Item 5 in Five Buddhist Precepts

Refrain from Intoxicants Causing Heedlessness

Undertake to avoid intoxicants insofar as they produce heedlessness and increase the risk of other harmful conduct.

Position
5
Form
Prohibition
Obligation
Strong duty
Wording status
Editorial paraphrase
Intended audience
Lay Buddhist practitioners
Last reviewed
28 June 2026

Names and terminology

Canonical name: Refrain from Intoxicants Causing Heedlessness

Original term: Surāmeraya-majja-pamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī

Source wording

Editorial paraphrase: Undertake to avoid intoxicants insofar as they produce heedlessness and increase the risk of other harmful conduct.

Editorial paraphrase

Literal meaning

Undertake to avoid intoxicants insofar as they produce heedlessness and increase the risk of other harmful conduct.

Broader interpretation

Traditions differ over total abstinence, medicinal use and substances not known in the ancient textual setting.

Ethical purpose

To shape conduct or character in a way consistent with the wider ethical framework.

Modern application

Modern application requires attention to consent, rights, evidence, foreseeable harm and changing social conditions.

Criticism and difficult cases

Application can become difficult when this principle conflicts with another duty, when harm is indirect, or when ancient social assumptions do not fit modern conditions.

Truth By Reason analysis

Truth By Reason assesses this principle according to evidence, rights, intentions, foreseeable consequences and consistency with the treatment of all affected beings.

Ethical themes

  • Intoxicants
  • Self-control

Sources