Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? paramatha K 9/24/17 1:36 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? Lars 9/24/17 2:33 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? seth tapper 9/24/17 2:51 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? Lars 9/24/17 2:56 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? Adam M 9/24/17 3:00 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? Lewis James 9/25/17 7:18 AM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? Adam M 9/24/17 3:52 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? Rich Lee 9/24/17 5:41 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? paramatha K 9/24/17 7:43 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? Adam M 9/24/17 8:48 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? This very moment 9/24/17 10:04 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? svmonk 9/25/17 10:11 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? paramatha K 9/26/17 11:53 AM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? svmonk 9/26/17 10:41 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? paramatha K 10/1/17 1:25 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? svmonk 10/1/17 10:10 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? seth tapper 9/26/17 11:52 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? streamsurfer 9/26/17 4:55 AM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? paramatha K 9/26/17 12:15 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? Jay Douglass 10/1/17 12:22 AM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? paramatha K 10/1/17 1:49 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? Jay Douglass 10/2/17 12:52 AM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? Dom Stone 10/2/17 6:11 AM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? Dom Stone 10/2/17 6:08 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? paramatha K 10/1/17 1:50 PM
RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice? Adam M 10/16/17 10:56 AM
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paramatha K, modified 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 1:36 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 1:21 PM

Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

Posts: 11 Join Date: 2/15/14 Recent Posts
I have been wanting to know if the usage of psychedelics speed up one's meditation practice?
I heard about benefits of psychedelics from many people in regards to their practice.
I also heard about the limits of experiences you get from psychedelics e.g. whatever experienced while on trip, it is not a permanent shift in conscious or those experiences do not produce true wisdom, etc.

But it seems to me that no matter how wonderful or limited experiences psychedelics produce, once you have experienced psychedelics, in my opinion it does something to your brain. So that if you take up meditation and practice steadily, you would make a progress much faster than someone who just meditates without any help from psychedelics.

For example, many people experience something very similar to A&P while on trip. When those people with such experience take on meditation they seem to go straight to A&P stage and beyond - skipping lower insight stages. Now for average meditators, with meditation practice alone, it can take a while to reach the A&P stage, let alone stream entry. But the impression that I get from meditators who used psychedelics is that they seem to reach the stages (A&P, dukkha nanas, fruition) much faster.

I would like to ask those who have used psychedelics and attained the first path or close to it:

1.Did use of psychedelics speed up your progress in practice?
2. What are the pros & cons of psychedelic usage in practice?
(some people explained that certain part of their conscious remained foggy and expericed some form of depression even after attaining the first path).

I would greatly appreciate your feedback.
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Lars, modified 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 2:33 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 2:26 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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Ram Dass was one of the psychedelic gurus of the sixties along with Leary, and even he eventually admitted that they were a dead end, and he pursued meditation practise instead. They can definitely give you odd experiences which trigger various insights, but it's tough to integrate the experience unless you already have a solid practise and good concentration etc. Psychedelics also tend to increase dullness (both during and after), which doesn't really help practise any, and can make the experience seem more mind blowing that it was. The primary lesson psychedelics teach is that sensory experience is unreliable and malleable. If you already understand that, you don't really need them.

Essentially they're too chaotic when you don't have the relevant meditation skills, and once you do have those skills you don't really need the psychedelics. That's just my experience though, and I don't claim first path. 

Hunter S. Thompson put it fairly well when he remarked at his naivete in thinking that he could "buy enlightenment for $5 a dose".  emoticon
seth tapper, modified 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 2:51 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 2:46 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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I personally think some recreational experimentation does a lot to show the mind that its pre existing understanding of reality is not the only way to look at things.  Using them to actually make progress will probably leave you nuts or depersonalized and stuck in a funky dark night.   The end result needs to be a fully integrated personality that can accept consensus reality and emptiness and I think drugs are a very hard and risky way to get there.

If you trip, my advice is to just do it for fun and dont take it seriously or think you are achieving anything. 
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Lars, modified 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 2:56 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 2:55 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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seth tapper:
If you trip, my advice is to just do it for fun and dont take it seriously or think you are achieving anything.


Agreed, and of course the classic advice always applies. Do it with friends you trust and feel comfortable with (or alone if you can handle it), in a place that is peaceful and friendly, while everyone is in a good mood. Don't take them with sketchy people in sketchy places when you're feeling sketchy (unless you're going for hardmode difficulty level experiences). emoticon
Adam M, modified 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 3:00 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 3:00 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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For those people I know who tried to use psychedelics as part of their meditation routine, all gave up disappointed. The drugs can give a temporary improvement in meditation ability on the come down of the drug that can't be replicated when it wears off. I know someone who said that the experience of jhana under the drug's influence made it a little easier for them to learn it later. Some have thought that they could hold on to some of the insights they achieved under the drugs influence by meditating on those insights after the drug wears off but they were never really sure. If there is any positive impact, it seems very limitted as far as I can tell. Everyone I know who tried has given up on the idea.
Adam M, modified 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 3:52 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 3:52 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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And also. When your concentration picks up and you start to experience kundalini and energy stuff, you definitely want to pass on the psychedelics then. A lot have made that mistake!
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Rich Lee, modified 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 5:41 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 5:39 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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They were just a trip for me, even though I generally set them us as a sacrament and for a 'spiritual' purpose. I already knew I wanted to meditate, but psychedelics were more easily available than teachings in a small English village in the late 1970's and became a diversion. The pro is you see that reality isn't what you thought it was. When you get that there's really no need to keep repeating the process - it doesn't develop much further unless you like the sensational parts. I found that the same insight achieved through 'natural' methods fit better somewhow than the jagged patch that LSD provided and I have been able to progress beyind it. Same with Cocaine and QiGong - real energetics with QiGong are so much more consistent with the rest of my person than the harsh rush of Coke.

For Ram Dass LSD was a new thing - the kind of insight he got wasn't generally avaialble back then to a buttoned up Jewish academic. I can see how it might be useful for others, but ISTM that nowadays we have such good and reliable access to non-conventional views that it might not really be necessary. The cons of course include people losing their minds for good.

Rich
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paramatha K, modified 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 7:43 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 7:43 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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Thank you all for your feedback.
I have never used psychedelics nor am I interested in experimenting with them.
But I am interested in learning more about psychedelics' role in the meditation practice.
It seems psychedelics played a major part for some of the early pioneers of American Buddhism to set foot in spirituality.
And many people seem to be supportive of it in terms of further experimentation as to how it affects practice (at least from my research).

Anyway thanks again!
Adam M, modified 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 8:48 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 8:48 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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Sorry for the misunderstanding. You may have a point actually. Quite a few people seem to get past the A&P through psychedelics. Sometimes who never even were meditating. It's interesting to wonder if it could aid a cessation also.
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This very moment, modified 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 10:04 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/24/17 10:04 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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Buddhist Geeks founder recently started the podcast back up again and he is exploring the subject of psychedelics and meditation.  He has three recent podcasts exploring the subject in depth.  This might be what you are looking for.
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Lewis James, modified 6 Years ago at 9/25/17 7:18 AM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/25/17 7:18 AM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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I got into practice largely by way of some overwhelming DMT and LSD experiences several years ago, and I agree with the posts above saying that they can be useful to see what's possible, and to break conventional paradigms, but beyond that it's very difficult to skillfully use them for practise. You only have to view a few 'psychonaut' communities online to see how well-intentioned people can get incredibly confused and paranoid via psychedelic culture.

There's also something to be said for the ability to 'taste' insight, as all these strange drug-induced lenses on reality come up you get that experience of insight that profound mystical states and perceptual shifts produce. They can show you first hand that the mind is much more flexible and far-reaching than you imagined, and show you plainly that the idea of identity as you usually know it is quite arbitrary. The insights you get only really apply to the psychedelic 'frame' of reality though, they don't really translate back into sober experience, so you can end up totally lost. You still have to do the work to get the kind of sustaining, deep insight into everyday existence, it seems. But I feel like psychedelics can do a good job of motivating otherwise unsure or sceptical people.

Back when I was taking psychedelics, I had a casual meditation practise going and would sometimes meditate on LSD. The combination can make an otherwise fairly mild trip experience extremely overwhelming, very quickly. It can be quite useful, in some sense it's like adding weights to the practise, as you have all this extra sensory data is competing for attention, and you can get into some very deep states quite quickly as a result of that and the natural trance-like qualities of the drug. But sloppily instructed meditation on LSD can also take you into high-intensity states and experiences you are wholly unprepared for and cause trauma - ie a bad trip.

Ultimately, I'm undecided on psychedelics. I was clinically depressed when I decided to try them out as a sort of last ditch attempt after being labelled 'treatment resistant' by the doctor and I credit them with basically saving my life with the experiences that I had. But I'm not sure about how useful they are for real insight practise, and I can certainly see the dangers. 
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svmonk, modified 6 Years ago at 9/25/17 10:11 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/25/17 10:09 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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Hi paramatha K,

I went through an A&P experience on the two doors of Impermance and Suffering while microdosed on LSD in the early 70's (you can read about it in my memoir if you want more details). Mircodosing (10 ug as opposed to 100 ug for a full dose of LSD, other psychedelics are different) has only recently beccome recognized as a way to take psychedelics without getting the overwhelming sensory overload that happens when you take a full dose. People report having flow states regularly and reportedly some people in Silicon Valley microdose every few days to improve their ability to concentrate at work*. Shortly after that A&P, I began meditating regularly.

That said, I personally would not recommend for anyone to take psychedelics and meditate. Even in small doses, they can be unpredictable and meditation has its own potential difficulties, like the arising of difficult personal material and DN, in the early stages. For me, psychedelics had a tendency to confuse rather than clarify my understanding. I think if I had stopped taking psychedelics sooner and instead found a qualified meditation teacher, I probably would have made much better progress. Best not to mix the two.

Hope that helps.



*Personally, I think if they were to bring back real offices and get rid of these huge rooms filled with people three feet away from their neighbors most people wouldn't have problems concentrating at work.
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streamsurfer, modified 6 Years ago at 9/26/17 4:55 AM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/26/17 4:52 AM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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My experiences align mostly with the previous answers.
Psychedelics won't do anything to get you down the path (except maybe to rise energy and kick you over A&P) because it's not about specific phenomena.
BUT I see value in them for psychological development, for which they are a very mighty tool, since they show you mercessly everything about you. If it is your intention psychedelics will help you to melt down your ego and to be "unified with the universe" (and that's even an understatement for how it feels emoticon) Anyway, they will not magically solve problems, but they tend to produce conclusions like: "Damn, I need to live a better life as a better person"

Concrete experience:
  • no practice + mushrooms: mostly bad trip and dark night afterwards (don't know if crossed the A&P while or before) // in the long run probably the reason to pick up practice
  • 3,5 years practice + shrooms: mystical state comparable to 4th MCTB path with ultraclarity and unambiguity, loss of so much resistance, psychological insights and revealing of misconceptions of me and the world (illusions) // though afterwards the state faded of course, it was the motivation for me to go all in with practice
  • 4 years practice + LSD: life relevant insights, psychologically liberating (losing grip of shame and self deprivation)
Mushrooms felt way more mystical and "godlike" (probably better choice if you want to have such an experience), whereas LSD felt like a journey you can steer.
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paramatha K, modified 6 Years ago at 9/26/17 11:53 AM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/26/17 11:48 AM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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svmonk:
Hi paramatha K,

I went through an A&P experience on the two doors of Impermance and Suffering while microdosed on LSD in the early 70's (you can read about it in my memoir if you want more details)......Shortly after that A&P, I began meditating regularly.
So what I would like to ask you is:

Once you experienced A&P with LSD, and then you started meditation, 
how long did it take for you to experience A&P again through meditation?
And how often?

You see, most average people (with average concentration & mindfulness), getting to A&P stage with practice alone can take a while.
But once you experience A&P or something similar with psychedelics, and then take on meditation, it seems like (I could be wrong) you can go straight to A&P stages and beyond without having to go thru 1st ~ 3rd insight stages which can take a pretty long time for average yogis to pass. So in essence psychedelics can, in my opinion boost practice and help make a fast progress for some. And of course, the downside of using psychedelic is something that anyone interested in using them should pay close attention to.

And yes, I would love to read about your experience with LSD. Can you post a link? I don't know how to access your memoir.

Thanks! Really appreciate your reply. emoticon
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paramatha K, modified 6 Years ago at 9/26/17 12:15 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/26/17 12:15 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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streamsurfer:
My experiences align mostly with the previous answers.
Psychedelics won't do anything to get you down the path (except maybe to rise energy and kick you over A&P) because it's not about specific phenomena.
BUT I see value in them for psychological development, for which they are a very mighty tool, since they show you mercessly everything about you. If it is your intention psychedelics will help you to melt down your ego and to be "unified with the universe" (and that's even an understatement for how it feels emoticon) Anyway, they will not magically solve problems, but they tend to produce conclusions like: "Damn, I need to live a better life as a better person"

Concrete experience:
  • no practice + mushrooms: mostly bad trip and dark night afterwards (don't know if crossed the A&P while or before) // in the long run probably the reason to pick up practice
  • 3,5 years practice + shrooms: mystical state comparable to 4th MCTB path with ultraclarity and unambiguity, loss of so much resistance, psychological insights and revealing of misconceptions of me and the world (illusions) // though afterwards the state faded of course, it was the motivation for me to go all in with practice
  • 4 years practice + LSD: life relevant insights, psychologically liberating (losing grip of shame and self deprivation)
Mushrooms felt way more mystical and "godlike" (probably better choice if you want to have such an experience), whereas LSD felt like a journey you can steer.
thanks! streamsurfer. emoticon
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svmonk, modified 6 Years ago at 9/26/17 10:41 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/26/17 10:40 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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Hi paramantha K,

Here's a link to my memoir (title is Silicon Valley Monk): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/495629. There's buttons for epub, PDF, and mobi (for the Kindle).

Regarding your question, it took about 16 years between the first A&P experience on psychedelics and the second, at my first 7 day Zen retreat. I stopped taking psychedelics around 2 years after the first A&P. For the first 3 years after the A&P, my practice was fairly sporadic because I was traveling a lot. After that, I did a daily practice for about a half hour each morning, reciting the Tibetan mantra "Om mani padme hum!" until I started Zen practice in 1988. So I would say, in my experience psychedelics didn't really accelerate the practice, but they didn't hinder it either, except to the extent that I didn't get motivated to actually find a teacher and get serious about it. Remember YMMV so I expect there are other people who experienced more of a benefit. For me, it opened the door, but it took a while for me to actually walk through it.

Hope that helps.
seth tapper, modified 6 Years ago at 9/26/17 11:52 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/26/17 11:52 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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If you really want to understand what this is all about, forget the hallucinogens and take ecstasy.   Being love is a lot faster and more fun than picking your reality apart, IMHO. 
Jay Douglass, modified 6 Years ago at 10/1/17 12:22 AM
Created 6 Years ago at 9/30/17 11:27 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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Several months ago I began experimenting with psychedelics with the goal of shaking up my meditation practice. I had some powerful, interesting experiences on LSD and psilocyin, but cannabis has proven to be the most effective entheogen. 

After two weeks of meditating with cannabis, I experienced an intense A&P, with violent shaking and intense kundalini phenomenon. A few weeks after that, I had a possible stream entry event which has been semi-confirmed by a well known teacher. The stream entry event happened while sober, but I believe my frequent usage of cannabis contributed. I'm still hesitant to regard it as stream entry, and I'm open to the interpretation that what I experienced wasn't the "real" thing. That said, I've been told Bill Hamilton and Shinzen Young were frequent users, so who's to say it wasn't legitimate.

It's definitely affected my meditation practice. I experience kriyas and kundalini while meditating even while sober, which never happened before I started using. And I've noticed a subtle positive shift in my general mental state, which seems to be permanent. 

Downsides? Meditating while on cannabis amplifies mental phenomenon, and one time I went too far and induced a panic attack. I now know how to anticipate it and back off before it goes out of control. Also, be prepared to ride out intense emotional swings and relive all of your worst baggage.

 

 
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paramatha K, modified 6 Years ago at 10/1/17 1:25 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 10/1/17 1:21 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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svmonk:
Hi paramantha K,

Here's a link to my memoir (title is Silicon Valley Monk): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/495629. There's buttons for epub, PDF, and mobi (for the Kindle).

Regarding your question, it took about 16 years between the first A&P experience on psychedelics and the second, at my first 7 day Zen retreat. I stopped taking psychedelics around 2 years after the first A&P. For the first 3 years after the A&P, my practice was fairly sporadic because I was traveling a lot. After that, I did a daily practice for about a half hour each morning, reciting the Tibetan mantra "Om mani padme hum!" until I started Zen practice in 1988. So I would say, in my experience psychedelics didn't really accelerate the practice, but they didn't hinder it either, except to the extent that I didn't get motivated to actually find a teacher and get serious about it. Remember YMMV so I expect there are other people who experienced more of a benefit. For me, it opened the door, but it took a while for me to actually walk through it.

Hope that helps.

Thanks svmonk!
I am not done reading your book yet due to my schedule.
But I read all the chapters about your personal history/experience in your spiritual journey.
Those chapters were truly interesting and precious!
You described experiences that are rarely discussed in the meditation community.

I would like to know about the strong experience you had at the retreat in Forest Refuge:
Did your use of psychedelics (although at that time it was 30+ years since your last trip) made the experience stronger than it could have been?
Practicing with wrong intention coupled with powerful concentration can produce less desirable experiences.
But could the psychedelics (if any of it was still left in your system) have contributed to having such a powerful experience?

Have you gone back to any long intensive retreat after that incident?

I want to thank you again for replying to my thread. Your experience was quite interesting and helpful.
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paramatha K, modified 6 Years ago at 10/1/17 1:49 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 10/1/17 1:48 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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Jay Douglass:
Several months ago I began experimenting with psychedelics with the goal of shaking up my meditation practice. I had some powerful, interesting experiences on LSD and psilocyin, but cannabis has proven to be the most effective entheogen. 

After two weeks of meditating with cannabis, I experienced an intense A&P, with violent shaking and intense kundalini phenomenon. A few weeks after that, I had a possible stream entry event which has been semi-confirmed by a well known teacher. The stream entry event happened while sober, but I believe my frequent usage of cannabis contributed. I'm still hesitant to regard it as stream entry, and I'm open to the interpretation that what I experienced wasn't the "real" thing. That said, I've been told Bill Hamilton and Shinzen Young were frequent users, so who's to say it wasn't legitimate.

It's definitely affected my meditation practice. I experience kriyas and kundalini while meditating even while sober, which never happened before I started using. And I've noticed a subtle positive shift in my general mental state, which seems to be permanent. 

Downsides? Meditating while on cannabis amplifies mental phenomenon, and one time I went too far and induced a panic attack. I now know how to anticipate it and back off before it goes out of control. Also, be prepared to ride out intense emotional swings and relive all of your worst baggage.

 

 

Thanks Jay!
So I assume in your case, it definitely helped you progress faster.
I never thought cannabis would produce that kind of effect.
And also, is using cannabis less dangerous than LSD or psilocyin?

Anyway I appreciate your feedback.
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paramatha K, modified 6 Years ago at 10/1/17 1:50 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 10/1/17 1:50 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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Paweł K:
[end of map position
,color distribution]
<not waste time optimizing proper algoritms>

I know,,, 10*<whatever> response time
you still loose if I notice it
/r/i/g/g/e/d/?

I don't get your point.
Care to elaborate?
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svmonk, modified 6 Years ago at 10/1/17 10:10 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 10/1/17 10:03 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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Hi paramatha K,

Psychedelics, like all drugs, are typically metabolized and out of your body within 24 hours to a few days. If there is any lingering effect, it is what they modified in your body-mind while they were there. I think the contribution of my early use of psychedelics to the Forest Refuge retreat experience was to leave me open to the story my mind seemed to be constructing, even though it had elements of craziness that clearly didn't add up from a logical standpoint. I don't think my early experience with psychedelics made the experience any stronger, it just let me flow with it without thinking I was psychotic, which, in retrospect, seen from the outside, I clearly was, at least temporarily.

Regarding practicing with wrong intention, perhaps from the Theravada standpoint, and certainly from the goals of the retreat set out by the teachers, my intention was wrong. But from a Mahayana perspective, and in particular, from the standpoint of the Bodhisattva Vow, the intention was pure, if somewhat misguided. Most people in the West don't give much thought to the distinction between Theravada and Mahayana, but from the standpoint of intention, there is a difference. On the other hand, from the standpoint of the effect of the practice on an advanced practioner's outward behavior, there is actually little difference. Gil Fronsdal, who has Zen transmission,Theravada teacher training and teaches mostly in the Theravadan style, wrote his PhD dissertation comparing the two, concluded there was little difference. So the different intentions lead, in the end, to the same effect, at least on outward behavior.

After the Forest Refuge retreat, I took a short break, then practiced with Shinzen Young for a few years, did some of his monthly home practice periods and did two longer retreats with him in LA. Shinzen is an excellent teacher, and I recommend him often, but he does not maintain a personal relationship with his students. For many students, this works fine, but for me, it really didn't work. I need someone like Yvonne  with whom I can work closely and see on a regular basis. So now I am working with a Mahamudra teacher in San Francisco who is nearby and has a small sangha.

Finally, regarding:
You described experiences that are rarely discussed in the meditation community.
The reason I wrote the book is because I spent years trying to figure out what was going on, from the classical literature and from my teachers, and nobody could tell me, and nobody wanted to talk about it. Until I read MCTB and ended up on DhO. I've talked with other people who have had similar experiences since then. The problem is that with mindfulness becoming trendy, there are likely to be other people who will end up in trouble: do a couple months of mindfulness practice, find it enjoyable, sign up for a Goenka retreat, and come out after having an A&P trying to figure out what is going on. If they are lucky, they will end up here where there are lots of people around to help them, and in fact there have been several such threads in the recent past. If they are unlucky, they could end up ruining their conventional lives, but maybe in the end pulling out of it. I really struggled with whether I should publish it or not, but, in the end, I figured if I could help a couple people understand that there are others who went through what they are, like MCTB did for me, then maybe it could be of benefit. The Bodhisattva Vow again.

Sorry for the wall of text, but your questions struck a nerve.
Jay Douglass, modified 6 Years ago at 10/2/17 12:52 AM
Created 6 Years ago at 10/2/17 12:52 AM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

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Thanks Jay!
So I assume in your case, it definitely helped you progress faster. 
I never thought cannabis would produce that kind of effect. 
And also, is using cannabis less dangerous than LSD or psilocyin? 
Everyone will have different experiences, you can't say one drug is safer than the other. Too much cannabis can be just as destabilizing as too much LSD. Just make sure you have someone close by if you should need them.
Dom Stone, modified 6 Years ago at 10/2/17 6:11 AM
Created 6 Years ago at 10/2/17 6:11 AM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

Posts: 118 Join Date: 3/21/17 Recent Posts
The Buddha mentioned that any intoxicants that cause heedlessness are harmful. The main thing to take from this is that (As well as any potential toxicity from the substance itself), it is the decisions made while in a psychological state not compatible with your resting state. The brain will adapt to any stimulus to ensure best possible chance of survival. Altered states of consciousness can supply very different stimulus to the mind so care is needed to minimise damage. If there are subconscious processes you aren't aware of, then you can't account for damage to these, hence why it's important to be mindful in such states.

The action of taking anything in the first place is a voilitional impulse, so this can solidify the identification with the ego (eg. I'm in control of when I do this), and while it may not feel like that during the trip, afterwards we go back to the same baseline state, with alterations made purely by mindful inquiry alone, with very little difference being made by whatever is taken. 

With insight meditation we are teaching our minds to perceive things as they are. A no self experience is just a no self experience, it's not one based on true insight if it is not properly understood by the other parts of the mind that are normally functional but otherwise overlooked. This requires a manual shut down.

As to the substance taken, it definitely makes an effect, but I can't accurately suggest what may cause more benefit or harm over time, but the general rule is, if something makes you feel better or one way when you're high, you're likely to have the opposite effect whilst not.

Cannabis has the 'benefit' of increased absorption, but single pointedness if it can be maintained is short lived (it's like driving a car very fast on turbo, it's hard to keep it on the road and it wears you out). Like any altered state (not jhanas or Nana's), any insights gained are dependant on mostly different channels of thought that cannot be accessed in standard consciousness. Cannabis has the negative aspects that memory retention is compromised, and it agitates the mind due to the heightened sensitivity. The less Insight you have from daily life, the more chances per pass your mind will be caught up in silly self referencing processes that get you nowhere.

I haven't taken LSD for over a year, when my insight was much lower so have less to say except that it was very good for channelling the mind with the right mental strength. After a 2 day trip, I noticed that senses were very strong and everybody looked really ugly (No skhandas that hid all the imperfections), it was like something from brothers Grimm, especially at 5am. I imagine that this would have been a good time to meditate due to the similarly in information processing, but due to the fact things were very wacky before, everything just felt bland and plain. It was like my consciousness couldn't be bothered to create anything to be desired, so didn't.

Mushrooms also left me with a sense of clarity afterwards, though I imagine it was at the expense of other processes unrecognised. Things seemed nicer, awareness of surroundings greatly increased but the delusions that psylocibin induces are hard to work around. While it is good for showing things in a new way, the level of intoxication that they bring suggest to me insight isn't easily carried from such an experience at all.
Dom Stone, modified 6 Years ago at 10/2/17 6:08 PM
Created 6 Years ago at 10/2/17 6:06 PM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

Posts: 118 Join Date: 3/21/17 Recent Posts
Just an addition:

Had a spliff with my girlfriend. Occasionally I will smoke for diagnostic purposes, which has led to issues in the past as it has significant potential to become habits forming which it has done on many occasions before I stop.

This instance was an opportunity to assess current level of insight, and perceive ways my brain works on it. I don't believe it gave me any extra insight at all, and my relative clarity on this attempt has made me realize, that asides from initial wavy a&p effects that propel some into the dark night, it has no potential for gaining insight. However, there is still potential therapeutic benefit if skillfully applied with strong knowledge on how overall mindfulness is affected. The psychological risks allow for therapeutic psychoactive use only if there is a clear barrier to be overcome. This is with regards to mental health or messing with egoistic limitations.

I have found it bad for Insight diagnosis as cannabis makes the mind edgy and this can be uncomfortable for the ego to handle if identified with. 

After 1st a&p: Spliffs become trippy. They do more than just mong and give munchies, they reactivate a&p, but with no experience in defilements or siddhis, they are too much to handle. Dark night is oppressing as there is huge amount of self directed thought.
After 1st path: it takes longer for effects to come into enough moments of consciousness to derail mindfulness and become edgy. If pushed into second a&p for the first time, this can be overwhelming, and dark night more profound but more acceptable than pre path.

After 2nd path:
Cannabis is no longer 'profound', and enjoyment is difficult to have. Side effects are more obvious than anything else. Lack of clarity of mind causes misery. Jhana absorbtion is far too intense for comfort and mind is sporadically flung out of jhana to accommodate various thoughts.

Near 3rd path:
Takes even longer for diligent mind to lose clarity and balance. Effects are felt physically but mind isn't much affected until enough thoughts are felt without mindfulness, after which point subtle ego identification is strong. Primarily focused around pleasure/pain concepts as these seem to be only ones not yet disidentified with. Also craving for wisdom or states. Basically, aspects not yet untangled with Insight meditation cause suffering. Mind still attached to concepts though it is easy to see how. 

I believe 3rd path will be a clear experience on weed with little unnecessary thought processes.


The reason I believe that Insight knowledge is unlikely to be gained is because there is no extra experience. Experience is experience and nothing can be added, it is the state of the mind that matters more than the objects. Restlessness is a hinderance to a good state of mind.
Adam M, modified 6 Years ago at 10/16/17 10:56 AM
Created 6 Years ago at 10/16/17 10:56 AM

RE: Do psychedelics speed up the progress in meditation practice?

Posts: 51 Join Date: 8/7/17 Recent Posts
Hey Paramatha K, I originally posted on here a little sceptical about the impact of hallucinogens on meditation practice but I was inspired (rightly or wrongly) by some of the positive posts here about the effect of drugs on practice. The last week, I had a go at meditation on cannabis as mentioned in one of the posts above. I know your interest is in the impact on progress through the insight stages. The effects I experienced are not completely in that vein but are nevertheless very interesting and totally unexpected.

For background, concentration wise I’m around TMIs stage 8 just starting to experience grade 4 piti of that stage. For insight I am still pre stream entry at equanimity and have had a couple of near miss cessations which didn’t quite make it.
 
I took just a few puffs. Not enough to get ‘stoned’ but it was enough to significantly affect my meditation practice, getting to stages of concentration in a few minutes that would have taken me over an hour to reach sober. I soon noticed heat forming in my belly which soon after was accompanied by visualisations of fire around a hot stone.  I had heard of the Tibetan tummo practice and started to try the vase breathing technique which helped ignite the flame causing another visualisation of lava flow up to my neck. This produced quite intense heat over my torso. This was highly unexpected. I had half-heartedly tried inner fire techniques before but was never seriously expecting to be going down this route.
 
Anyway, I’ve done this twice now influenced by cannabis and can now do this sober. It’s not as intense an experience sober. I don’t have the same level of bliss. The visualisations aren’t as strong and I don’t have the experience of relocating consciousness at my belly which can happen on weed. Strangely though, the feeling of heat is as intense as during the drug induced meditations.
 
Overall, my concentration has improved significantly and I have more easy access to non-dual ways of perceiving which will surely help my insight practice. So it does seem that controlled drug use can have a permanent impact on concentration as well as insight practice though I may have got lucky!. Thank you very much for giving me the idea anyhow!

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