So I’ve been asked many times, if drinking red wine counts towards flouting the fifth precept (See “Five Precepts” … to be added later), and time and again, I gave a resounding yes. Drinking wine, beer, alcohol, or taking any form of intoxicants dulls one’s mind, impairs judgements, if not now, it develops one’s inclination towards such mental states in the future, be it tomorrow, next week, year or life.
Sometimes people tell me that they have to drink because they are in sales or because of certain social settings. It seem as though we do not have a choice. But do we take beer, wine, hard liquor, or anything that is offered? How about gin, rum or vodka? The fact is that we do say no to certain drinks. We do have a choice. If we can say no to one type of alcohol drink, we can say no to them all.
But why do we refrain from alcohol? We mentioned earlier about impairment of our judgement. Under the influence of alcohol, we may make the wrong choices or act wilfully, harming others and ourselves, breaking any of the first four precepts. While most find it difficult to relate to themselves commiting murder etc through drinking, more often than not, it’s through an accident.
Fatal accidents through drunk driving take away more lives than terrorism and many other forms of diseases. And it is not just the person who drank, but innocent bystanders or passengers in other vehicles who get badly hurt or killed in these accidents.
Whether it is drunk driving, speeding or texting while driving, please do the right thing. Stop. Spare a thought for others and yourself. Think of your loved ones who will be hurt deeply should you get into an accident. Think of others’ family who would be devastated.
Drive safely. If you are driving, don’t speed, text or drink.
For that matter, don’t drink. Think about it, do you really need that drink? If you need that vitamin red wine offers, try Ribena drink or fresh grapes!