Stories about alcohol
13 Buddhist wisdom stories about alcohol from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Ban beer to save waterJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: During a Western Australian drought he told politicians they should ban beer, because it goes straight through the body and wastes water. Amazingly they didn't think it was a…
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we've been suffering from a big drought here in Western Australia just need to go and visit our monasteries in the bush to see how many trees have died so there's a great water shortage around this state and so in order to address the water shortage I was thought we should actually ban beer because if you drink beer it just go straight into the body and back into the L after half an hour and hour it waste so much water so in order to preserve the water resources of our state we should actually make beer illegal but amazing the politicians didn't think that was a good idea they could take to their electorate here in Australia
- Come have some sake — the old man on the trainStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Martial-arts student on a crowded Japanese train is about to fight a drunk who shoved a pregnant woman; an old man offers the drunk sake, speaks kindly of his late wife — the…
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Japan studying martial arts and of course real martial arts should only be used after training out of compassion not sort of using aggressively and he was in a crowded train and he knew I forget what particular martial arts it was Taekwondo or when it was karate but anyway he was highly sort of skilled in that art but you know had some restraints only use it for kindness or for personal training but he saw this drunken Japanese guy come on the train and just push his way past the pregnant woman the pregnant woman fell on the floor and he thought that this now is a justification he can actually show off his martial arts so he went up to this guy and this guy sort of squared up to him and you know he said you shouldn't do that and he said I'm going to teach you some manners and it's about to be a fight and this Old Gentleman in the back of the the train so came up touched this drunken man on the shoulder and said come and have some sake with me had a little bottle with him and so the drunkard you know would always like some more sake so he left the American the martial arts expert alone and sat down on a chair with him and he started saying something like you know my wife who passed away some time ago we always used to sit out in the afternoon in the late evening having little sake together it said it with much kindness and this drunken man started to cry and he said his wife too had died only a few months ago and he was so depressed and upset he'd lost his job and that's why he took solace in alcohol and saying the story there why the violence started finding another way of dealing with it
- “Doctor Buddha's orders”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A new Buddhist refuses a drink at a work party — 'I'm a Buddhist' — and a colleague replies that Buddhism is all about letting go, so let go and have a beer; caught out, he…
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there was this one guy who used to come here, and he said that when he started keeping his five precepts and gave up drinking alcohol, it was very difficult for him because the first time he went to a party or a reception, one of his work friends gave him some alcohol and he said, "No, I can't take it cuz I'm a Buddhist." And his friend said, "Oh, you're a Buddhist? Yeah, I know about Buddhism. I really respect Buddhism. Buddhism is all about letting go. Come on, let go. Have a beer." So, he's caught out. That's the trouble that people know a little bit about Buddhism. They don't know enough. So, he had to take the beer that time. He was put in a spot, but afterwards he told me that he found the solution. Cuz the next time he went to a reception or a party at work and someone offered him a drink, he said, "No, I can't take the alcohol. Doctor's orders." And people left him alone. Because now, if it's doctor's orders, it's a medical condition, no one would actually challenge you. But when he told me that, I actually criticized him back. I said, "Aren't you keeping one precept by breaking another? You're lying. There's nothing wrong with you. You're perfectly healthy." But then he actually he actually taught me some Buddhism because now, he was what So, I make mistakes sometimes. Please correct me sometimes if I make a mistake and he actually taught me more because it was true. He said, "Look, don't you remember Ajahn Brahm? In many of those old teachings of the Buddhas, the sutras, many, many times he actually compared himself to a doctor." And so, it was a doctor's orders. Doctor Buddha's orders.
- Drunken karaoke on Christmas night in PenangStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Teaching a retreat in Penang, Ajahn Brahm is kept awake on Christmas night by a karaoke party across the road. Fine, he says — but by midnight, drunk, the singers think they're…
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karaoke party. My god, that was suffering. And I've been teaching all day, I was tired, I wanted to rest and people were singing this karaoke. And if ever you… that’s the first time I've heard karaoke. What you do first of all – you have to be drunk first of all. And then they think they can sing like Frank Sinatra or like, you know, Barbra Streisand or something – and they can't! And it's out of tune, they forget the words, it's screaming, and it's… If you're drunk, you don't notice it, but for sober people like me, like monks, it was such suffering! And it didn't finish ‘till about one o'clock, I forgot what the time it was, and then I get up early in the morning so I didn't get much sleep that night. But I realized that if ever… the worst type of hell in the whole world will be the karaoke hell
- 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…
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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.
- One-pound bet — sober for a yearStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a student he bets a cousin one pound he can stay sober a year; decades later the cousin still has not paid.
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gave up alcohol as a student even one of my cousins who knew me very well said new won't last you know and I I did a bet with him away to one pound that's all worth a lot of money in those days that I could last over one year of Being Sober not taking any alcohol that's that's over about 60 years ago now he still hasn't paid up
- Thank the burglar for the whiskeyJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Someone's house is burgled of expensive whiskey; Brahm says thank the burglar — he stopped you breaking precepts — and asks for the burglar's name to give other addresses.
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burglar came into their house? I said, "What did they steal?" Oh, they stole all these expensive bottles of whiskey. I said, "Oh, thank the burglar." They stopped you breaking your precepts. Thank you, thank you. What a wonderful burglar that is. Can you please get the burglar's name? I can give them the addresses of many other people sitting here today. [laughter] ...so we can relieve them of their alcohol as well
- The actuary they called “Flash”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Visiting England, Ajahn Brahm meets a Cambridge friend he hasn't seen for 40 years — now a highly respected actuary, among the top in Europe. He reminds him of his student…
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a couple of years ago I met one of my friends when I was visiting England. He's an old friend from Cambridge days. Now that was about 40 years now. Now he's this highly respected businessman. He's an actuary. An actuary is this mathematical geniuses who work out just the odds of you know falling off a building. It works out the the the probabilities for insurance companies. And he was one of the top if not the top actuary in the whole of Europe. And so when I met him we hadn't seen each other 40 years. A highly successful very sort of good man. And I reminded him of the nickname we had for him at Cambridge which was Flash. And the reason we called him Flash was because one night at one of the parties we had he did get drunk. He went into the toilets and he came out with nothing on. That's why we called him Flash. And he said, "Better not talk too much about that Ajahn Brahm.
- 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…
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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 first beer tasted awfulStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At 14 in London, rebellious and egged on by mates, he sneaks his first glass of beer (the drinking age was 18) — and can't believe how disgusting it tastes, like something…
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one of my experiences as a young man is being like 14 years of age, being rebellious, you know, being with my mates, a bit of peer pressure, but also being rebellious, going to take my first glass of beer. The drinking age was 18. I was only 14. Sneak in there. I can take a glass of beer thinking how clever I am, how rebellious. And taking my first glass of beer I couldn't believe just how disgusting that tasted. I did see in the newspapers there was a uh suggestion of actually Perth drinking recycled waste water. You mean from your toilets. And that's what I thought beer was, somehow recycled from the lavatory. Cuz that's that's what it tastes like. Even actually people do call it piss in Australia. So that must have been that must have been recycled from somewhere. But it tasted awful. But because my culture, this was in London, said that beer is fun, beer is good, beer is what you're supposed to enjoy and you spend a lot of money and many evenings drinking the stuff, it only took me about three or four months to start to like the taste. And once I became a monk and I looked back on that experience, I thought why did I like that? Because I had to. I completely reconditioned myself to go against my natural instincts of disliking the taste of beer to actually thinking it was delicious. And being a monk when you stand back and you watch these things, how much more of what I think I like is actually been conditioned into me cuz I have to like it. Cuz my society says I must like it.
- The jewelled goblet: his last drinkStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At an Emmanuel College scholars' dinner in Cambridge, after much port and claret, the students must drain a jewel-encrusted silver heirloom goblet brim-full of claret and give a…
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on one occasion the scholars dinner having drunk so much alcohol already we had to do a toast with this goblet silver goblet encrusted with jewels a cottage heirloom that was Emmanuel College in Cambridge and we had to fill with claret if I can remember properly to the brim we had to drain it drink the whole lot and then say a toast in Latin this was supposed to be an intelligent university I decide this this didn't make any sense to me and the following morning I don't know how I got back to my room but I woke up in the morning with a part of vomit on my pillow right next to me I didn't realize that that could have killed me people choked on that and died and I felt terrible for the next 24 hours everyone was saying what wonderful evening that was that was the last time I took any alcohol in my life
- 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…
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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
- The wine gumsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: One Christmas when Ajahn Brahm was a young monk, four (now famous, unnamed) Canadian monks receive wine gums from their parents. Assuming they're just sweets, they eat them…
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even when I was a young monk, it was Christmas time, and it was these four monks, actually they're all really famous monks now. I won't tell you who they are. I wouldn't embarrass them. But their parents for Christmas sent them some wine gums. Now, wine gums are just sweets. And they just got the name wine, but they thought, "No, there'd be no wine in these." And so, the four of them, you know, from Canada, they sort of ate them together, just the four of them. They never gave any to me. And it's a good job because I would've taken them, too. And actually had real wine in them. And the monks didn't think there was any such They they haven't had alcohol for for years. So, they were actually ultra-sensitive. So, we had four drunk monks in the monastery to look at.