This is another example of how Chinese Master Hsuan Hua weaves basic Buddhist teachings within his commentary on the Lotus Sutra. This comes from Chapter 4, Faith and Understanding.

There are five precepts: no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no false speech, and no taking intoxicants. Some people might say, “One should refrain from killing and stealing. Sexual misconduct is a little harder, but one should also refrain from it. Lying is no good, one should refrain from it. But what problem is there with drinking alcohol or taking intoxicants? Why include that in the precepts? The Buddha must have made a mistake when he set up the precepts. Drinking alcohol should not be prohibited.”

Do you think this reasoning is correct? It may seem to have some logic, but it is actually completely wrong. Alcohol confuses the mind. Once you drink, you might kill or steal, even though you normally would not have. You might have completely abstained from sexual misconduct; however, when you are drunk, your mind gets confused and your desires are inflamed. You might lie too. Before you are drunk, you are clear that you have taken the five precepts and that you should not lie. But when you are drunk, you may deny breaking the precepts even though you did, thereby lying in the process. So then you have broken the precept against lying as well.

This reminds me of a story about the five precepts. There was a layman who took the five precepts and decided to stop drinking. He did not drink for two or three years, until the urge suddenly hit him one day. He thought, “Killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and lying are definitely to be avoided. But it is not going to make any difference if I drink a little wine.” He bought some wine, took it home, and got ready to drink.

Chinese people drink wine differently from Westerners. Instead of going to a bar and downing glass after glass without eating anything, Chinese people like to have some appetizer to go with their wine. This layman got some wine to drink, but there was no appetizer to go with it. Quite coincidentally, the neighbor’s chicken ran over to his house. When he saw it, he thought, “If I deep-fry the chicken, it will taste quite good with the wine. This is perfect!” Since he had already had some wine and wanted to drink some more, he forgot that killing was against the precepts. He wanted an appetizer to go with the wine, and the little chicken came at the right time. He thought, “This is a gift heaven sent me to go with the wine. Perhaps god has pitied me for not drinking for so long and has sent me this chicken to go with the wine.” Without a second thought, he cut off the chicken’s head and poured boiling water over it to remove the feathers. Then he deep-fried it with oil and salt until it was crispy. He started to eat it with the wine. The more he ate, the better the chicken tasted and the more he enjoyed the wine. Since he had not had chicken for a long time, he was so carried away that he even ate the chicken bones. He was about ninety percent drunk when the neighbor lady knocked on his door. “Did my chicken come this way? Did you see it?” she asked him.

The neighbor came to look for her chicken, which he had already devoured. If he admitted that he had killed and eaten the chicken, his neighbor would certainly not forgive him. Therefore, he lied by saying, “No, I did not see a chicken.”

Because he drank, he had broken the precepts against killing and stealing. Even though the chicken ran over on its own, he still took it and killed it without the owner’s permission. If stealing is defined as taking without permission, this counts as stealing. When the owner came to look for her chicken, he said he did not see it and thus broke the precept against lying too. By this time, he had broken four of the five precepts. Since he was drunk, lust arose in him. When he saw how pretty the neighbor lady was, he locked the door behind her and raped her. Thus, he broke all five precepts. Because he drank wine, he broke the other four precepts. So in Buddhism there is a precept against alcohol and intoxicants, which you must not break.