Lzh Sarv Bi Pm Pc 63Drinking Alcohol

Sutta on Drinking Alcohol (Surāpāna)

An Explanation of the Vinaya Piṭaka — Theravāda Tradition

Background

The Surāpāna Sutta (Drinking Alcohol) is one of the important regulations in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Theravāda Buddha-Dharma. This rule is recorded in the Pātimokkha, the basic code that bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs must observe. The sutta arose from historical events in the early monastic community, when the Buddha saw that consuming alcoholic drinks had negative consequences for the mind, conduct, and diligence in practice.

Early bhikkhus often became intoxicated, leading to conduct inappropriate to the holy life (brahmacariya). Some monastics lost vigilance, fell into bad habits, weakened their religious aspiration, and diminished the exemplary brightness of the Sangha. Seeing this problem, the Buddha established a specific rule to protect Dharma conduct and the purity of the monastic community.

Main Content

The Surāpāna rule forbids bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs from drinking any kind of liquor or alcoholic beverage. This includes not only ordinary liquor but any liquid with intoxicating qualities or qualities that cause loss of alertness. In the Buddha’s time, alcoholic drinks included surā, rice liquor, vinaya, fermented liquor, and other fermented beverages.

The basic reason for this rule lies in the concept of “surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā,” things that cause intoxication and heedlessness. The Buddha emphasized that drinking alcohol is an entryway into heedlessness (pamāda), and alertness is the foundation of all Buddhist practice. A person intoxicated by alcohol cannot cultivate concentration (samādhi), cannot develop wisdom (paññā), and cannot protect the precepts.

This rule is placed in the category of Pācittiya, offenses requiring confession before the Sangha. If a bhikkhu or bhikkhunī drinks alcohol, he or she must acknowledge the fault and perform public confession in order to maintain Dharma conduct.