Stories for drinking
4 Buddhist wisdom stories for drinking from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Giving up beer at 18Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a young Buddhist student who loved beer, Ajahn Brahm was told by his teacher that he shouldn't drink. He tried giving it up and felt a great sense of power — he had a choice…
Read full story
that's what I did, when I was a young man, I was a Buddhist and my teacher kept on telling me: ‘You shouldn't drink alcohol’. I liked my beer, I didn't like the other stuff, but beer, I used to love beer. And he said: ‘No, you can't take that anymore, you're a Buddhist, you meditate. ‘Do I really have to?’ He said: ‘yes, you do’, so I said: ‘okay I'll give it a try.’ And as soon as I tried it, just giving up beer, I felt this great sense of power inside of me. It was like I had the choice and I was exercising the choice. I could take it or leave it, I was proving to myself I could leave it. And I could go into a party and still enjoy myself and have… Actually, I found out it was more fun when I was sober. Okay, I was only 18-19 at the time. The best time at a party, when you find a nice girl, you’re in the corner, messing around… when I used to have beer and alcohol, I didn't remember that part. [laughter] And that was the best part. And when I was sober, I had much more fun. And so little things like that, ordinary things, meant you started to enjoy yourself more. Which meant, what's the point of going back to alcohol? And I was a student at the time it cost so much money, I had so much more money to use for other things.
- The bottle ghostAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Told in Asia, where people fear ghosts: the most dangerous ghost in the world, one he has seen many times. It possesses people — they speak strangely, can't walk straight, act…
Read full story
I like telling the story of the bottle ghost. I get really serious because it's one of the most dangerous ghosts in the whole world. And I like many people say they don't believe in ghosts. But there's evidence for this ghost. I've actually I've Okay. I've seen it myself many times and I've seen what it what it does to people. You know, it it actually possesses people, the bottle ghost. And they they they don't act in the normal way. They're they're strange. You know, they they don't speak in the normal way. They don't even walk in the They don't act in the normal way at all. They're totally different characters. And I've even seen this ghost possess people. It's no exaggeration. I've seen them get killed. It's that dangerous a ghost. And so, I warn people and listen, my honesty is there. This bottle ghost exists and it does possess people and it does kill them as well. And people are actually very impressed cuz, you know, I don't exaggerate. I don't tell lies. And that bottle ghost, I explain what it really is. It lives in bottles of whiskey, rum, and other things cuz as soon as you take the bottle the top off, you get possessed. And you speak in very strange ways and you can't even walk in a straight line and you do really weird things and sometimes you kill yourself in an accident. It's called a bottle ghost. That's actually why we call these things spirits. Have you ever wondered why they call it spirits? It's the bottle ghost. But it is true. It does kill you.
- The drunk driver who drove home the police carStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After the office Christmas party a Sydney man, well over the limit, risks driving home and is stopped at a roadblock. Just as he's about to blow into the breathalyser, a car…
Read full story
this one guy in Sydney some years ago some of you know this story in Sydney s The Last Story I promise I'll shut up after this it was Christmas office was having a Christmas party he decided to stay behind for the Christmas party I had a few drinks should not drive home he decided ah what's the chances of being stopped you know the odds are in my favor so he got in his car and he drove home unfortunately his lock was out he got stopped in this big roadblock in Sydney they were targeting one road everyone going along that road got stopped so he knew he was done probably lose his Kai's license and big fine because he was really over the limit so he had to Wai in turn when it's his turn in Sydney apparently then he had to get out of the car before they give him the breathalyzer tube so he got out of the car it was his turn he was about to take the breathalyzer tube you know in his mouth the sound of a car crash one of the cars had come a bit too fast and the roadblock it was a traffic obstacle and at rear ended another car and the policeman heard that and said to this man it's more important that I attend to this car accident than to check your blood alcohol your alcohol he took the breathalyzer away and said get back into your car and drive home he literally become within you know half a second of getting caught if he'd have blowed into that tube it would been way over the limit he thought how lucky could you be apparently this was a true story next morning he woke up with a big hangover because he'd been drinking he woke up because somebody was ringing his doorbell wouldn't stop so he got some pajamas on staggered to the door it was two New South Wales policemen at the door now of course whenever you see a policeman at the door people usually get a bit afraid but then you know he thought even though he a bit groggy I've done nothing wrong yeah I was drinking last night but they can't do anything because I'm not driving now so he was confident so he said what do you want and he said can we look inside your garage sir I said why why do they want to look inside my garage only my car there okay sure and he opened his garage door and that's when he almost had a heart attack because in his garage there was a police car not his car when they said get in your car and drive home he was so drunk he got in the wrong car
- The monk drunk at the town gateStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: In the Buddha's time, generous but unwise lay people ask some scallywag monks what monks need; 'what's hard to come by — booze.' Next day a monk who has vowed to eat whatever is…
Read full story
And this is a story about what it was like in the time of the Buddha, 2,500 years ago in India, when the Buddhist monks started to get popular, they always had a few real scallywags, really there really were naughty monks in that time. And some of the laypeople, you know what you're like. You're very sort of um uh faithful, and you you're very kind and generous, and you say to the monks, "Oh, you've been so good. Is there anything you need?" But they asked the wrong monks. They asked a couple of these scallywag monks. You know, is anything the monks need? And so, they these monks said, "Give the monks what's hard for them to come by." What do you mean, what's hard for them to come by? They've got enough rice and curry. No, give some booze. Cuz that's very hard to come by. That's very true. And they said, "Is that allowed?" We said, "Yeah, that's fine." So, they went This was really scallywag monks, you know, saying the wrong thing. So, these people were had too much faith and too little wisdom. So, the next day when they saw one of these monks come on alms round, it was one of these monks who made the determination, "Whatever you give them, they will eat." I did that for a while. You know, whatever you put in my bowl, that's what I put in my mouth. And so, he made that resolution. And so, these people started putting putting alcohol in his bowl. So, that's what he had to put in his mouth. And they thought it was extra merit cuz it's something which they know is very rare for a monk to get. And so, so the problem was by the time he'd finished his alms round, he was actually so, you know, over the limit. He was struggling to get back to the monastery to sleep it off. But what usually happens is a very very worst of uh your nightmares. He managed to make it to the town gate. And actually there, he collapsed. That's where he lost consciousness. He was just too drunk. It's the wrong place for him to pass out because everyone had to come in and go out through that gate. And it was 5 minutes after he collapsed, who would come by? But the Buddha, coming back from his alms round. And that's where he saw the monk who was drunk, paralytic, unconscious on the ground. I don't know why that always Whenever you make a small mistake, isn't it always happens that, you know, you get caught out, the boss finds you. You only done it once, and it's the first time. Why does this always happen? But the poor monk got caught by the Buddha. And that's when he sort of said, "Monks, you should not take alcohol cuz look what it does to you