Xct Mu Bu Vb Pc 79Drinking Alcohol
Pāli / Sanskrit:Surāpāna
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THE SUTTA ON DRINKING ALCOHOL (SURĀPĀNA)
Background
The Sutta on Drinking Alcohol, Surāpāna, is found in the Vinaya Piṭaka, specifically in the Pātimokkha, one of the deepest normative bodies of text in the Theravāda tradition. The Vinaya Piṭaka is not an ordinary legal book in the worldly sense, but a concrete expression of discipline, the ethical foundation, sīla, that bhikkhus, bhikkhunīs, and practitioners of the Buddha-Dharma should follow.
The issue of drinking alcohol was raised by the Buddha from the early period, when disciples began entering the Sangha. Sura, alcohol, here does not mean only modern alcoholic drinks, but any intoxicating substance that stimulates, clouds the mind, and destroys independence of mind. This is one of the basic prohibitions, widely listed among the rules concerning pācittiya offenses, violations that must be confessed and acknowledged.
Main Content
The Sutta on Drinking Alcohol states that a bhikkhu must not drink any intoxicating substance or anything that causes loss of awareness. Sura is defined broadly, including every drink or substance with an intoxicating quality that obscures consciousness. Violating this is considered a Pācittiya offense, an action that must be confessed and dealt with in order to restore purity.
The reason the Buddha established this rule is profound. Drinking alcohol clouds the mind, removes the ability to govern the mind, covers wisdom, and leads to unwholesome actions. A practitioner who loses control of awareness cannot cultivate meditation, dhyāna, cannot develop wisdom, paññā, and cannot proceed toward awakening. Therefore, the precept against drinking alcohol is an essential part of the foundation of practice.
It should be noted that in the Theravāda tradition this precept applies strictly to those who have gone forth, and is also encouraged for laypeople, though the level of strictness differs. The phrase “surāpāna pramāda,” heedlessness connected with drinking alcohol, appears in the Five Precepts, Pañcasīla, for Buddhists, where it is stated as a basic thing to be avoided.
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