Intoxicants (surāmeraya-majja-pamādaṭṭhānā)
Precepts / Five Precepts / Intoxicants 
Also a subtag of Eight Precepts
24 excerpts, 1:39:17 total duration



Right Livelihood, Session 1 – Apr. 21, 2013

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3. “Could you talk more about the particular professions that the Buddha laid out as wrong livelihood (AN 5.177)? Why is being in the military not on the list?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Work] [Military] [Right Livelihood ] // [Unskillful qualities] [Kamma] [Killing] [Intoxicants] [Rebirth]

Story: The widow of a wealthy man divests from Singha Beer. [Intoxicants] [Commerce/economics]


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4. “Is growing grapes right livelihood?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Intoxicants] [Commerce/economics] [Right Livelihood]

Story: The son of a winemaking family lives on the land but doesn’t participate in wine production. [Intoxicants] [Family]


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5. “Can you speak about the people who sell these things [intoxicants] versus those who make them?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Intoxicants] [Commerce/economics] [Right Livelihood] // [Kamma] [Volition]

Story: A clerk at an organic food store asks about selling wine. Told by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Intoxicants]


Western Disciples of the Thai Forest Tradition, Session 17 – Jan. 27, 2016

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7. Story: The inmate leading the Buddhist group was caught selling drugs. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Khemadhammo] [Prisons] [Intoxicants]

Comments about intoxicants, crime, and prisons. Contributed by Beth Steff and Ajahn Pasanno. [Intoxicants] [Crime]


Teen Weekend 2017 – Sep. 2, 2017

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17. “Have you broken any precepts where only you know if you broke them?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Vinaya] [Ajahn Pasanno] // [Right Speech]

Story: Ajahn Pasanno’s uncle offers him alchohol. [Intoxicants] [Truth]


Can We Function without Attachement?, Session 2 – Oct. 1, 2017

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3. “I heard the word samatonsin all my life, but never knew it means ‘to hold it rightly.’ Is there a way to hold it wrongly?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Thai] [Clinging] // [Precepts] [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Three Refuges]

Story: Ajahn Passanno accidentally drinks fruit juice mixed with vodka at a family gathering. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Intoxicants]


Readings from The Island, Session 16 – Feb. 1, 2025

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2. “Does Ajahn Chah’s phrase, ‘Right in fact but wrong in Dhamma,’ imply that there is an objective world of facts and then a world above that which is Dhamma?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Truth] [Dhamma] // [Etymology] [Conventions] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Harsh speech]

Note: This phrase was discussed during the previous session.

Stories about the Buddha’s disciples who had killed people. [Great disciples] [Killing]

Suttas: MN 86: Aṅgulimāla Sutta; the story of Kuṇḍalakesī (Commentary to Dhp 102-103, Dhamma Verses Commentary translated by E. W. Burlingame and Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, p. 500).

Recollection: The lay disciple Pansak would sometimes show up drunk after work and spend the night under Ajahn Chah’s kuti. Recounted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Lay supporters] [Intoxicants]

Story: The monk Por Suey had been a hit man hired to kill Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah lineage] [Crime] [Wat Pah Nanachat]