Subscribe to RSS.
Become a Fan on Facebook
Follow on Twitter (Named #1 in US 4 Green)
Subscribe to Free Weekly E-Newsletter
Get on Elephant
Mindful Drinking? (Vajrayana tradition: Alcohol & Buddhism)
I spent a year and a half living up at Shambhala Mountain Center, and when I wanted a break I headed to a dark, smoky bar called the Red Feather Café [recently burned down—ed.]. The Café isn’t the only dive bar in western Larimer County, Colorado, but it is the only one with two pool tables, good service and great pub food. Half of the regulars are the local ranchers. The other half are fellow Buddhists from Shambhala Mountain. Almost any night ofthe week, I could find both ranchers and Buddhists shooting pool at one of the two tables or sitting at the bar, matching each other drink for drink.
The basic Buddhist teachings on alcohol consumption are quite clear. Alcohol, the Buddha taught more than 2,000 years ago, is a poison that clouds the inherent clarity of the mind. That timeless logic would explain why, if you visit a typical American Buddhist community or meditation center, you are likely to be entering an alcohol-free zone.
Yet there is no prohibition on frequenting the Café or even on drinking alcohol at Shambhala Mountain. While public consumption of hard liquor is verboten, wine and beer are regularly offered at private parties, public events and special dinners—places you see alcohol in regular American life. It wasn’t long before I started wondering: “Why wasn’t my Buddhist retreat center on the wagon?”
The answer, like most involving Buddhist practices, lies in the particular lineage of teachings represented at Shambhala Mountain. Acharya [senior teacher] Bill McKeever, Shambhala Mountain’s resident teacher a few years back, explained how drinking alcohol in certain contexts is considered one of the many advanced practices offered in Shambhala’s Tibetan Vajrayana tradition. It is called “mindful drinking.”
Here’s the basic idea: once a meditator has developed basic Buddhist discipline (known as Hinayana training) and adopted the intention to dedicate his or her life to benefit others (the Mahayana view) the practitioner is ready to incorporate Vajrayana teachings, in which the simple prohibitions outlined in traditional Buddhist sutras are re-evaluated. When a meditator reaches this point, which usually takes a number of years, a dangerous substance like alcohol is viewed—within a context of strong discipline and clear intention—not as a conventional escape, but instead as a tool for loosening the subtle clinging of ego.
“Imagine you are enjoying a picnic in a beautiful spot with your lover,”McKeever told me. “You want for nothing in this situation.”If you choose to drink at this moment, theoretically, you have no reason to overdo it. You’ll drink just enough to relax, to appreciate your situation and, as McKeever puts it, “to help your ego go to sleep.”
That is why for centuries, in the Kagyü lineage monasteries scattered across the high plains of Tibet, monks incorporated alcohol into their esoteric Vajrayana practices. When one of those Vajrayana lamas, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, fled Tibet during the Chinese invasion of the country, he brought his teachings—including those on the use of alcohol—to the West.
Every other summer, more than 100 people gather at Shambhala Mountain to become full-fledged Vajrayana practitioners. In the 70s and 80s—long before the Dalai Lama visited Central Park—Chögyam Trungpa taught Buddhism in North America, establishing hundreds of meditation centers, including this rustic retreat in the Rockies. For many people, Vajrayana Seminary is the culminating event after years of study and practice. The students meet every morning in a large white tent in the center of campus, and spend their days mixing meditation, lectures and study groups. At some point, they are given a lesson in mindful drinking.
As a relatively new student who has not yet attended Vajrayana seminary, I’ve never experienced this lesson, but I’ve been told that it is much different than a night at the bar. Imagine people seated in a meditation position with cups of sake in front of them. McKeever recalled the lessons Trungpa Rinpoche offered him decades ago: “He had us take three sips and then look at the effect on our mind. ‘Have you relaxed?’ he’d ask. ‘Is your mind extending into space? If so, stop there.’”The goal of drinking mindfully is to bring full awareness to every sip.
Once instructed in this setting, Vajrayana students begin incorporating the practice into regular ritual feasts, which are not unlike Jewish Passover seders, where alcohol is served. “If you’re really paying attention to alcohol’s effect on your mind, those feasts can be illuminating,”one Vajrayana student told me. “Literally, everything is brighter.”The practice acknowledges an intuitive truth: a little alcohol can be a useful thing.
The problem out in the real world is that it can be hard to know where the line between utility and abuse lies. It turns out that, despite their mindful drinking lessons, it’s hard for Buddhists, too. “When the formal feasts work, they can be great. But sometimes people drink too much and it can be a disaster,”said John Ohm, a resident at Shambhala Mountain, a Vajrayana practitioner and a recovering alcoholic.
That’s in a formal setting. The issue gets even muddier in plain old social contexts. Few Buddhists claim to be practicing “mindful drinking”when I see them out at the Café. The community is remarkably tolerant of drunkenness—it’s about as prevalent up there as it was when I lived in New York. When a visitor or a new arrival inevitably questions the drinking, it is common for an old hand to justify excessive behavior by explaining that Shambhala Mountain is a “Vajrayana practice community.”
Chögyam Trungpa was by all accounts a prolific drinker. McKeever said that Trungpa implored his students to follow his teachings, not his personal embodiment of them. It was a distinction that many students missed. “We just didn’t get it,” he told me. “Because we’re Buddhists we think we’re special. But drunkenness is drunkenness.”
Ohm pointed out that mindful drinking should be seen as one valid tool within a vast tradition—and a dangerous one for people with an alcohol problem. “Alcohol is suicide for some people,” he said. “‘Mindful drinking’can be such an easy excuse.”
Vajrayana practitioners need only remember the context of the mindful drinking lesson in order to use it correctly. Ohm recalls a comment made by a fellow recovering alcoholic Buddhist: “When I get to the point where I can walk through fire or fly through the air, then I’m ready to try drinking again.”
Without the formal Vajrayana lessons, most of us are left to get the gist on our own. But the heart of this teaching, like so many of the Buddhist instructions, is easily accessible for any individual willing to maintain an open, honest perspective.
Before I left Shambhala Mountain, I turned a few visits to the Café into my own mindful drinking laboratory. On the nights when I ordered one or two beers, I noticed that I felt relaxed and open. If I picked up a pool cue, I could even hang in a game with the ranchers. Then there were nights when I ordered that third or fourth beer. When that happened, my mood vacillated. And my pool game? Don’t ask. 
The above is conservatively adapted from the original, which first appeared on beliefnet.com.
Ted Rose is the director of Business Development for Renewable Choice, a clean energy company. His audio commentaries have appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered. For more: ted_rose@mindspring.com
thank you. excellent.
No real lama would ever advise breaking one of the most basic tenants of buddhism: the 5 precepts, which speak specifically against alcohol and all other intoxicants, in any amount.
Maybe that is why Chögyam Trungpa is nothing more than an example of the bad karmas and decisions destroying the brightest of minds. Even he could not control himself. What lama would ever lead and not follow?
If you want to know the truth about buddha's teachings, they are easy to find. You may also consult the dalai lama's teachings.
If you want to continue to take intoxicants and call yourself buddhist, you will need to look away from buddhism and back into delusion.
I second what you said, because nowadays many Buddhist wannabees think they are doing the right thing by drinking. Buddhsim derives from sharmanas religions, which also forms Jainism. In their ORIGINAL religion, the drinking of alcohol is considered as blasphemy, and they believe that the drinker's face will be "carved" with "Drinker" in the hereafter.
Thank you for this balanced take on a controversial topic within the Shambhala and Vajrayana Buddhist traditions.
As you said, mindful drinking is just one potential choice in working with craving around alcohol consumption, or indeed any addiction. Asceticism is another choice. Both of these paths have plenty of "fallen" practitioners, as well as those who have found freedom through their particular method. It truly is a challenging path to be neither puritanical nor indulgent with regards to addictive substances and behaviors.
I personally would like to see more direct calling out of excessive drinking within the Vajrayana tradition. There is a fine line between mindful awareness of one's addictive cravings and rationalizing one's vices as virtues.
Truly mindful drinking transforms one's relationship with alcohol, whether that mindfulness occurs with consumption of alcohol or in mindful abstention from consumption. The proof is in the practitioner's equanimity.
May all beings be happy,
~Duff
alcohol and buddhism do not mix – ever – as Peter said, if you think it's okay to drink alcohol (even just a social drink) then you are only deluding yourself.
How do you figure that alcohol and Buddhism do not ever mix? By what criteria have you determined this view?
Curiously yours,
~Duff
1.I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking life.Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
2.I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking what is not given.Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
3.I undertake the training rule to abstain from sexual misconduct.Kāmesu micchācāra veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
4.I undertake the training rule to abstain from false speech.Musāvāda veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
5.I undertake the training rule to abstain from drinks [and drugs] that cause heedlessness.[4]Surā-meraya-majja-pamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi
I am currently here at Shambhala Mountain center and as I just posted the Basic 5 precepts of Buddhism I can assure you that at least 4 of the 5 are probably being broken here daily. Having just arrived yesterday I have heard the F word at least a dozen times along with numerous other profanities.
The place is very unorganized and messy looking, but I will say there is some serious work at reorganizing going on.
Meat is served at nearly every meal.
Idle chatter is everywhere.
I have already been snapped at angrily by someone once.
To call what is happening here, 'Buddhism' is purely false, although it may be an entrance into the path for people more likely to steer away from the actual Buddhist teachings, because of the many undisciplined minds of so many westerners.
Chögyam Trungpa's old residence burnt to the ground this April and this is of course a sign of the terrible karma surrounding him and his lineage so far.
All in all I would say this is an authentic Black Lodge of degradation and misleading teachings that so many lost souls are very attracted to these days. It has many beautiful teachings of authentic Buddhism with absolute inverted beliefs and habits woven in, unfortunately.
The lineage holder now may be on the right track but I personally will never take a Shambhala course while working here as I do not want the Karmic connection with them.
It doesn't mean this is a bad place compared to the rest of the world.
It is just exactly like the rest of the world. A great place to truly practice the authentic teachings with discipline.
It is not what we get from a place, but what we bring
love and laughter…
I want to clarify that black lodge is a reference to any teaching that isn't pure. So that makes most teachings and schools on the Earth today Black with the potential to become White. I also want to apologize for saying this as it is only an opinionated observation on my part. Shambhala is a beautiful setting and has a lovely Stupa.
It just needs more discipline is all.
God Bless Everyone
Maybe a different view can shed light on Trungpa's teachings.
I do not believe that he was saying that alcohol was helpful to achieving mindfulness. Rather he was saying that with correct mindfulness one could observe the effects of alcohol on the body without losing one's focus. One could learn to observe a poison in the body and not have the poison destroy one's ability to function.
That poison might bring about various changes – some beneficial others not – on the physical system but that was not critical to the awareness of a Buddha.
From the higher level view of Vajrayana we should be able to operate a body in any state – in other words, the condition of the body does not determine the condition of mind—as we have achieved a cessation of attachment to the aggregates.
For those who have not achieved the fruits of this level of practice it would not be wise to include alcohol.
As for the house burning down reflecting bad karma, I would disagree. Given the choice, Trungpa might well have burned it down himself. He did not desire iconic symbols of his presence.
That said, years ago, I noticed that little was left of Trungpa's original presence and depth of teachings. Not unexpected as good teachers go pretty much unnoticed today. They are like a breeze blowing through an open window in Spring. A few students will be carried away on the breeze while most students will just notice a tickle on the back of their neck.
Wow. I am vowed to celebrate tantric feasting on the 10th and the 25th of the lunar month. Sorry for some of you – that includes flesh food and alcohol. Transforming poison is the way of the tantrikas – the Mahasiddha path. Many of us may fail. I do not blame the Mahasiddhas or Chogyam Trungpa. The tantric way is just one way…