Yes. A little bit here and there is okay, but not during meditation for sure, and never in quantities to numb your pain and suffering. Alcohol is an escape drug, it’s a neural system depressant. Meditation is the opposite - it is a tool for you to open up, to experience whatever is in you more fully.

Alcohol is like morphine, it is the opposite of, say, psychedelics, it works in a completely different way. It numbs your pain, that’s why people like it. Psychedelics (and meditation) open you up to your pain, and the relief comes from experiencing it and accepting it, not temporarily numbing it, so the relief is lasting.

That’s why alcohol and morphine are addictive, but meditation and psychedelics are not.

And it’s also why alcohol is very destructive. It tells you something about society where you can literally buy one of the most dangerous drugs at every corner, and drink yourself to death, but the most innocent, the most psychologically productive and releasing drugs with lasting long-term positive effects, are Schedule I. It should tell you something.

Alcohol has no psychological effect on enlightened people. When there’s no pain to be numbed, why numb yourself? The bodily sensation may be numbed, and I may lose some coordination, but there’s no buzz nor relief, because there’s nothing to be relieved from. I never drink alcohol, it never occurred to me once after self-realization. There’s nothing remotely pleasant about it, just like there’s not a small child on earth that would enjoy alcohol. You have to condition yourself to it, learn to enjoy it first. As I did when I was a teenager. When you have learned to tolerate it, then it can bring you a temporary relief, and you’re on the hook.

Don’t drink, meditate! And cry!