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Is smoking tobacco acceptable in any school of Buddhism?

2 votes
3 answers
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Is smoking tobacco acceptable in any school of Buddhism? I think it shouldn't be considered acceptable: - because of the fifth precept - because of the first precept (smoking is physically harmful, so trying to logically defend smoking is rationalizing suicide) - and because smoking is addictive. The reality of smoking, as I see it, include: - 400 chemicals poisoning your physical body - pictures of diseased lungs on cigarette packages in Canada - having a parent with emphysema spend the last ten years of life hooked to an oxygen tank - seeing someone die suddenly from a heart attack or complete heart failure - seeing someone go through chemotherapy with toxic chemicals to kill a cancer tumor and the hair loss and vomiting that comes with it - seeing people treated for cancer using radiation therapy that leaves behind second and third degree burns on the skin Also, I think this is not exactly "craving", but rather, "addiction". The power that is has on us is purely a physical addiction: it is not due to the intentions (volition) which the mind creates, it is due to a physical chemical controlling the brain. I find it amazing that Buddhists want to dance around the issue of addiction and their unwillingness to discuss addiction in modern terms. I challenge Buddhists to not hide from modern addiction problems using irrelevant Buddhist philosophy.
Asked by Gary G Pelow (37 rep)
Jan 1, 2017, 10:10 PM
Last activity: Feb 5, 2019, 02:25 AM