Buddhist Views on Marijuana

Sunnyd

ok well im a daily smoker of marijuana and sometimes this causes me to kinda become detached from reality an have anxiety, also when i meditate after im done i feel very weird like im dreaming and i juts kind of fog up in my head. i dont know much about buddhism but i would really appriciate if anyone with knodglade could help em to better my life.

what are the views of marijuana by the buddhist community

FoibleFull

Smoked it a lot in the 1970's, so you know I have no prejudice against it.

My teacher, a Tibetan monk from Namgyal in Dharamsala, says to refrain from all intoxicants of any sort. Even cigarettes. Not because it's "wrong", but because if you are serious about wanting enlightenment, drugs won't take you there.

GuyC

As both a Buddhist and an ex-pothead I would say that its, at best, a total waste of time. At worst, potentially very detrimental to your physical and mental wellbeing.

username_5

Former toker here as well. It's not compatible with mindfulness. As a rule anyone who uses a mind altering substance on a daily basis has issues they don't wish to address and uses the drug to avoid having to confront (or in some cases become aware of) those issues.

The irony is that the issue(s) just sit there so when the person finally stops altering their mind they find they just wasted time and now have to address what they ran from for so long.

Shutoku

There seems to be a bit of a rash of weed/buddhism threads lately

Buddhism is about getting to the root of suffering and overcoming suffering.

Weed is about putting a happy-faced band-aid on suffering and not having enough concentration to overcome the munchies, let alone suffering.

"Vegging out" is not the same as "no-mind"

So the two are not very compatible, and I think with any common sense at all we know it violates the 5th precept.

and btw...I too was a big pot head in my teens.

Dazzle

Oh no, not yet another weed thread ! Please check for existing ones.
Cannabis comes under 'intoxicants' and shouldn't be smoked by anyone who is a serious Buddhist practitioner....



.

shanyin

I'm trying to stop smoking weed...

try and stop is my advice.

ThailandTom

I smoked for 7 years and stopped when I moved to thailand. It took moving out of my social circle and environment to do it, along with other substances, but once here I literally have not cared about the stuff really.

Weed in my opinion strips motivation and as any drug gives a false state of happiness or a certain feeling. You are simply dosing yourself up each time you smoke and will not help you with the path of the buddha in the slightest. Simple, the precept that states to refrain from becoming intoxicated, couldn't be more clear cut.

I had to travel to Burma on my birthday the other week for my visa stamp and we had to pick up these monks from a little island on the boat trip over there. 2 of these monks were smoking cigarettes and one was playing on a mobile phone haha

RichardH

Dazzle said it right on the last thread of this type. This is about "seeking to justify recreational drug use", no more, no less. It is antithetical to our practice because Buddhism is the practice of being sober.

federica

Quite agree. Enough said.