1
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Speaking about alcohol, let's say I got an advice for people that don't drink, like they don't want to look too religious to others, let's say, because I certainly don't like when somebody like, anyway, if somebody wants to go out or somewhere, just go drink two up to three beers, you're not going to get drunk, and it's a good solution.

2
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It's not bad if you just get two beers just to, you know,

3
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show that you can drink, but not to the extent that you get drunk.

4
00:00:36,113 --> 00:00:39,456
Well, even if it were that simple, I would say no.

5
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If I go around telling people to, or simply put, you're setting a bad example for people.

6
00:00:51,067 --> 00:00:55,752
You are reinforcing the belief that drinking is okay.

7
00:00:56,472 --> 00:01:00,396
So even if you weren't getting drunk as a result of drinking two beers, which

8
00:01:00,832 --> 00:01:01,793
Actually, you are.

9
00:01:01,833 --> 00:01:05,238
Even the smallest bit of alcohol, it makes you the smallest bit drunk.

10
00:01:05,278 --> 00:01:09,404
There's not a line or something.

11
00:01:09,705 --> 00:01:10,786
Whoops, now I'm drunk.

12
00:01:12,128 --> 00:01:13,770
It comes gradually.

13
00:01:14,271 --> 00:01:17,175
You're not going to get drunk.

14
00:01:17,936 --> 00:01:19,038
But do you understand what I'm saying?

15
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There is no such thing as drunk.

16
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Drunk is just a line in the sand.

17
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The more you drink, the more drunk you are.

18
00:01:25,427 --> 00:01:27,750
It's not a line where suddenly, whoops, I'm drunk.

19
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Up until this point, I was fine, but suddenly, boom, I'm drunk.

20
00:01:31,590 --> 00:01:32,611
No, it's not like that.

21
00:01:32,631 --> 00:01:33,252
It's poison.

22
00:01:33,933 --> 00:01:34,754
So it poisons you.

23
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If you have a little bit of poison, you're a little bit poisoned.

24
00:01:37,658 --> 00:01:39,340
I mean, I'm talking from experience.

25
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I've been there.

26
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I'm a bit of a lush myself, but I can hear where that person's coming from, saying, so hungover, they don't have much to add to the discussion.

27
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Pickled.

28
00:01:56,864 --> 00:01:56,944
Hmm.

29
00:01:57,582 --> 00:01:59,885
It's always unpleasant.

30
00:02:00,366 --> 00:02:02,869
It's always unpleasant when somebody asks me to drink something.

31
00:02:02,889 --> 00:02:04,611
But there's so much more to it than that as well.

32
00:02:04,931 --> 00:02:06,674
There's the crowd that you're hanging out with.

33
00:02:06,694 --> 00:02:08,816
You're hanging out with people who are drinking as well.

34
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And you're encouraging it.

35
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You're engaged in this situation.

36
00:02:13,763 --> 00:02:15,985
I mean, it's very hard.

37
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Because in real life, let's say you meet with your friends and they really got nothing else to do than get drunk.

38
00:02:28,193 --> 00:02:56,547
And it's just kind of pathetic when you see that you can't deal with your social life in the Buddhist way, really, because people are just, you know, I mean, let's go and get drunk, or let's smoke weed, but weed is all right, because it's not messing you, I mean, it doesn't give you, it might show you some reality, at least, might show you that,

39
00:02:56,830 --> 00:02:58,812
Your mind is... You're talking about marijuana?

40
00:02:59,973 --> 00:03:01,274
Yes, yes, yes, yes.

41
00:03:01,415 --> 00:03:02,355
Showing your reality.

42
00:03:04,478 --> 00:03:19,392
I mean, it might show you... It might show you some sort of... You know, I mean... Some people say, hey... No, some people say, oh, I don't smoke really because I don't feel good.

43
00:03:19,693 --> 00:03:20,754
I say, you know what?

44
00:03:20,774 --> 00:03:23,336
Because every day, that's how you feel every day.

45
00:03:23,416 --> 00:03:24,998
That's what I think.

46
00:03:25,687 --> 00:03:29,913
So I think that marijuana is not that bad in social life.

47
00:03:35,260 --> 00:03:40,848
Yeah, I mean, if social life is the goal, it's not that bad.

48
00:03:40,868 --> 00:03:42,029
Well, it's not a goal.

49
00:03:42,710 --> 00:03:53,685
I mean, I don't have a need for social life, but sometimes in front of your situation...

50
00:03:54,712 --> 00:03:58,276
that you basically become a loner.

51
00:04:00,519 --> 00:04:02,521
You know what I mean?

52
00:04:02,541 --> 00:04:02,881
Sounds wonderful.

53
00:04:02,901 --> 00:04:09,889
Yeah, well, I think it's like, what are people going to think about me, you know what I mean?

54
00:04:10,810 --> 00:04:12,892
Well, that doesn't sound very skillful a thought.

55
00:04:14,014 --> 00:04:16,116
Yeah, it doesn't sound very good.

56
00:04:16,136 --> 00:04:20,301
Do I want them to think that I'm normal, you know what I mean?

57
00:04:20,321 --> 00:04:22,423
Is that a skillful thought or an unskillful thought?

58
00:04:23,703 --> 00:04:26,287
Is that a skillful desire or an unskillful desire?

59
00:04:26,968 --> 00:04:40,407
You see, I stopped drinking a long time ago, but if somebody asked me, I came to the conclusion, like, I'd rather have two beers and have it off my back, that why I don't drink and why this, you know.

60
00:04:40,587 --> 00:04:47,938
You could open up a whole new line of conversation if you could talk to people about...

61
00:04:48,205 --> 00:04:57,056
A great reason if people want to avoid that kind of thing, you could say it's because I want to take care of the other people who are drinking.

62
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Be the designated driver, for example.

63
00:05:00,941 --> 00:05:09,071
Because I'm much happier when I can take care of people, when I'm in full control of my senses.

64
00:05:10,974 --> 00:05:16,120
What an opportunity you're missing by becoming drunk to...

65
00:05:18,091 --> 00:05:20,654
Well, to laugh at drunk people is possible.

66
00:05:20,674 --> 00:05:24,920
But no, to help or to be the designated driver, for example.

67
00:05:26,041 --> 00:05:38,157
But, you know, you're in the wrong crowd if you've got to, you know, if your friends can't, what was this thing, if your friends can't have fun without drinking, you need new friends.

68
00:05:39,138 --> 00:05:42,182
I mean, that's about, I'm talking about population here.

69
00:05:42,242 --> 00:05:43,564
I'm not talking about friends.

70
00:05:44,606 --> 00:05:45,607
I'm talking about your people.

71
00:05:45,687 --> 00:05:46,528
I'm talking about

72
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The whole society.

73
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Lots of good people.

74
00:05:50,707 --> 00:05:51,549
Look at the people here.

75
00:05:51,709 --> 00:05:52,470
We're not drinking.

76
00:05:54,072 --> 00:05:56,656
Yeah, that's why I'm here.

77
00:05:58,759 --> 00:05:59,400
Well, there you go.

78
00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:00,702
Find a better society.

79
00:06:02,304 --> 00:06:05,489
There's more to it than that.

80
00:06:05,549 --> 00:06:08,954
Really, the key is when you drink two beers, you become two beers drunk.

81
00:06:09,595 --> 00:06:10,356
It's a bad idea.

82
00:06:11,281 --> 00:06:28,125
Sorry about it, but if you have really light fears... Sorry about it, I'm not... Just stating that it's a shame in many ways, because what it does to your mind and your...

83
00:06:28,898 --> 00:06:54,737
idea of what's right and so on and you know the dulled state that it brings to drink and the opportunities that are missed to change your life to change your society that would be forced by having to confront this by having to draw the line in the sand and say no I won't cross this

84
00:06:55,291 --> 00:07:20,404
you know i have no problem i don't know i'm so confident about it because i believe well then start this conversation i don't want to i mean start the conversation i don't drink and and here's the reason why yeah but it sounds like um it makes me uh feel like i'm old you know what i mean like choose the path

85
00:07:21,498 --> 00:07:23,160
Choose the path that you want to follow.

86
00:07:23,421 --> 00:07:28,368
If you want to follow the social life, the friends and everything along those lines, then follow the path.

87
00:07:28,869 --> 00:07:34,397
If you want to follow the Buddha's teachings and follow that path, you have to make a choice.

88
00:07:34,417 --> 00:07:36,680
You can't have a bit of one and a bit of the other.

89
00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:45,393
You see, I wasn't drinking for two years.

90
00:07:45,433 --> 00:07:46,915
I stopped drinking two years ago.

91
00:07:47,047 --> 00:07:50,130
And I committed myself to this because I used to drink a lot.

92
00:07:50,150 --> 00:07:50,810
I'm from Poland.

93
00:07:51,111 --> 00:07:53,333
I started drinking vodka when I was 11.

94
00:07:54,073 --> 00:08:02,641
So I know quite a lot about drinking, not to mention my family and many other families.

95
00:08:03,582 --> 00:08:12,230
But I'm confident to that point that I can drink and by no means enjoy it.

96
00:08:12,851 --> 00:08:14,252
And I was like...

97
00:08:14,485 --> 00:08:29,938
I was after two years not drinking, my mate asked me like, hey, let's go have a few, because he had some problem with something, and let's have some, I help you, let's go and have a good time, have some beers.

98
00:08:30,860 --> 00:08:34,688
And I drank those, these two beers, three beers.

99
00:08:35,140 --> 00:08:40,190
And I was like, I didn't enjoy it, you know?

100
00:08:40,210 --> 00:08:42,915
I mean, I didn't like it.

101
00:08:42,935 --> 00:08:49,027
You're only talking from within your own... Sorry, I don't mean to sound too hard, but I just like to argue.

102
00:08:49,087 --> 00:08:56,001
I don't mean to come down on you, but just the point that I would observe is that

103
00:08:56,723 --> 00:09:20,385
you you can only we can only look at our own position we can only look from our own position we can't look from outside and see what actually is going on and I would be willing to bet and I'm not trying to be harder like some religious person saying no bad you but I'm willing to bet just as a you know kind of a friendly wager that if you did stop if you did

104
00:09:21,547 --> 00:09:27,535
go to the extent of not drinking those two beers.

105
00:09:27,595 --> 00:09:34,043
Or let's talk about someone who does that on a weekly basis, say, because for you it might just be whenever the occasion occurs.

106
00:09:34,364 --> 00:09:42,675
But suppose someone said, well, every weekend I have a couple of beers with my friends, that if they stopped doing that, it would change their life in some meaningful way.

107
00:09:42,715 --> 00:09:48,903
Maybe not a huge, profound way, but in a meaningful way by stopping that, their life would change.

108
00:09:49,143 --> 00:09:51,486
Their mind would be affected.

109
00:09:51,905 --> 00:09:54,569
And moreover, their surroundings would be affected.

110
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The other people would be affected.

111
00:09:56,472 --> 00:09:57,593
Their whole life would change.

112
00:09:57,713 --> 00:09:59,917
So the rules are sikapada.

113
00:10:00,317 --> 00:10:04,723
They're rules of training or they're paths of training.

114
00:10:05,484 --> 00:10:08,148
They're for the purpose of leading you onward.

115
00:10:08,769 --> 00:10:12,535
They're not to just maintain the status quo and not go to hell.

116
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They're a means of enlightening you.

117
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The concentration that comes from morality, morality is what leads to concentration, and the concentration which comes from morality that is properly developed is of great benefit.