Confession

Talisman

I confess having broken a precept. I drank alcohol and in my heedlessness hit a cigarette for the first time in 6 months. Such shame. I feel terrible.

upalabhava

Pick it up, put it down.

Talisman

I'm not sure what you mean by that.

upalabhava

You lit a cigarette, smoked it, and put it out like Tanzan did. That's it. Why keep carrying it around like Ekido?

genkaku

As the Japanese say, fall down seven times, get up eight.

Talisman

I don't plan on holding on to this slip-up any longer than it takes to learn from it. I felt that a confession would help.

Rmurray1985

Heh, unless you're a monk I wouldn't worry about it too much. Lay Buddhists are mostly just to refrain from INDULGING in consumption of alcohol and no misconduct in regards to sexual acts (mostly referring to adultery, but any act of sex that brings harm can be considered misconduct). So, unless you drank a bunch with the intention of getting drunk I wouldn't worry about it.

Hell... During the full/new moon I take a 24 hour vow to uphold the pratimoksha. This last time I went out with some friends during my vow... I didn't have the intention of having a beer, but my friend bought one for me without asking. So, I gladly accepted it and drank it. It was a breach, not necessarily broken.

Confession always helps though. As long as you vow not to make the same mistake again and renew the vow.

Rmurray1985

Also, unless you've formally taken refuge and vowed to uphold the 5-9 precepts before a lama, the karma accumulated isn't as severe. But; nonetheless, having the regret of the action and vowing to not make the mistake again (probably before an image of the buddha)reduces the karma by quite a bit.

Everyone makes mistakes

Roger

I'd look further, deeper. What made you exasperated (I'm not sure if that's the right word) enough to light up and drink up? That might be helpful.

What I'd do to make up for it? Go out on a mission today to commit a "major" random act of kindness.

federica

Nah, I wouldn't go any deeper.
Sometimes, a drink and a cigarette are just a drink and a cigarette.

Digging deeper only makes you dwell on it.
I'd just let it go.

Just my two...

Lostie

It's no big deal, dude.

I drink a pint of stout a day for health reasons and have ciggies daily. It's no big deal really. No confessions needed.

I confess having broken a precept. I drank alcohol and in my heedlessness hit a cigarette for the first time in 6 months. Such shame. I feel terrible.

SteadyBlue

I grew up next to Korean Buddhist monks who chain-smoked, so it can't be bad, can it?

Cristina

This reminds me of a few months ago, when I had my period and was getting really bad cramps. I had resolved before hand not to take any Advil for the pain. For the first hour or so I tried what had been working previously...laying in bed with heating pads, giving my full attention to the pain, giving it love and patience and acceptance. Well I guess I got fed up, and that started to tank, and the pain wasn't gone. After 2 and a half hours or something, I gave in and took Advil. Then I took another one because the first one wasn't working.

I felt so guilty and worthless. But later on I realized I was just being WAY too hard on myself. It's no big deal. We're only human--remember that. Confession is great, but don't blow the mishap out of proportion. I hope your shame passes very quickly.

thickpaper

I confess having broken a precept. I drank alcohol and in my heedlessness hit a cigarette for the first time in 6 months. Such shame. I feel terrible.

Sounds like you might be too attached to the precepts!:) They are sureley about how you choose be, not what was?

Make sure you clean your teeth well!

namaste:)

nanadhaja

Retake it,try not to break.
If you do break it again-refer to my first line.
No guilt here by the way.Let it go.
Merry christmas.
With metta,
Phra Greg