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Pot
swaydam
Veteran
According to Buddhist precepts, intoxicants are restricted.
Why is that?
I'm not a pot smoker, but I know some who are, and they claim it is OK in moderation and doesn't haven't any negative effects.
So I guess I'm wondering if the 'no intoxicants' rule applies equally to all drugs or if there are exceptions.
Why is that?
I'm not a pot smoker, but I know some who are, and they claim it is OK in moderation and doesn't haven't any negative effects.
So I guess I'm wondering if the 'no intoxicants' rule applies equally to all drugs or if there are exceptions.
0
Comments
Nothing is forbidden or restricted.
But the advice is to abstain....
That said, it should be made clear that Buddhist precepts aren't equivalent to commandments in that they're training rules which are voluntarily undertaken rather than edicts or commands dictated by a higher power and/or authority. The precepts are mainly undertaken to protect ourselves, as well as others, from the results of unwholesome actions, and to make the practice more fruitful.
Taking intoxicants are counter productive, especially in the beginning.
Firstly, smoking anything is obviously bad for your health. Do they think that letting large volumes of burning material into their lungs often is not going to have any health implications?
Secondly it will change your state of mind, it will alter your perception. In buddhism it is important to keep a clean, clear mind as that is the best tool for reaching liberation and mindfulness.
I was stonned in about 30-40% of my final highschool exams. I got mainly Bs and Cs, I under-scored on my predicted grades.
Thirdly, weed makes you one lazy assed stoner.
Smoking pot also interferes with meditation.
I don't think smoking pot is necessarily that harmful for everyone, but anything more than very occasional use is very much counterproductive to Buddhist practice.
But I have another friend who says that all the great masters agree that intoxicants should be abstained from.
I am more inclined to trust someone who has totally crossed the shore of ignorance than however many scientists who are still shrouded in ignorance... because science evolves slowly and new things are being discovered all the time.
The thing is, intoxicants alter consciousness. Even if there is no scientifically discovered negative effects for certain intoxicants, its still messing with the mind and there may be subtle (or not so subtle) consequences that are not easily measurable.
But to argue against the reality distorting aspect.......it could be said that the unenlightened mind is already distorting reality and that intoxicants can in some ways grant access to reality, temporarily impeding the ordinary unenlightened mind-set.
So I don't know.......I'm confused.... I tend to over think things too much.
The safest thing though is to just avoid it if there is no need for it.
I can sit here and say all of this, but I take valium daily, so I am far from the wise man. I undestand, but cannot put everything fully into practice. At least I do not take ecstasy, LSD and the other things on that large list anymore.
is high on pot.
I'm a sugar addict myself. Some consider it a drug... I might agree. It's definitely a substance that can be abused and it's definitely addictive..
By all means, smoke up if you want. Or, don't. Find for yourself where you are clear minded. The precepts aren't commandments, they are a guide. From personal experience, I don't see how I would have a clear mind and focus using weed. But, then again, the lethargy that I used pot to prolong helped me hit a bottom that prompted change.
And I hate to sound like a potential broken record to your friend, but there is plenty of good medical research that indicates that ingesting a lot of THC *is* bad for your health. Just because he doesn't want to believe it doesn't mean it's not true. Like many things, the effects of small amounts, taken occasionally are much less pronounced. I'm not advocating for or against, but I *am* saying that a lot of it is bad, and that's established medical fact.
You can do, smoke, snort, inject and put up your but hole whatever you like, it is up to you. But if you are a buddhist you should really think about what you are doing and how it will effect your state of mind and life in general. The precept is there for a reason.
PS: I've used it, and I've enjoyed it. I don't do it anymore, but I will admit there are still rare occasions when I think I'd really like some.
I remember Eckhart Tolle said that he took LSD and that it resembled the place he arrived at naturally, but that it felt very unnatural, even violent. I think a highly sensitive person can detect the subtle ill effects of drugs that others often don't.
I bet the first Jhana is a more pleasant than any drug.
Also if you take valium or ketamine on a come down it helps a lot, that is what a lot of people were doing when I was in that scene.
The only pleasant experience I've had with mind altering substances was when I was in Peru. I had a dream one night in a cheap hotel that I smoked something with a group of friends I've never met before. I was in ecstacy and feeling new emotions etc. It was probably the high-light of my trip.
The only drugs I've taken physically are pot and salvia divinorum. Both brought me, it seemed, to the brinks of insanity. I was a different person, hopping around and chanting etc convinced everything was an illusion. lol.
It sounds funny, but acting crazy was a way of flowing with the traumatizing effects the drugs were having on me.
Most people probably aren't as sensitive as I am.
It turned out to be author Aaron Mishara, who was working on this:
Mishara A.L., Schwartz, M. (2011). Altered states of consciousness as paradoxically healing: An embodied social neuroscience perspective. In: Cardeña E., Winkelman M. (Eds). Altering Conciousness: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. New York: Plenum Press.
I'm ashamed to say I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure it will be good!
I supposed the Buddhist approach would be to achieve the altered states without a chemical crutch...i.e. through various meditative states, including bliss, etc. But I'll be interested to see whether he touches on this - if not, maybe we can get him to consider that angle in a future writing.
@swaydam, salvia is legal and it is one insane drug yes. It only lasts up to 20 minutes, but it really messed with your mind. I don't like it, it is pleasant. From my experience, all of the legal highs are bad, probably because it would put people off of using illegal drugs as the majority of the users of legal highs are too afraid to use illegal drugs.
If ganja messed with your mind, then you are for sure somebody who should not be toying with substances of that nature. There is a theory that it brings out under lying mental illnesses, so yea don't go there. But all drugs are different, I find it very ignorant when people who have barely ever taken a drug or none at all, and put them all into one group.
furthermore they cloud the mind cause you to wander around in darkness -> suffering
it's just not a wise thing to do
It just seemed like a waste of quality herb.
Our school got some very bad press one day when a kid in the year above me decided to take 10 and a half ecstasy pills in one go in an IT lesson. After 20 minutes he got up, jumped over the railing of the stairs and went outside. A little later at lunch his friends saw him sat on the bench 'coming up'. His jaw was nearly on the floor and his eyes were huge. He then walked off towards the playing field that leads down to a cycle path where he started foaming at the mouth and was taken to hospital. He was in a coma for a few days and his parents got told he was excluded from that school whilst he was in a coma...
Bottom line, yes weed can skew your perception of reality. But whoever said that was an entirely bad thing in the long run? And who is to say what reality really is?
I was instructed that indulging in intoxicants dull the mind and lead to carelessness.
Buddha has been quoted that intoxicants make "negligent fools commit evil deeds"
The 5th precept is part of a a fuller eightfold path, which has been metaphorically compared to a modern bridge, each factor like a wire in a full cable that holds the bridge up.
I suggest researching why the 5th precept is part of the eightfold path and/or what other sanghas teach about abstaining from intoxicants in their tradition.
*Watching people discuss something they know not a thing about
*good laughs have been had
Hey you know, I guess since all of you are obviously much more educated on the subject than someone who has actually had multiple experiences with the substance in question. But I'm sure you all know what you're talking about, after all someone thousands of years ago may have said something about it, possibly. I guess there really is no need for my opinion here since I guess an experienced opinion is not nearly as valid as the rest of yours. Now hold on, I need to fix my car. I COULD take it to an experienced mechanic, but maybe it is better if I roll it off a cliff because in my mind, I am correct and that is my only line of thinking.
That said, Buddhism isn't a matter of a list of rules or commandments. For lay people, if you kick back with some friends and drink a beer and light one up, you are not committing a sin that Lord Buddha is going to punish you for. Bear in mind that karma always applies, though, and that means actions have consequences. The more effort you put into your Buddhist practice, including taking the precepts seriously, the more results you see.
In the play, one character keeps repeating the same stories but with slight differences and is interrupted by another character who says, "Chestnut, you mean! I have heard you tell the joke twenty-seven times and I am sure it was a chestnut."
So what made a not-so-funny line from a now forgotten play become part of the English language? Who knows? In the future, people will probably wonder the same thing about cats wanting cheezeburgers.