink. 4
However, in spite of the laxity (probably because it was very popular among the people, and it was not easy to check 1. #2497 qfafael
---Pātimokkha, Pacittiya rule No. 51. 2. Buddhism-R.S. Copleston, p. 190. 3. मज्जं न पानं न समाचरेय्य, धम्म इमं रोचये यो गहट्टो । 7 TUCU fuad at 775-37T, GEHTG gfa fafecati
-S.N., Dhammika Sutta, 24. 4. Cf. Jaina doctrine of three karanas and three yogas.
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