Intoxicants

[jay.validus]

Buddhism makes clear through the fifth precept that all intoxicants, substances which alter the mind are prohibited.  I decided to do a quick search on what the Bible says about intoxicants, and the answer in regard to alcohol is mixed.  Drunkenness is a sin, but having a glass of wine or beer is an individual choice.  As a forum of individuals who pursue the mystical side of life, I wanted to explore this topic further on here.   I want to ask a few questions, and explore them myself.  What is the role or non-role of intoxicants?  Why are intoxicants banned?  Is there any value to consuming intoxicants?  Is morality fixed or fluid?

What is the role or non-role of intoxicants?

If you are on this forum, I assume you have embraced sobriety or do not consume your drink to drunkenness.  If you consume an intoxicant on a regular basis, either in excess or with great modesty, then I am not passing any judgement with this post.  We all have a past with alcohol and drugs, we make mistakes, and we learn from them.  If you have lived a puritan life free from any intoxicant, I applaud you, although I am glad my life was not puritan.

I have learned through my practice how I used alcohol and cannabis as tool to suppress my unpleasant feelings and wickedness.  When I lived on a meditation centre, for the first two weeks I felt the pain of all my cannabis use in my lungs.  Near the end of my tenure, I was going through some deep unpleasantness, but I felt peace.  A voice in my head said, "I want to drink, now".   I was in shock, because I realized I did not need to drink, even if I was sad. 

When I re-entered civilization, I kept complete sobriety for six months.  I experimented a few times with alcohol and cannabis in some modest amounts, while keeping my my meditation practice.  I realized how I hate the sensation of drunkenness, and getting high is just way too intense.  I battled with myself if one beer is bad.  For all the reasons for or against a beer, sitting with the emptiness, and praying that I want to be able to live my life, I decided that not going to drunkenness is what makes me happy.  I will drink a glass of wine or consume a beer.  I am okay with that.

Why Are Intoxicants Banned?

Mind-altering substances can cause us to break our virtue.  We might steal when we otherwise would not, lie when we would tell the truth, or have sex with those we otherwise would avoid.  It disrupts our mindfulness by creating something artificial, and could cause us to amplify our cravings & desires.  We could cause more suffering for ourselves in the long-run for some short-term relief.  In my experience, these reasons are all true.  However, I would argue the truth to breaking one's virtue occurs with drunkenness, not because you consumed the intoxicant itself.  This is debatable, there are many nuances, and we are free to discuss them. 

Increased bodily awareness is my reason not to consume intoxicants.  I feel the subtle effect of drugs I did not before, and I do not like them.  They have become a huge turn off.

Is there any value to consuming intoxicants?

People consume psychedelic drugs as something spiritual.  Shamans, druids, and witches consume psychedelics as their way of experiencing other realities.  Although I can understand, I do not think it is wise.  I was blessed, in that I was connected to my dreams, and had a deeper connection to the truth than some others.  I felt I did not need drugs for the longest time until I past high school and was in university, even though it surrounded me.  Then I started experimenting.

Although you can experience deep states of mind on psychedelics, any value that could be gained is always before one's time.  It is just spiritual entertainment.  I was never a huge tripper, but one regret I have is believing psychedelics might be worth it.  They are not and I should have listened to my gut.  Psychedelics will not heal you of your pain.  Psychedelics will not make you more connected to spirit.  You do not need to consume psychedelics.  If you are tempted and reading this right now, just say no.

Is morality fixed or fluid?

Morality is true until it is not, rules are made to bend, and logic justifies anything.  I believe morality is fluid. 


What do you think?

[Alexander]

I don't oppose drug use of any kind, Jay, but my interest in drugs has declined as I've developed the jhanas. I do not think drugs have a moral weight one way or another, as long as the person using them is responsible. For example, if you are supposed to be keeping watch over children, it would be wrong to get drunk at that time. But, if you do it alone or with adults and it doesn't hurt anybody, I don't see that as having moral weight. "It is not what goes in a man that corrupts him."

People who use drugs in excess turn them into vices. Getting drunk or high gives you an excuse to make bad choices. Also, excessive drug use leads to association with lower people, which is an impediment to spiritual growth; whereas someone who wants to make progress in the spirit wants to associate with higher people.

Initially I used drugs in the way you mentioned as used by "shamans, druids, and witches." There is an analogue here in Shaivaism, where a night of drug use represents a transition from one stage of the spiritual life to another. Drugs can be used in this way, or to develop self-understanding, or to give you a short relief from yourself.

I still drink alcohol regularly. I don't think that contradicts any spiritual prescriptions. I don't think any Christian denomination bans alcohol, including the monastic orders. It is the same in Hinduism. So, the only exception would be Buddhism, which is teetotaling.

I used to enjoy smoking very much. I still do. However, I do not do it, as I don't see any justification for smoking anything other than extremely infrequently, once you know the effect that it has on your lungs.

[Michel]

These below are a set of 8 precepts. See the 8th one on liquor below. It is interesting to note that abstaining from alcohol is not listed in the Eightfold Path.

You would think that having one drink every now and then would be acceptable.

(1) “Bhikkhus, the destruction of life, repeatedly pursued, developed, and cultivated, is conducive to hell, to the animal realm, and to the sphere of afflicted spirits; for one reborn as a human being the destruction of life at minimum conduces to a short life span.

(2) “Taking what is not given, repeatedly pursued, developed, and cultivated, is conducive to hell, to the animal realm, and to the sphere of afflicted spirits; for one reborn as a human being taking what is not given at minimum conduces to loss of wealth.

(3) “Sexual misconduct, repeatedly pursued, developed, and cultivated, is conducive to hell, to the animal realm, and to the sphere of afflicted spirits; for one reborn as a human being sexual misconduct at minimum conduces to enmity and rivalry.

(4) “False speech, repeatedly pursued, developed, and cultivated, is conducive to hell, to the animal realm, and to the sphere of afflicted spirits; for one reborn as a human being false speech at minimum conduces to false accusations.

(5) “Divisive speech, repeatedly pursued, developed, and cultivated, is conducive to hell, to the animal realm, and to the sphere of afflicted spirits; for one reborn as a human being divisive speech at minimum conduces to being divided from one’s friends.

(6) “Harsh speech, repeatedly pursued, developed, and cultivated, is conducive to hell, to the animal realm, and to the sphere of afflicted spirits; for one reborn as a human being harsh speech at minimum conduces to disagreeable sounds.

(7) “Idle chatter, repeatedly pursued, developed, and cultivated, is conducive to hell, to the animal realm, and to the sphere of afflicted spirits; for one reborn as a human being idle chatter at minimum conduces to others distrusting one’s words.

[8] “Drinking liquor and wine, repeatedly pursued, developed, and cultivated, is conducive to hell, to the animal realm, and to the sphere of afflicted spirits; for one reborn as a human being drinking liquor and wine at minimum conduces to madness.”

[Jhanananda]

Thank-you friends for engaging in this fruitful dialog.  My story is, I grew up in a family where my parents drank liquor every day, but who were sippers, and drank only after work, and mostly avoided drunkenness.

I started drinking alcohol to excess when I was about 13 years old.  I drank on weekend nights to excess until my 21st birthday.  I started smoking marijuana daily when I was about 17 and smoked excessive amounts daily until my 21st birthday.  I took LSD, or some other psychedelic every weekend roughly from 18 until my 21st birthday. 

On my 21st birthday I took up a sober contemplative life for 37 years. 

In my 37th year of sobriety I had a bad episode of rheumatoid arthritis.  That year I also started drinking 1 beer every 3 days, because I found it had a profound effect on reducing my joint pain, and increasing my flexibility.

Since then I have been experimenting with various alcoholic beverages to explore dose level and type to enhance its effect on reducing my joint pain.  I have found that my joint pain is effectively managed with 1-3 5oz glasses of very dark red wine daily, taking 5oz at each meal, followed roughly ever 2 hours by a 12oz container of beer.

My conclusion is beer and wine, when taken in moderation (such as the above dosage), is a health food.

The precepts do accommodate for medicine.  I find beer and wine, when taken in moderation (such as the above dosage), is medicine.

Oddly, the suttas do not refer to other psycho-active substances, such as opium and marijuana, which surely existed at that the time the suttas were composed.

Some people tell me that marijuana can be taken as an effective medicine for various conditions.  One would expect that the dosage would be moderate, but that would have to be applied individually.

I found when I took psychedelics that they inspired me spiritually and were a major factor in why I took up a fruitful contemplative life.  However, the correct use of psychedelics is once or twice in a whole lifetime just to open the doors of perception.  Once one has already taken up a fruitful contemplative life then psychedelics become meaningless.

[Tad]

Regarding beer and joints, does it matter what type of beer, filtered or non filtered, pasteurized or non pasteurized?

[Jhanananda]

With further research on this subject since my last posting October 04, 2015, I have found some more information and done more experiments and research on this subject.

1) I have been studying ethno-medicine and ethno-botany for 47 years, so I know that hops is a common anti-inflammatory used in European herbals going back into prehistory.  Hops is indigenous to the UK where it has been used by doctors and herbalists as far back as documentation on this subject exists. Hops was added to beer making in Belgium about 500 years ago and has become a defining property of all beer making globally. Therefore, all beers offer some anti-inflammatory effect.

2) What makes red wine an effective anti-inflammatory is the presence of a natural anti-inflammatory in red grapes called 'anthocyanin.' And, with experiments I found the darker the red wine the more effective an anti-inflammatory it is, and the wine had to be as dark as a merlot to produce observable and measurable anti-inflammatory effect with a shiraz having twice the effect that a merlot has.

3) I first discovered this effect in 2000 when I celebrated 27 years of sobriety with 1 beer.  At that time I went down to the co-op where I did my weekly grocery shopping and looked in their organic beer and wine selection and found Pyramid Apricot Ale, and selected it since I like apricots. It just happened to be the year of my worst flareup of rheumatoid arthritis. I sipped that one beer in the evening and found that before I finished the beer my hands were free of stiffness and pain for the first time in 9 months. At the time I couldn't believe it was the beer, but I noted the effect.

3 days went by with my hands free of pain and stiffness. At the end of the third day I found pain and stiffness coming back so I had another 12oz Pyramid Apricot Ale.  This went on until I had finished the 6-pack at a rate of 1 every 3 days.  Then upon the return of pain I bought another 6-pack, and continued with this 1 every 3 days dose for about 3 months.  Then the pain and stiffness went away and did not come back for a few years.  Then when it did I bought more and continued the dose rate with effect.

When I took up field archaeology around 2008 I found a return of joint stiffness and pain, and I wanted to experiment to see if other brands worked as effectively, so I tried about 10 different brands of beer and found they all had a mild anti-inflammatory effect, but Pyramid Apricot Ale had significantly better effect.

In 2015 I told a friend about my experiments with beer and Pyramid Apricot Ale, because he was dealing with arthritis. He did some research and came across anthocyanin as an anti-inflammatory. So, I started experimenting with red wines because red grapes have anthocyanin, and found he was right. And the darker the red wine the more effective; however, Pyramid Apricot Ale was better.  Then I experimented with drinking merlot followed a few hours later with a beer, and found it also effective.

Over the years I stuck with Pyramid Apricot Ale until it became hard to find, so I tried other fruit beers, and found some work but others do not. I tried Four Peeks Peach ale and Big Blue Bus Blueberry beer and found them equally as effective as Pyramid Apricot Ale; whereas, Prescott Brewing Apricot Ale had no better effect than any other beer.

So, trying to figure out why some fruit beer works great whereas others have little anti-inflammatory effect I started brewing my own ale.  I was also interested in seeing if I could enhance the anti-inflammatory effect.

My results are: both hops and the anthocyanin bearing fruit must be fermented together for enhanced anti-inflammatory effect.  Other herbs can be added at the time of fermentation to enhance the medical benefit of an ale, but while some herbs are enhanced by fermentation, others lose their medical benefit. 

Conclusion: A tonic must be fermented to be an effective tonic.  If it is not fermented, then it is not a tonic. If alcohol is used to extract the medical benefit from an herb, then it is not a tonic, but a tincture.