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    What's in the Mix? Paid Member

    Zen Abbot Bodhin Kjolhede Do enlightenment and alcohol mix? No. That's the short answer. But let's define our terms. There are many people who might consider themselves "drunks" who haven't touched alcohol in years. But here I take the definition of "a drunk" to be based on behavior, current behavior—someone who consistently drinks to excess. And when you say "enlightened" I take that to mean someone who's fully enlightened. Not just an awakening experience or two, but someone with the goods. Excessive drinking reveals a craving that would not be there if one were fully realized. Enlightenment is about freedom—not freedom to play out one's cravings, but freedom from one's cravings. If one would uproot the dualistic sense of self and other, then he or she would not feel the compulsion to drink to excess. That person would feel complete without needing a substance that is potentially destructive. Excessive drinking is destructive. More »
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    With Your Hair on Fire Paid Member

    By Moderated by William (Bill) Alexander
    Bill Alexander: 56, New Jersey, sober since 1984, Zen practice since 1991, author of Cool Water Alcoholism, Mindfulness, and Ordinary Recovery Mollie Brodsky: 35, New Jersey, sober since 1981, Zen practice since 1991, program director of a statewide substance abuse care initiative providing treatment for welfare-to-work clients Linda Jones: 41, Massachusetts, sober since 1987, Tibetan practice since 1986, certified social worker and Director of Quality Management for Mental Health Services, Riverside Community Care Lida Sims: 52, Georgia, sober since 1997, Tibetan practice since 1977, founder of the Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta, Georgia Richard Walker: 67, New York, sober since 1970, vipassana practice since 1974, real estate broker Sandra Weinberg: 62, New York, sober since 1974, vipassana practice since 1977, psychotherapist and addiction counselor More »
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    Remembering Roshi Paid Member

    By Pat Enkyo O'Hara
    I remember a three-month training period at Zen Mountain Center, when I was the chiden, the caretaker of altars and offerings. It was during the summer months, when the shaded gully of the San Jacinto mountains holds the heat of the surrounding Southern California desert. During a very formal memorial service, as I was carrying a tray of elegant, lacquered wooden offering cups between the Meditation Hall and the Buddha Hall, one of them toppled over. It bounced off the surface of the zendo deck onto some rocks. Scrambling after it, I saw that a chip was missing, exposing the red wood beneath like an angry scar, gashing the polished surface. I was devastated and desperately wanted to repair it, to replace it, to make good the damage done. I decided to order a new one from Japan and that evening in the dokusan room, I told this to Maezumi Roshi. He said, "Why! With the chip it is more valuable. See, just as it is." More »
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    Taking the Leap Paid Member

    By China Galland
    The rose of a Pacific Ocean sunset poured through the windows as I woke up. I had fallen asleep on the living room couch shortly before dinner. Our house hung on a coastal hillside above a narrow beach. The tide was in below when I asked my then fourteen-year-old daughter to pour another glass of wine for me and for the first time, she refused. Her unwillingness created a split-second crack in the denial of what I had long suspected and had been watching as I sat morning zazen: I was in trouble and the trouble was alcohol. More »
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    Close Friends Paid Member

    The Serenity Prayer God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. Jill: I started drinking before I got involved with Buddhism. Rose: We were both trying to become yoga teachers at a center in the East Coast. We had to stop drinking and not eat meat. Jill: And then our future Buddhist teacher came and turned it all around. He was invited to talk there. It must have been '70 or '71. I noticed he smoked and drank, and I was thrilled. Rose: And that was just how I grew up. Everyone in my family drank. I never even thought about it. Drinking was normal. In my social background, it was the way people dealt with feelings. So I didn't get into Buddhism to figure out anything about my drinking. I got interested in following a spiritual path when I realized that there was something to karma. I had had an abortion. More »
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    From A to Z Paid Member

    By William Alexander
    The Twelve Steps 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 5. Admitted to God, ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 8. Made a list of all person we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. More »