Will Johnson - Cannabis in Spiritual Practice: The Ecstasy of Shiva, the Calm of Buddha

To the Buddhist world, whose abstention from intoxicants reveals profoundly calm states of mind

And to the followers of Shiva, whose use of cannabis awakens ecstasy through the body

Refrain from harming living things.

Refrain from taking whats not given.

Refrain from sexual misconduct.

Refrain from lying.

Refrain from taking intoxicants.

THE FIVE PRECEPTS THAT BUDDHIST STUDENTS TAKE UPON ENTERING THE BUDDHIST PATH

The sages call out to Indra

Drink the juice of soma.

HYMN 12, SOMA PAVANAMA, RIG VEDA

Introduction

IN THE MID-1990s I WAS INVITED to be the sermonizer-of-the-day at a Unitarian church outside of Baltimore, Maryland. Id been one of the support-team therapists for a member of that congregation during her recovery from a particularly nasty cancer, and she felt the spiritual orientation of the work we did together was just as important, perhaps even more so, than the more purely physical aspects of the therapy she received. And so she wanted to share her excitement about the practices that had been so meaningful to her with her fellow congregants.

Of all the organized religions, the Unitarians are unique in that they dont just preach their own particular perspective and dogma, but openly embrace the many different symbols, teachers, and understandings of all the different religions. For this reason I felt comfortable in sharing with them not just the open-heart practices of Jesus, but the deeply body-oriented practices of Rumithe thirteenth-century Sufi poet, mystic, and originator of the dance of the whirling dervishas well as an embodied approach to the practices of the Buddha. Had this been a more traditional Christian community, a Buddhist sangha, a Sufi gathering, a Shaivite yoga group, or an entheogenic explorers circle, I would have spoken through the metaphors of their particular orientations. But with the Unitarians I felt I could draw freely on all of these sourcesand indeed this is what I did. Over the course of a short sermon, which was more of a guided interaction with the congregation than a traditional sermon, I decided to push the edges a bit and watched as the entire room became more embodied, connected both to one another as well as the source of all things. It was a magical moment.

At the end of the service, the minister approached me. I need to speak to you, he said tersely.

Uh-oh, I thought. Had I gone too far? Had I finally gone and put my foot in my mouth this time? We set up a time to meet privately the next day.

As it turned out, I hadnt committed any kind of spiritual faux pas at allquite the opposite in fact. The minister had been enthralled by what had happened the day before and was genuinely interested in the kinds of practices that had led me to what I shared with his congregation.

And so I told him in some detail about the sitting meditation practices that I explore on a daily basis, about the practices of spontaneous movement that always accompany the sitting practices as a kind of energetic foil, of the gazing practices of Rumi, of the understanding Id garnered from studying the psychology of the Buddha, all the time filtering everything through the healing lens of bodily sensation championed by the Somatic teachers of the West. It was a wonderful and open conversation, with neither of us holding back on our queries and responses.

And then he abruptly shifted gear. What I need to ask you now is this: Do you use cannabis in conjunction with any of these practices?

Well, I hadnt seen that coming.

In the spiritual world, the use of mind-altering substances is generally considered taboo, with no wiggle room whatsoever. The spiritual worlds predominant attitude toward cannabis is fiercely negative, and the herb is viewed as something to be avoided and completely let go of as one enters into the new life of the spiritwhether your calling is Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Christianindeed if you are drawn to any of the organized religions or traditional spiritual practices. And here was a Unitarian minister openly asking me if I used cannabis for the practices wed been discussing for the past hour.

The spiritually correct answer to this question is Why, no, of course not, dont ever use any drugs at all, dont go anywhere near them, never would, theyre just not appropriate, perhaps I did once, but not anymore, the practices themselves are much more potent and their effects are diminished if one resorts to any kind of mind-altering substance.

But that answer, as convenient and spiritually correct as it would be, would not have been honest. As a teacher of Buddhist dharma, Im something of an anomaly and outlier when it comes to the use of cannabis. During the long meditation retreats that I teach, I fully embrace the traditional Buddhist preceptsone of which strictly forbids the consumption of any mind-altering substanceand insist that my students follow them. And I do this not because I feel bound by tradition, but because it works. But on my own, back home in the daily practices that I regularly explore with my wife, I will often enjoy what I call a homeopathic dose of cannabis, the sacrament of the great Hindu god Shiva, and take a toke before entering into the deeply body-oriented movement practices that I also regularly exploretraditional hatha yoga, spontaneous movement and dance, aerobic walks, and Pilatesas well as for creative expressions of music and art and for exploring the energies of touch with my wife. And I do this not because Im a rebel against authority or tradition but, again, because it works. At home I make a distinction between what I call my purification practices and what I call my celebration practices. Traditional Buddhist teachings of focus and concentration are best explored with a calm, clear, and unmedicated mind, while ecstatic surrender to the feeling energies of the body through dance, gazing, music, and lovemaking, are almost always enhanced for me through invoking Shiva and ingesting his favored herb. Buddhist practices purify the body and calm the mind. Shaivite practices celebrate the body and illuminate the mind.

And sowhat else could I do?I replied as openly and honestly as possible to the ministers unexpected question. Yes, there are times when the use of cannabis powerfully supports and catalyzes my spiritual practices, and it certainly functioned as Gods medicine for me and helped heal and dispel a great deal of confusion and misperception when I first came upon it as a young man. In truth, though, there are some practices that it doesnt work well for at all, while there are others for which it almost feels like an intrinsic component of the practice.