Meditation and Wine: Do They Really Work Together?
If you've not lived on the planet Mars for the last 1000 years, then you may have heard of the benefits of an ancient spiritual practice called "meditation". It is especially present in Buddhism, although all major religions include states of mind of intense concentration, which are more or less on the same vibration: in Christianity we have the prayer, in Quran we have the "jihad" (mistakenly translated as "war" most of the time) and so on.
But it's only in Buddhism that this practice has the goal of "ungluing" the practitioner from the trap of his own illusions. As such, meditation requires absolute purity, both mental and physical.
If you decide to practice Buddhism in a more applied way, you usually join a "sangha", or a community of people, and take some "vows" (that's the general process by which one layman person becomes a monk or a nun, but you can, however, practice Buddhism as a lay person as well, there's no pressure). One of these vows pertains to refraining from "intoxicants".
Alcohol is one of them.
So, as a Buddhist monk, you're required to abstain completely from booze.
But is it this "completely" word really "completely"?
I just read an article about the mixing of meditation with wine, which seems to have been a relatively common practice, or, as the author calls it, a "tradition": the ancient art of imbibing. It seems that in old Chinese poetry there are quite a few references of contemplation mixed with a little bit of wine. Like this one:
“Three cups and I’ve plumbed the great Way, / a jarful and I’ve merged with occurrence / appearing of itself ” (trans. David Hinton).
As a really heavy drinker in my early twenties, I know how dangerous this path can be. Once you get into the habit of mixing it, the attachment is there: you will perceive that one doesn't go without the other.
So, in a way, being able to mix them gently, without craving too much the necessity of one to make the other one appear, it's a very difficult, yet somehow more rewarding task.
If I made you curious, just click the link above and see how much you resonate with the thoughts of the author.
You are allowed to have half of glass of wine while you're doing this.
Or so I think.
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
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I would like to add something to the discussion here. Jihad has rightly mentioned by you as not being 'war' because it basically means struggle for good. Any struggle for good is called Jihad and it includes self-control against bad or criminal traits of personality. Biggest jihad is the struggle against our ownselves; the evil part of our personalities.
However, the meditation and peace is brought by another Quranic concept called Dhikr. It translates to remembrance and means remembrance of God. Thats is what brings assurity. There are many forms of it. Here's the verse.
"Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured." (Quran, Chapter 13: Verse 28)
As far as wine or intoxicants are concerned, they are the exact opposites of Quranic meditation. So much so that remembrance of God is mentioned in the same verse as intoxicants or gambling. Here's the exact verse.
"Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. So will you not desist?" (Quran, Chapter 5: Verse 91)
I hope my comment has added to your knowledge, as well as brought value to this post.
Keep sharing the amazing stuff @dragosroua. I love reading from you. Read a post after many weeks.
Thank you for your contribution, really appreciate this comment :)
Welcome
Interesting idea, but I think perhaps cannabis is better suited to the task.
Probably :)
yes sir :)
My thoughts exactly!
seems like you do vipashna, you might be quite mysterious, 🤔
I do believe that alcohol does the same to your pineal gland which meditation do,
May be there are easy ways to open our third eye, I wish to know a few 😃
A glass of wine is definitely a benefit, if of course that glass doesn't become two and so on. It's tricky not overdoing it :)
@dragosroua - oh my goodness there is no meditation with wine or alcohol Sir.
+W+ [UpVoted]
@dragosroua,
There is no link between Meditation and Wine! It just some kind of bad joke! meditation helps us to control our mind, just imagine you were drunk and try meditation. You better sleep, that's not the meditation! I know this, I am from Sri Lanka and a Buddhist also!
Nice discussion but I think if real meditation then it has no bond with wine or any kind of alcohol!
Cheers~
Did you have a look at the article linked?
@dragosroua,
A big joke this is not "Therawada Buddhism", the pure "Buddhism is Therawada", this is "Mahayana"! It says tricycle, a big joke Lord Buddha never said something like this! Buddhism is controlling mind, the tool of controlling mind is meditation. Mindfulness is the key of it! just imagine Wine and Mindfulness :D A big joke!
Cheers~
Thanks for your comment :)
@dragosroua,
You are welcome friend!
@dragosroua,
Reading... wait
Haha perhaps. Both are seperate enjoyment for our body and mind 😁
i dont think so both have their own enjoyment...... and who had lived on the planet mars ?? :O
No more words.....
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Idea and smart work by @dragosroua
Upvoted...
cheers~~~~~
I the area of the quran, if i may ask. How did you get to know that it is a mistake calling jihad war?
from Wikipedia. I'm not a great supporter nor a good student of this religion, I just try to get information that is unbiased.
Are you a muslim? If you are not, i don't think it matters if a non-muslim sees jihad has been mis-interprited has war however objective the person tries to be. The reality on ground is that even their islamic clerics see jihad as war and when any a muslim fights or a terrorist muslim strikes they call it jihad. So i belief that it is only if a person is a muslim, he can know whether jihad means war or not because There are other verses in the quran that connects jihad to be referred to has war not just the word jihad alone, which is only a muslim that would know.