LTF 25: Avoiding Distraction by Wealth & Trivial Pursuits

[33] Gambling with dice, looking for (meaningless) gatherings, laziness, relying on misleading friends, intoxicants, and roaming around at night bring about worse rebirth states and your fame to decline. Abandon these six.

These are various things that distract us completely from concentration. As Nagarjuna says, such distraction brings about worse rebirth states because it leads us into very destructive types of behavior, and it also causes our fame to go down, which is obviously important not only for a king but also for anybody. One’s reputation is something to take into consideration. 

“Gambling with dice” – obviously, when you do this, you get into a state of mind that is very greedy. Also, you get angry when you lose and angry with other people when they win. You also stand the chance of losing all your wealth, which you could use for helping others. So, gambling with dice is having a preoccupation with money. In fact, one of the twenty-five types of taming behavior in the Kalachakra practice is avoiding gambling – “taming” being the literal word. It’s one of the  types of behavior that you promise to follow.

Then, the next one in this list here is “looking for (meaningless) gatherings”– so, for instance, going to parties or to where large groups of people gather because you’re curious: “Oh, what’s going on here?” Sakya Pandita said it very nicely, “We should try to avoid being like dogs – that when other dogs bark, we start barking too.” So, going to these meaningless gatherings is on this list. 

It’s an interesting point. What is a gathering that is not meaningless? Obviously, a Dharma gathering is not meaningless. But are all parties meaningless? This is a good question. 

Sometimes this question comes up in Dharma centers because some Dharma centers are very, very serious, and the people who come to the Dharma center aren’t friendly with each other at all. They just come and sit very, very stiffly, and then they leave without saying anything. There are other Dharma centers that occasionally – not regularly, but occasionally – have some sort of relaxed, social gathering for the students. For instance, here, at this center, there’s a Christmas party, which basically offers tea and coffee and cakes. Then there’s a little bit of Buddhist ritual, and some people give some talks. It’s very nice.  Often, there is a person who writes poetry and who reads her poems. It’s not a party where everybody gets drunk and acts in a very un-Dharmic type of way, fighting or whatever. So, Dharma gatherings, gatherings of Dharma people, would be the exception. But what about dancing? What about music? What do you think of that? 

Participant: At a party, we also have an opportunity to see what’s going on with other people and can help them in some way if that’s appropriate.

Dr. Berzin: Right. I think that it’s quite important that the people at Dharma centers are friendly with each other. After all, the field of practice should at least be with each other. For instance, often, some of us go out to eat together. I think the important thing to avoid, though, is to make it a trivial meeting – as Nagarjuna says, a meaningless gathering, one that’s just for entertainment or to find a partner or something like that. Obviously, here, “gatherings” could also be referring to mobs. 

Participant: “Mobs”?

Dr. Berzin: A mob refers to a group of people who get together with the intention to destroy something. 

What about political rallies? Are those meaningless gatherings? 

Participant: Most of the time, yes.

Dr. Berzin: Actually, that’s true. Most times, they have absolutely no effect. But even if they have no effect, does that mean that they’re worthless? I don’t know. Look at these “Save Tibet” campaigns where they protest in front of the Chinese embassies, for example. There’s no way that the Chinese are going to change their minds and their policies just because a few people protest in front of the Chinese embassy. That’s clear.

Participant: But the other day, I saw a picture in the newspaper. So, somebody will realize what’s going on. If you get yourself in the paper, that does…

Dr. Berzin: Exactly. That’s the point. If you get some publicity, it could help other people to take notice and so on. Whether or not, in the end, it is going to affect the Chinese policy is very hard to say. But it certainly can put pressure…

Participant: I mean, it could accumulate to a level where it’s uncomfortable financially for them.

Dr. Berzin: Right. If it ever reached a level where people’s ethical values were more important to them than their economic gain, then yes. But that’s hardly likely to happen. 

But I think that we need to investigate. What are we gathering for? Are we going to a gathering, a party in some club? What is the reason for going? Is it meaningful or meaningless? Is it for increasing our disturbing emotions or helping us on our Dharmic path? Sometimes we need relaxation, it’s true. So, it could be helpful.

It’s interesting. The verb that Nagarjuna uses here with gatherings is “looking” for them. In other words, we are always on the lookout – “Where can I find a party? Where can I find this? Where can I get that?” We’re preoccupied, basically, with entertainment.

“Laziness” is the third one. There are many forms of laziness. There is putting things off until tomorrow. Isn’t it a Mexican saying, “Why do something today when you can put it off until tomorrow”? Then there’s addiction to trivial things, like being addicted to TV, watching meaningless shows, or whatever it is… you know, “I’d rather do this, than to do something meaningful.” Laziness could also be because of addiction to sleep or because of addiction to talking. Some people will just talk forever on the telephone or talk forever in a restaurant because they don’t want to get back to work. Then there is the laziness stemming from feelings of inadequacy, which is basically, “Oh, I can’t do that; it’s too difficult.” So, you don’t even try. Basically, though, it’s just hiding laziness. 

So, tell me, what is the antidote to laziness? It’s remembering death. Death can come at any time. If we waste all our time – Shantideva has so many verses about this – then, when the time of death comes, we will cry out, “Oh, no! I’m lost! I haven’t done anything positive.” Of course, remember the teachings that we had on perseverance, joyful perseverance. One of the things that’s necessary in order to maintain perseverance is to know when to take a break. If we push ourselves too hard, then, as the English colloquial expression goes, we “burn out”; we don’t have any energy left. 

I think it’s important that when we take a break, whether it’s going to a movie, a party, watching a video, or whatever, we keep in mind what our main aim in life is. What are we doing with our lives? You know, I’ll die having seen five thousand videos. What is that going to do? That’s not my aim; it’s not the most important thing. It’s a relaxation in order to be able to get back to something more meaningful. OK?  

Then, there’s “relying on misleading friends.” Misleading friends are friends that lead us in the wrong direction, in a direction away from any spiritual practice. They take us away from spiritual practice by saying things like, “Oh, don’t go to a Dharma teaching tonight. Let’s go get drunk instead.” One should really pay attention to the type of friends that they have because, for many us, the company that we keep has a strong influence on us. If our friends are always going out drinking and acting in a way that is filled with all sorts of disturbing emotions, we also get caught up in that. Often, it’s because we feel, “Well, I want to be accepted by them. I want to be liked by them.” So, again, that’s getting back to the eight worldly dharmas, the eight transitory things in life. 

The definition of a good friend from a Dharma point of view is somebody who helps us to be more constructive and who leads us in a constructive direction. It’s also somebody that we have so much respect for that we wouldn’t act in a destructive or stupid way when we’re with them; otherwise, we would be embarrassed. Of course, this can be in a relaxed way, not, “Oh, I’m afraid that they’re going to disapprove of me” – so, being very stiff, but as soon as we get away, we get drunk. Also, a good friend is somebody who points out our mistakes, points out our shortcomings, and helps us to overcome them. So, avoiding misleading friends is quite important. It doesn’t mean that we totally reject them and don’t care about them, but it also doesn’t mean that we have to spend all our time with them. 

Again, look at the verb that Nagarjuna uses here. He says “relying” on misleading friends. If we rely on them, we entrust ourselves to them. We have the attitude of, “Well, I don’t have anything better to do, so I’ll go out with these friends and get drunk or go to a party or go do some vandalism – do graffiti all over the walls,” or whatever. Relying on them, we turn to them; we consider them as the ones who give us support, friendship, company, and so on. 

Togmey-zangpo, in Thirty-Seven Bodhisattva Practices writes:

A Bodhisattva’s practice is to abandon bad friends with whom when we associate, our three poisonous attitudes increase, our actions of listening, thinking, and meditating decrease, and our love and compassion turn to nil.

Let’s go through these lines one at a time. “A Bodhisattva’s practice is to abandon bad friends with whom, when we associate, our three poisonous attitudes increase” – namely, attachment, anger, and naivety. “Our actions of listening, thinking, and meditating on the Dharma decrease” – listening to the teachings, thinking about and meditating on them decrease. “And our love and compassion turn to nil” – turn to nothing.

We can see that, like with the example of friends who say, “Let’s go out and put graffiti all over the buildings on the streets,” such friends obviously cause our poisonous attitudes to increase. It’s anger and naivety about what other people like to see. Obviously, if we go off with them, we’re not listening to and studying Dharma teachings, nor are we thinking about them or meditating, and our love and compassion just fall apart. So, we have to watch out for these types of people, these types of friends. 

So, does this mean we have to be intensely involved with the Dharma all the time? Is Dharma something that you can do just as a hobby – that you can take breaks from it and do it whenever you feel like doing it? Is that the intention of the Dharma? 

Participant: In the beginning, yes.

Dr. Berzin: In the beginning, yes, before we commit ourselves. However, once we commit ourselves, then, “This is the direction that I’m going in life,” which is what refuge means. And what is that direction? Basically, in very simple language, we’re working on ourselves to overcome our shortcomings and to realize our potentials. “That is what I am doing with my life and trying, by going in this direction, to go all the way to liberation and enlightenment.” If we are doing this in a Mahayana sense, we are doing it in order to be able to help others as much as is possible. That’s something that’s there all the time. If we’re doing it seriously – really going in that direction and having that aim in life – then that meaning that we have found in life is there all the time, whether we’re thinking about it or not. The point is to be relaxed with that. We don’t want to be so intense that we are completely nervous and make everybody around us nervous. We don’t have to constantly have deep and meaningful conversations. 

But it’s interesting. If you look in the monasteries when they’re debating, they go all night. They get so completely caught up in the enthusiasm and stimulation of the debates that they go all night. However, most Tibetans are quite good at being able to turn that off when they have tea and are relaxing. 

[Response to participant:] That’s the danger when you do debating – that you don’t know when to turn it off. The professor syndrome? Well, that would be that you correct everything that anybody says. When anybody speaks to you, you correct their grammar or correct their logic, and people find you very tedious and difficult to be around. But you don’t lose your direction; you don’t lose your bodhichitta aim. So, relying on good friends and not relying on misleading friends is very important because really good Dharma friends can be a tremendous support and positive influence on us. 

The next one that we need to avoid here is intoxicants. We would include here alcohol as well as drugs. Obviously, when we’re intoxicated, alcohol and drugs cause us to lose our sense of judgment; we lose our discrimination between what is helpful and what is harmful. Our ethical discipline also goes down. It’s very easy either to get very angry (especially so with alcohol) or, with various drugs, to get very desirous and greedy, whether for food, sex, or whatever. The main thing that is always emphasized in the Dharma is that intoxicants cause us to lose self-control and, inevitably, to do something destructive. That’s why it brings about worse rebirth states. 

After all, the most outstanding quality of a human rebirth is discriminating awareness, the intelligence to be able to discriminate between what’s helpful and what’s harmful. Animals don’t have that. Lower rebirths don’t have that. So, if we hamper our ability to discriminate by taking drugs or alcohol, then it’s clear that we’re building up a habit for a mind that is not able to discriminate. So, it makes sense that it leads to worse rebirth states. Also, our reputation goes down; our fame goes down. If we are in a big position, and we are alcoholic – drinking all the time, coming to work drunk and so on – obviously, our reputation goes down.

The sixth one here is “Roaming around at night.” 

Participant: I have a question about alcohol. Let’s say that one day you go and see people you haven’t seen for a long time. Then they offer you just one glass in order to come together better, to bond. I think that is not the same negative action.

Dr. Berzin: Well, this gets into a difficult question. A group of friends meet, and in order to be social, to warm up and so on, everybody has a drink. So, do we take a drink with them? I think that these friends would be in the category of misleading friends if they  say, “You have to drink. If you don’t drink, you’re not my friend.” In many groups of people, you can easily take something else. If you’re in a bar or whatever, you can order a juice or a ginger ale; you don’t have to order the beer. Buddha said quite specifically that anybody who drinks alcohol, even a drop that would fit on the tip of a blade of grass, is not following his teachings. “If you follow my teachings, you don’t take alcohol.” Obviously, he had something in mind because this is a very strong statement that Buddha made. 

Obviously, there is a difference between taking a vow not to drink and interpreting the vow to mean, “I’m not going to get drunk” – which is a very difficult border to draw (how do you know it is too much?) – and not taking the vow at all. If you don’t take the vow, that’s something else. But the spirit of Buddha’s teachings is not to take any intoxicants. 

What is the point of Buddhist training? The Buddhist training is to help us have clear minds. Alcohol and drugs take away that clear mind even though some drugs may make us think our minds are clearer, which isn’t so. You’re saying that when you are with other people, you feel, “If I have a drink with them, then everybody will be more relaxed and I’ll be more relaxed, not so stiff.” Well, to be dependent on alcohol in order not to be stiff is a pretty poor quality of practice. In other words, based on your Dharma practice, you should be able to be friendly and relaxed and not stiff with everybody. You don’t need a drink in order to relax you. If you become dependent on drinking in order to relax you, then you never really learn to develop the quality of being able just to relax with people and be friendly. What do you think about that? 

Participant: I feel like the times when I’ve had beer, it’s because I was sure that it was quite OK to do. I was even sure that the beer was of good quality. Also, when I drink non-alcoholic beer, there’s some alcohol in it – not much, but enough to relax me a bit.. So, other people might have a cigarette, though I don’t know whether there are intoxicants in cigarettes. So, there are a number of questions that come up for me. 

Dr. Berzin: Well, non-alcoholic beer, of course, does have some alcohol. We don’t know what type of intoxicant things are in our food – for example, MSG. MSG in food certainly makes you a bit cloudy-minded. People smoking – we get the second-hand cigarette smoke, and that certainly affects you, and so on. That’s true. The point is, do we intentionally take a drink or did we get it in a secondary way? 

Looking at the Buddhist teachings, it’s clear what Buddha said about intoxicants and alcohol. Now, nobody is forcing us to accept what Buddha said or to follow everything that Buddha said. I think that in terms of looking at the Dharma teachings, we have to look at what he actually said. That’s what Buddha said: no intoxicants; they lead us to… well, Nagarjuna says here, they lead to worse rebirth states and cause our fame to decline. As I explained, intoxicants cause discriminating awareness and all these other things to decline. 

Now, very often when we go to Dharma teachings, in the beginning, obviously, we can’t accept everything, and we can’t follow everything. So, the point that I want to make is that it’s up to us whether we want to follow the teachings or not follow the teachings. If you want to have a beer with your friends, have a beer with your friends, but acknowledge that Buddha said “no intoxicants.” That’s all. I think the fault is when we say, “Well, from a Buddhist point of view, it’s OK.” But it’s not OK from a Buddhist point of view. 

Participant: Well, what is my intention if I come to people and say, “I don’t drink this”? They would say, “You’re crazy,” and then I can’t come into contact with them.

Dr. Berzin: Well, I don’t think so. If I’m in a situation with other people, even people who don’t know me, and they offer me a drink and I say that I don’t drink, nobody makes a big deal out of it. I’ve never had anybody make a big problem out of that. If you’re in the wilds of Siberia or Mongolia or in the Caucuses where, you know, “Are you my friend? Then you drink this! Are you my friend? What’s the matter? It’s not good enough for you?” and this type of thing, then you are in a different situation. 

Participant: They could say “It’s home-made. You don’t know how I made it. You should try it.”

Dr. Berzin: But you could still refuse. There are a lot of things in the Buddha’s discipline that maybe we are not yet able to do. That’s quite clear. But one can have respect and say, “Now, at this stage, I am not able to follow this type of discipline,” whether it deals with alcohol, certain types of sexual behavior, or whatever it might be, and, “OK, I am doing this now. I’m not terribly happy about it, but I don’t feel guilty or anything, either. It’s just that this is the stage that I’m at. I respect what Buddha said, and I hope in the future to be able to follow that.” I think that’s fine. I don’t think there’s a problem as long as owe are honest about our level of practice and don’t commit what is considered a very serious negative action, the one called “abandoning the Dharma,” which is to say, “Well, I don’t like this part of the Dharma, so Buddha didn’t say it,” or we make it into something else. 

Participant: Are the teachings about alcohol just for monks and nuns, or are they general?

Dr. Berzin: Right. Is there a difference here? Are the teachings about alcohol only for monks and nuns, or are they in general? That one is in general. There are certain things that are obviously just for monks and nuns, but that’s not the case with intoxicants. Not to take intoxicants is one of the five lay vows – no killing, no stealing, no lying, no inappropriate sexual behavior, and no intoxicants.

Participant: For example, I read, in a tiny biography about Milarepa, that his teacher, Marpa, who was highly realized,  drank alcohol.

Dr. Berzin: Right. Well, that gets into something else. Let’s translate first, and then I’ll speak about that.

What About the Use of Alcohol by Tantric Practitioners?

Now, the question was, “What about examples like Marpa and some of the great Mahasiddhas, the highly realized tantric practitioners, who did drink alcohol?” There is a certain stage in tantric practice in which you have control over the energies of your body, and you have realization of voidness, bodhichitta, and so on. You are then able to transform various substances into things that can help on the path. Now, the test for that is that you are able, for instance, to eat feces, urine, blood, pus, and all these things – alcohol as well – and not get sick. It’s the same for you as eating ice cream or whatever it is that people generally like. If you are able to do that, then taking alcohol or taking other things is not going to affect your body in a negative way; you are able to transform it. So, when you are able to transform these things and not get sick, not get physically affected by them, then alcohol, in some cases, is helpful for stimulating certain energies in the body. 

In the chod pujas, for instance, you have the offering of alcohol and meat. This represents that type of transformation. You imagine transforming them, and you only take a tiny taste. The purpose is not to drink a whole glass of vodka and get drunk. Obviously, there are some people who abuse this whole thing and use it as an excuse to drink a whole glass or a whole bottle of vodka at the chod, but that certainly is not correct. In chod practice, the alcohol represents feces, urine, pus, blood. Taking the alcohol and meat symbolizes being able to transform the body that we have, this gross body, and to use its subtle energy systems and so on as a means of getting to the clear light mind – and through that, reaching enlightenment –  because the clear light mind is the most efficient for understanding voidness. So, there’s a purpose: it’s to be able to transform this body.

However, there are various people, even lamas, who get drunk, who come to teachings drunk, and stuff like that. That is, first of all, a violation of the bodhisattva vows because one of the bodhisattva vows is not to do anything that would cause others to have disrespect for Buddhism and the Dharma. That, obviously, would cause people to develop disrespect. Even just from that point of view, it’s not proper. 

This was suggested at one of the Western Buddhist teachers’ meetings with His Holiness the Dalai Lama concerning the problem of abuse by various so-called Dharma teachers, both Asian and non-Asian. What was suggested was that they be given the “taste test” – that if they can eat a plate of shit and not get sick, then OK, that type of so-called crazy wisdom behavior might be acceptable. But probably most of them would fail. So, comparing ourselves with Marpa or any of these great teachers is really not a proper comparison. 

[To participant] So, the question is about Marpa and his biography. I don’t know that Marpa was an alcoholic or drank a lot or did anything like that. I must say that I don’t remember. I did read his biography once, but I don’t remember whether he didn’t drink alcohol earlier in his life and that later he did. I don’t know. I don’t remember the biography. 

Certainly, in all of the descriptions of the stages of the path according to tantra that I have read and studied, I have never seen any mention that, at this point, it is helpful to use alcohol. I’ve never read that anywhere. But when doing certain types of very advanced practices and working with the energies of the body – and when you have full control over them – they say that meat and alcohol can sometimes be helpful. If you are working in certain circumstances and this or that happens, you sometimes have to weigh the energies down a little bit. So, meat helps with that. And alcohol can stimulate the energies a little bit. In those situations, they’re taken more like a medicine, not as an entertaining thing or because you like it. I think it’s like that. Even later on in this text, Nagarjuna talks about not eating too much. Nagarjuna advises to take food as a medicine, not because of attachment to it. Its purpose is to give strength to the body so that you can continue helping others and working toward enlightenment. 

You see, the problem is that when you make excuses and say, “Well, I am having this beer because I am working for enlightenment, and I need to lift my energies,” when, in fact, you are nowhere on the path, you are just fooling yourself. To sum up, my point is that if you want to have a beer, have a beer. It’s no big deal. But be aware that it’s not part of the Buddhist path. If it’s just the stage that you’re at or any ordinary being would be at, and you can admit that, “I’m not quite at the point where I can go without it,” then fine. Then you’re not being pretentious; you’re not pretending anything. You’re not distorting the Buddha’s teachings or watering down the Buddha’s teachings. It’s just that, “That’s where I’m at.” So, you have a beer, and you don’t need to feel guilty. But taking alcohol or intoxicants, LSD, peyote, etc. as a path to enlightenment, or taking sex, ordinary sex, as a path to enlightenment – that really is a very heavy downfall from the Buddhist point of view.

What About Sex?

Participant: How about sex?

Dr. Berzin: How about sex? Sex is the same thing. 

Participant: You’re working with attachment in order to progress in your development? 

Dr. Berzin: No, sex is the same thing. In tantra, in the final stages, not beginning stages, but final stages, when you’re super-duper developed and have control over the subtle energies in the body so that you’re certainly not going to have orgasm or anything like that – you have full control – there are certain sexual postures, which are basically like yoga, that are helpful for drawing the subtle energies that are on the level of the skin into the central channel because those are the most difficult ones to bring into the central channel. The level of blissful awareness that you have at that time helps to do that. But of course, you need to combine that with the blissful awareness of voidness. It’s a very specific practice at a very specific stage and for a very specific purpose. It has absolutely nothing to do with ordinary sex. 

That’s why I say that it’s the same as what I was saying about alcohol. If you’re not at this stage – and hardly anybody is – and you’re going to have sex, have sex. But don’t make a big deal out of it. Don’t call it or think of it as a spiritual practice and, particularly, not as a path to liberation or enlightenment. If you do, then you’ve absolutely broken your tantric vows. So, it’s the same thing: “I have respect for what the Buddha taught, but I’m not at that stage yet. If I have sex, I have sex.” No big deal. Don’t make a big deal out of it. 

Also, if you have sex, at least try to have it be somewhat within the ethical guidelines – at least not with somebody else’s partner, not raping anyone, and so on. At least follow these basic ethical principles. And don’t do it just for your own pleasure; also think of the other person. Don’t have it be totally based on desire, attachment, and greed for your own pleasure, just using the other person as an object. That’s not a spiritual path. It’s not the path to liberation or enlightenment. At least it’s not the Buddhist spiritual path – let’s put it that way. It’s not the Buddhist spiritual path; it’s not what Buddha taught. OK?

I feel quite strongly about not watering down the Buddhist teachings. It doesn’t mean you have to follow Buddha’s teachings, but don’t water them down. Buddha’s teachings are Buddha’s teachings. That doesn’t mean that you just blindly accept them without examining. Look at the biography of Tsongkhapa. Tsongkhapa was very concerned that a lot of people didn’t really interpret or understand Buddha’s teachings correctly. So, he went through, pointing out with logic the inconsistencies and contradictions in the explanations and the mistakes in the interpretations so that you get a correct understanding. So, that’s fine. We should always examine. Buddha said, “Examine my teachings.” 

“Roaming around at night” is the last one here that Nagarjuna is advising to avoid. Why would you be roaming around at night? Obviously, in those days, that’s when thieves and people who did bad things roamed around. Why would you roam at night? What would that refer to? 

Participant: It means not to expose yourself to danger or to take an unnecessary risk.

Dr. Berzin: Well, I don’t know that that’s necessarily the main aim here. I mean, would that “bring about worse rebirth states and your fame to decline”? I think it’s usually that at night is when people go out to get drunk, go to a prostitute and things like that.

Participant: Wasting time.

Dr. Berzin: Wasting time. People who roam around at night go out looking for trouble. That’s when you do graffiti, for example. You don’t do that during the day.
If you’re roaming, what are you looking for? Are you looking for trouble? Are you looking for fun? It’s these types of behaviors that would lead you into destructive types of actions and for your fame to go down. 

Participant: Especially for a king.

Dr. Berzin: Especially for a king. 

So, the question is: when does night start? We live in a northern place where it gets dark very early; it gets dark in the afternoon. Is that already night? Are we talking about roaming around at dark or roaming around at night? I think this has to do with when one’s normal daily activities are finished – that you go outside rather than go to sleep. I think he is talking more about that – people who party all night long and then roam around looking for another party in another nightclub and so on. You’re sort of wandering around, looking for something. Obviously, there are some sub-cultures that are up all night. That’s when they are up, and then they sleep during the day. However, this roaming would cause, as Nagarjuna says, your reputation to decline, especially if you have to work or anything like that. 

Here is this verse again:

[33] Gambling with dice, looking for (meaningless) gatherings, laziness, relying on misleading friends, intoxicants, and roaming around at night bring about worse rebirth states and your fame to decline. Abandon these six.

Remember, this is talking about what is detrimental for gaining mental stability, or concentration. If you’re gambling, thinking about money, or preoccupied with, “Oh, where can I go to a party?” you’re not going to be concentrated. If you’re lazy, you’re not going to be concentrated. If your misleading friends take you out to go get drunk, you’re not going to be concentrated. If you’re taking intoxicants, then certainly, you’re not going to be concentrated. And if you’re roaming around at night, you’re going to be sleepy. So, that’s the context here – that these things are trivial pursuits. They are not going anywhere meaningful, and they are big distractions when you are trying to tame your mind. OK? So, let’s just think about this for a moment, and then we’ll end.