Alcohol, drugs and
recovery
Jason Jellison March
2017, The Phuket News
One day, a man was interviewing the Dalai
Lama. He asked him, “What is your biggest concern about man?” The
Dalai Lama wisely replied with but a word. “Man,” he
said.
The Dalai Lama went on to explain that he was
speaking of misplaced priorities. He observed that man goes about
life in a rather fruitless pattern.
First, he sacrifices his health in the pursuit
of money. Then, he spends money in the effort to repair his ruined
health.
Next, he worries about the future so much that
he ignores the present. As a result, he never really lives in
either the present or the future.
He simply treads water adrift a river of
chaos, all the while totally oblivious to the fact that he will
someday die. Finally, he dies – never having really lived at
all.
These words from the Dalai Lama are succinct
and wise. However, I would observe that man tends to facilitate
this tautology through the vice of alcohol or, more recently,
drugs.
We use it to distract ourselves from the truth
observed by the Dalai Lama. Intoxicants make us forget about all of
our problems... at least for a while.
Our biggest vice is probably alcohol. We
glorify it. We joke about it. We write songs about it. Yet, we
hardly ever confront it. We gloss over it rather than dress it
down.
There even is a publication entitled The
Alcoholmanac that is circulated in my hometown. I was recently
reading a copy of it when I stumbled upon an advertisement for a
featured bar that is called the Karma Bar & Grill.
Yes, most of us know that Buddhist Karma
refers to the sum of a person’s experiences as it totals in the
measure of the suffering in their current life but, alas, most
Westerners are oblivious to the fact that the Fifth Precept of
Buddha says “Do not use intoxicants.”
Sadly, this tavern unwittingly insults
Buddhism by leading people down the wrong road. America has not
historically been a Buddhist country, so I am rather forgiving when
it comes to their ignorance of Buddhist matters.
However, these insults to the Teachings of
Buddha do more than simply injure the religion. They also
facilitate people into using alcohol and drugs and, as one my
readers recently observed, many of those people readily fall into
addiction.
Last month, one of my readers wrote me to find
out what could be done to help Thai people who fell into drugs and
alcohol. I thought that was an intriguing question and I, too,
wanted to find out more.
Thanks to my translators, I was able to find
some very good answers for the vexing addictions that inevitably
follow failure to recognise the value of Buddha’s Fifth
Precept.
There is a monastery up in Lopburi called Wat
Tham Krabok and it is open to not just Thai addicts, but also
Westerners. While I have never personally been there, I found many
pictures on the Internet of both Thai and Westerners who were in
recovery.
Wat Tham Krabok is often called Thailand’s
“Buddhist Detox Centre” and many celebrities have been there such
as musicians Tim Arnold and Pete Doherty.
Over 100,000 addicts have walked through the
temple doors since it began treating alcohol and drug problems some
60 years ago.
The temple is famous nowadays for treating
yaba addiction, which is more commonly known in the West as speed,
or more technically, methamphetamine.
Its healing monks have even won awards such as
the esteemed Magsaysay Award for Public Service.
People from every walk of life have found
peace at the temple. Ancient words are chanted and a secret herbal
purgative, yaa dtat, is given in the shadow of two dozen stone
Buddha figures.
Surrounded by the warmth of sun-drenched
mountain-stone and the dignity of soaring trees, healing wafts
through the steam that emanates from the daily afternoon steam
baths that addicts take.
Golden Buddhas and oil lanterns are perched
near important buildings, and the healing steam baths are created
from a local grass, yaa kah, as well as morning glory, castor
leaves and citronella.
Amid quieter times, men can be seen tending to
chores underneath golden Buddha statues that easily stand six-times
their own height.
Unlike many Buddhist temples, Wat Tham Krabok
does not seem to be making much of an effort to remain out of the
sight of non-Buddhists.
The temple has an English-language website
that has been translated into five additional languages and its
Abbot, Phra Atikarn Gitiwanno, has several decades of
service.
Although there is no charge and any drug
addict can come, the temple has a charitable foundation which is
called the Tham Krabok Foundation.
Sajja teaching principals are used. Patients
and monks wear dark brown robes at this temple and you must be
willing to stay at least two weeks.
Patients take sacred vows before a monk
whereupon they vow to give-up smoking, injecting drugs and drinking
alcohol forever.
Many patients have found even more peace by
tending to the temple’s garden and chopping wood. One can find the
spirit of teamwork as men use simple tools to acquire new
skills.
Many of the bricks have actually been made on
the land and many men learn ceramics. Patients often play sports
once they start to recover and others get involved in music during
their off time.
However, the experience will be somewhat
different for most foreigners in one key aspect. Westerners usually
don’t know the teachings of Buddha, which is called the
Dharma.
Even though most Thai people will attend more
intense Dharma sessions, Dharma instruction is only once a week for
Westerners so there is no pressure there.
Meditation, however, is every morning and so
is evening chanting. Some patients even have recovered so much that
they became monks themselves.
If you or someone that you know is struggling
with alcohol or drug addiction, Wat Tham Krabok is could offer them
path to recovery.
For more information on Wat Tham Krabok, see
this video at: www.wat-thamkrabok.org
Thai speakers can call: +66 036 266
292.
Read more at
http://www.thephuketnews.com/all-about-buddhism-alcohol-drugs-and-recovery-61291.php#h8H8fvytKx7zqdKZ.99