There has been a complaint about a bar in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The new bar has been accused to be blasphemous to Buddhism, what with the founder's respected name etched out all too clearly in its name - Buddha Bar- and having the place serving the Devil's drink itself, something like a no-no in Buddhism. To the initiated, it is a well-known fact that alcoholic drinks are not encouraged in Buddhism, noting the fifth precept of the Five Buddhist Precepts for layman, Surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi, I undertake the training rule to abstain from fermented drink that causes heedlessness. I remember vaguely, having seen the statue of Buddha in a place like this somewhere in Batu Feringghi, Penang a long time ago, but no, I am not sure; but there is most certainly the statue of Buddha in a place like this somewhere in Perth, Australia. I am sure I have seen it from outside such a place recently; but never mind that there are statues of Buddha in bars serving Franziskaner Hefe-Weisseall, Vodka or Margaritas all over the Western World or whether there is indeed the word blasphemous in a Buddhist Dictionary- When there is a statue of Buddha in a bar serving booze- to the uninitiated, the fifth precept of the Buddhist Five precepts does not hold water.
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