บุหรี่ไม่ทำให้เสียสติรุนแรงเท่าสุรา จึงไม่ถือว่าผิดศีลข้อ 5 โดยตรง แต่การเสพติดสร้างความทุกข์ทรมานทั้งเมื่อสูบและเมื่ออด และนำไปสู่อบายภูมิได้ เพราะสร้างบาปให้ทั้งตนเองและผู้อื่นSmoking doesn't cloud the mind as sharply as alcohol does, so it doesn't break the fifth precept outright — but the addiction itself brings constant suffering, in both craving and smoking, and the demerit it creates can lead to a lower realm.
Someone asked whether smoking counts as breaking the fifth precept, since the original Buddhist precepts speak of alcohol — an intoxicant — but don't mention cigarettes directly. So does smoking break the fifth precept in Buddhism, or does it carry some other kind of fault?
The Fifth Precept and the Mind's Normal State
The fifth precept concerns drinking alcohol, which destroys . Once mindfulness is lost, unwholesome states can take hold — it breaks down and blocks what is wholesome, making room for instead.
The word “sila” (precept) means normalcy — maintaining a steady, undisturbed state. A wholesome precept maintains the normal state of what is wholesome; an unwholesome precept maintains the normal state of what is unwholesome; and a neutral precept maintains the normal state of what is neutral. Drinking alcohol destroys this normal state. So when someone can keep to a wholesome precept, they are maintaining that wholesome state in the moment — which counts as cooperating with what is wholesome, drawing inward. That wholesome force then helps draw merit in from a subtle level, correcting the mind and enabling it to overcome the unwholesome pull toward alcohol and other intoxicants.
How Cigarettes Differ from Alcohol
Cigarettes aren't as severe — they don't destroy mindfulness the way alcohol does. But they still carry a fault, one that can lead to a lower realm. Once someone is addicted, not smoking brings restlessness, craving, and irritation — the mind loses its normal state. But smoking brings on a dull, foggy haze, and the mind loses its freshness and clarity.
In other words: not smoking brings a restlessness that must be endured, and it's hard to endure. Smoking brings a different kind of suffering that must also be endured — it only trades one discomfort for the other.
The Cycle of Suffering for a Smoker
A smoker's life becomes a cycle: dull and foggy, then craving, then smoking, then dull and foggy again. As the haze starts to clear and the mind approaches normal, the craving returns, driven by that same pull. Not smoking brings restlessness and craving that must be endured, and it's hard to endure — so the person is driven to smoke again. Smoking brings back the haze, losing the mind's normal state and clarity once more. Life never gets to be clear at all — coming out of one haze only leads back into another. Whether smoking or not, the person is stuck enduring one hard state or another: not smoking is suffering, smoking brings a different, foggy suffering. Life never escapes suffering — it becomes self-inflicted suffering in one form or another.
Why It's Hard to Quit, and What Follows
Quitting isn't easy — it's very difficult. When someone can't bear it any longer, they're driven back to smoking. Seeing someone else smoke brings on the craving; even just the smell of cigarette smoke is enough. To actually quit, the first requirement is to truly see the suffering and harm that cigarettes cause. As long as a person doesn't see that suffering and harm, they can never quit.
It's strange, really — instead of living normally with a clear, bright mind, a person spends their money to buy something to consume that strips away the mind's clarity, its normal steady state, its freshness, its ease. All that's left is suffering that must be endured, and it's hard to endure. Whenever the craving for a cigarette arises, that suffering returns. Without a cigarette, it's a torment; seeing someone else smoke, or just catching the smell, brings the urge back instantly — this is the ordinary condition of someone addicted to smoking.
Because this creates suffering for oneself — and sometimes for others as well — it all carries the result of demerit. When a person passes from this life, that demerit continues to draw itself in, driven by the unwholesome, causing suffering to both oneself and others. At death, this can lead to rebirth in a hell realm where one is harmed and tormented by cigarettes — a realm the venerable senior teacher (หลวงพ่อ) once described when speaking of the karmic consequences of smoking, which can be heard in more detail elsewhere.