Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Drugs, "Insanity, Mahasati, Abdhidamma manual
shanyin
Novice YoginSault Ontario Veteran
Hello all. I'm going to skip why I'm asking this question and state that I realize noone has ever tried this, or probably thought about it either.
I thought this would be a good if not appropriate place because I think I would rather have experienced minds of Buddhism for an answer.
The monk, I believe Mahasati (the only part of his name I can remember), said that drugs can lead to bad rebirths, and insanity. He says a solution to this insanity is to memorize and recite the Abhidamma manual.
Thoughts, opinions?
I thought this would be a good if not appropriate place because I think I would rather have experienced minds of Buddhism for an answer.
The monk, I believe Mahasati (the only part of his name I can remember), said that drugs can lead to bad rebirths, and insanity. He says a solution to this insanity is to memorize and recite the Abhidamma manual.
Thoughts, opinions?
0
Comments
There is a Buddhist rehabilitation centre in Thailand, called Wat Tham Krabok. They use different methods.
Cheers, Thomas
If you consider the statement about drugs and their ill effects and this solution, which is apparently not asserted as the only solution or the final solution, you see that it's contextual, and something that is suggested by a human being as one possible solution to a human problem.
I found an article on mahasati in Wikipedia, and it says "Also known as Dynamic meditation, Mahasati Meditation is a form of vipassana or insight meditation. It is a technique developed by the late Thai Buddhist reformist, Luangpor Teean Jittasubho. Mahasati Meditation uses movement of the body to generate self-awareness and is a powerful tool for self-realization. Practiced throughout Asia and in the United States, this method of meditation is appropriate for anyone regardless of religion or nationality."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahasati_meditation
Apparently Mahasati is a type of mindfulness meditation that also incorporates movement. I would just say that if it works for some people, then it does- apparently Jittasubho could not get regular sitting vipassana to work for him, but Mahasati did. It just sounds like a simple truism that a form of meditation that incorporates sound and movement works better for some people. It seems like it would probably work for some people with drug problems, but is by no means the only solution.
The same would go for memorizing and reciting the Abhidamma manual. Memorizing and reciting, especially something as beneficial as the Abhidamma manual, undoubtedly has a calming effect and may reduce the craving or need for drugs. I'm sure there are people in the West that have memorized and can recite from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anyonymous. I would be sure it serves the same psychological function.
But as Thomas points out, memorizing the Abhidamma manual is probably a bit esoteric for a lot of people with drug issues, and something like a 12-step program with a Buddhist basis would probably work for a lot of people and might be more accesible.
So the answer to the question- yeah, that could work for some people. But I doubt that "noone has ever tried this, or probably thought about it either." It seems like Jittasubho thought about it and tried it, and it's not unlike the singing, dancing, and prayer one sees with drug and alcohol recovery programs all over the world.
I'm sure it floats some people's boats, but may not be the final solution for everyone.
I think you're talking about Ledi Sayadaw (and maybe confusing him with Mahasi Sayadaw):
First, one must undertake the precept to practise restraint from intoxicants as follows:
Every day this precept must be recited and observed carefully. It is good to repeat it many times every day to remind oneself of the importance of abstinence from alcohol and drugs. A moral attitude appears in the mind.
Next, one should learn by heart the nine chapters of the Abhidhammatthasangaha. One should discuss the contents, factors, and meaning of this brief Abhidhamma Manual. If you find it hard to memorise the entire book, at least the first three chapters must be recited daily. Those who can, should memorise the sixth to eighth chapters. Everyone should be able to memorise the Summary of Conditional Relations (Paccaya Niddesa Pāli) so that the power of Conditional Relations overwhelms the body and mind for the attainment of good. The purpose is to get concentration and purity of conduct, purging alcohol and drugs in the noble endeavour.
These two noble efforts must be practised till death because past bad deeds (taking drinks and drugs) will be erased and purified completely by the power of the Abhidhammatthasangaha or Conditional Relations. The mind is permeated with the sublime and potent Abhidhamma recitations and reflections. Unwholesome states are totally eradicated through concentrated effort and recitation of the Dhamma, just as water purifies dirt. Why is it is so effective and potent? The transgression of the precepts by taking alcohol and drugs is not a basic evil leading to hell. It is just a secondary evil, a misdeed that allows other evils to occur. Because it is just a supportive bad kamma, not a basic evil leading to rebirth in the lower realms, it can be expunged by wholesome deeds. One is able to escape fairly easily from the future consequences and present suffering of this evil deed.
Personally, I think this technique can be helpful, although probably not as much as Ledi Sayadaw (who had a strong affinity for the Abhidhammattha-sangaha and the Abhidhamma in general) apparently did.
For the most part, addictions are nothing more than a means for the temporary relief of our daily suffering, pain and unhappiness in that they either ease the mental and/or physical symptoms of our suffering, or they serve to take our attention away from those symptoms. Addictions can also become near and dear to us when they induce pleasant mental states and bodily sensations or act as a security blanket for our fears and social anxieties.
But all too often, we don't see that the short term suffering of denying our unskillful cravings is preferable to the long term suffering of being a willing slave to those unskillful cravings. The difficult part is that even if we know this the case, we're still unable to deny those unskillful cravings for very long.
The Buddha often talked about clinging, but the word for clinging, upadana (literally 'fuel'), is sometimes translated as 'addiction'—what we cling to, what our mind takes as its sustenance, is also seen as what we're addicted to. The four types of clinging that the Buddha mentioned were: (1) clinging to sensual passion for sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations, (2) to views about the world and the narratives of our lives, (3) to precepts and practices and (4) to doctrines of the self.
What this basically means is that suffering comes down to the feeding habits of the mind. One reason that we're unable to simply let go of these addictions when we realize that they're bad for us is that the mind isn't strong enough to stop feeding on them. And even if we manage to pry it from one source of nourishment, it just keeps finding new (and usually unskillful) ways to feed and cling. In other words, we relentlessly feed our addictions or we simply substitute one unskillful addiction for another.
In my experience, the answer to freeing ourselves from our unskillful addictions lies in replacing them with more and more skillful one by training the mind. When we become addicted to more skillful things — e.g., being generous, memorizing and reciting texts, practicing mindfulness, etc., — we slowly change the types of 'food' that our mind feeds upon. We rewire ourselves to find pleasure and happiness in more and more skillful ways, which will eventually help us to abandon our unskillful addictions once and for all.
When we train our mind, when we develop its powers of mindfulness and cultivate more and more refined states of concentration, we help to make it strong enough to overcome its addictions. A strong mind can ignore the voices of craving and, if the what the texts say is true, eventually silence those voices forever.
The state of mind you create (whether through reading Buddhist texts, or through the state of inebriation by drugs) ... creates the type of mind you will have later (in this life and/or the next).
I would suppose this quote about reading the manual supposes that one either stops doing drugs, or that the proportion of spiritual attitude predominates over that of being inebriated.
Misunderstanding sorry I meant the people on this forum.
I have struggled with depression and anxiety all my life, though I never have had substance issues. I was told by a very high Tibetan Lama not to do vipassana-type meditation too much, but I get a lot out of mantra meditation. It seems like the recitation part of this may be something similar. And I have found that after years of what practice I have been able to do, I can often just sit and watch a panic attack or an acute episode of dysphoria for what they are, and they just sort of go by if I don't feed into them. It's like "Zoom- there goes another one..." and I wouldn't be able to do that without having had this much time doing Buddhism. So it seems like the recitation part gives a person something to do during an acute episode, and what is said during the recitation is something that one does well to be reminded of.
Cheers, Thomas
Well said Jason.
This is the long term for Abhidamma manual, no? If so it's right on the net and I've read it before.
It's the original Pali title, yes. The Abhidhammattha-sangaha — often translated as A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma or simply A Manual of Abhidhamma — is a concise summary of the Abhidamma that scholars believe was written sometime between the 8th and 12th century CE (see this introduction by U Rewata Dhamma and Bhikkhu Bodhi). It's an important text in Theravada. This site has an older translation of the text by Narada Thera.
As for how beneficial it is, that really all depends on what you think about the Abhidhamma Pitaka in general. Personally, I think that the Abhidhamma is essentially a systematization of certain concepts and terms found throughout the Sutta Pitaka — with additional concepts and terms added in for logical consistency — that was intended to act as a pedagogical tool, as well as an attempt to describe the ultimate nature of reality.
Many scholars also agree that the Abhidhamma is a later addition to the original teachings that gradual developed over several centuries. This is not only evident from the fact that the Abhidhamma utilizes words that are found nowhere else in the Canon, but also from the fact that each school had their own version (some even rejecting it altogether). As such, I don't think that the Abhidhamma as we know it today was taught by the Buddha, although I do think that parts of it may have been.
So, as far as the Abhidhammattha-sangaha itself goes, I think it's a good starting point for understanding the Abhidhamma and 'classical' Theravadin thought in general, but since I don't hold the Abhidhamma in very high regard (I'm not what you'd consider an 'orthodox' Theravadin), I don't think it's that beneficial overall. I prefer to stick to the Suttas myself.
The Burmese believe that it expresses the essence of the higher teaching of the dhamma.
I can't really comment on it, since I just started reading the Bikkhu Bodhi reviewed translation which came by Amazon package last week. Including comments, the text consists of almost 400 dense pages, so it will take me a while.
Perhaps it depends on one's literary taste. As an engineer, I am not averse to terse, technical and abstract language. In fact, I always prefer condensed schemata over lengthy repetitive prose. But I will hold my judgment for now.
Cheers, Thomas