Even in small amounts, intoxicating substances can make us less sensitive, more easily swayed by gross motivations of anger and greed. Some people defend the use of drugs or alcohol, saying that these substances are not so bad. On the contrary, they are very dangerous; they can lead even a good hearted person into forgetfulness. Like accomplices to a crime, intoxicants open the door to a host of problems from just talking nonsense, to inexplicable bursts of rage, to negligence that could be fatal to oneself or others Indeed any intoxicated person is unpredictable. Abstaining from intoxicants is therefore a way of protecting all the other precepts. - Sadyadaw U Pandita
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