Buddhism in James Ure\'s Opinion,

Buddhism

In James Ure's opinion, precepts should not be followed as if they were unbreakable rules, as they are actually concepts meant to assist an individual throughout his or her life so as for him or her to suffer as little as possible. In Buddhism, progress does not necessarily have to involve abstinence, given that people can experience great successes in spiritual thinking even with their vices. If people employ moderation in their daily lives, it is not immoral for them to yield to worldly pleasures.

In general, Buddhists are not supportive towards using intoxicants, as most are certain that a true Buddhist would not be able to keep his or her mind clear if he or she harm it through the use of substances. Buddhism promotes the concept that substances alter the mind and disable its potential to attain spiritual thought. Buddhist teachers such as Ram Dass lobby for the use of psychedelic substances, claiming that they are actually a method of profound higher states of meditation.

3. The fifth precept stands as a guiding principle helping people to understand why it is recommendable for individuals to refrain from consuming intoxicants. Also, it promotes the belief that even when people consume substances, they should not abuse them.

4. Caffeine and Beer are example of intoxicants related to in the fifth precept.

5. While most Buddhists think about substances when hearing the word intoxicants, others relate to more common matters. The Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hahn believes that particular T.V. programs, magazines, books, films and conversations can harm one's body and mind.

6. There are a series of different opinions on the use of psychedelic substances in relation to Buddhism. Religious historian Houston Smith believes that the effects of Buddhism should not be associated to those caused by psychedelic substances. In his opinion, the former are all about altered states whereas the latter are mainly concentrated on altered traits. Nonetheless, he condemned those who wanted to attain a spiritual state of mind related to Buddhism by using psychedelic substances.

7. For Albert Einstein, Buddhism was more than just an ordinary religion. He believed that this religion had most of the features that could qualify it as being a religion of the future. Einstein was supportive toward Buddhism because the religion inspires the individual to have a personal God and does its best to refrain from using dogmas and mysticism. This conviction was supported by the fact that Buddhism involves both spiritual and natural convictions and assists the individual to discover unity with everything.

8. Given that science is mainly based on facts and experiments while religion is based on theories and matters that cannot apparently be explained it would seem absurd to compare the two. However, Dalai Lama did so and managed to prove that religion and science are much more similar than people might think. Buddhism involves both religion and science and succeeds in bringing them together. Science and Buddhism are directed at discovering the truth and reality.

9. The Dalai Lama did not attempt to fanatically claim that Buddhism is the only true religion and that it is perfect. Instead, he admitted that he encouraged individuals to attempt to find imperfections in Buddhism, so as for the religion to be perfected. The Dalai Lama considered science to be of great importance in Buddhism.

10. Neuroplasticity relates to how the human brain can be altered on account of the experiences people come across. Buddhist thinking supports this concept and further promotes the belief that it can help individuals in producing elaborate thoughts that would not be possible in different circumstances.

11. Training the mind can lead to beneficial experiences, with the individual becoming able to fight stress and become relaxed if he or she employs meditation. There is a large probability that through meditation people can keep their brains healthier and succeed in being affected by their daily problems to a lesser degree.

12. The life of Buddha is generally illustrated in three stages. In order to attain a spiritual condition similar to Buddha, one would have to refrain from everything that is evil, to do good, and to purify the mind.

13. Psychoactive plants are often related to in Buddhism and some even claim that Siddhartha used hemp for several years before he came forth with his convictions and developing into the Buddha.

14. The Good Friday Experiment was a study directed by Walter N. Pahnke with the purpose of finding out if psychoactive substances could produce philosophical theological thinking in religious individuals. The drug he used was psilocybin and the subjects tested reported that they experienced intense religious feelings, making Pahnke's experimentation a success.

15. Roland R. Griffiths conducted a similar experiment in 2006 and it is considered to be a follow-up to Pahnke's study.

16. Huston Smith promoted the belief that the psychedelic movement is antinomnian, meaning that (through religion) it is possible for one to reach a phase where they are no longer interested in material matters and more elaborate ethics step in.

17. The Harvard Psilocybin Project most notable members were Walter Pahnke and Timothy Leary.

18. Timothy Leary said that "the most important event in the cultural history of America since the 1860s was the introduction of LSD."

19. "Turn on. Tune in. Drop out" belongs to Timothy Leary.

20. Lama Govinda was one of the most important individuals in Leary's life.

21. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche main motive for which he advised people not to smoke marijuana was the fact that the plant was responsible for causing neurologic damage.

22. Nagarjuna's possible use of the amanita mushroom is caused by the teacher's choice to eat food that was similar to a pancake on the tip of a needle.

23. In Terrence McKenna's opinion, the difference between Buddhism and psychedelic shamanism is that the former produces thought that can generate experiences while the later produces experiences that can generate thought.

24. Sean Robsville motivates his choice of refrain from using psychedelic drugs because of three reasons: numerous substances belonging to the category are illegal, they can lead to psychological and physical problems if abused, they may serve as a gateway drug toward stronger and addictive substances, they can influence an individual to behave against his principles, they can cause death, spirituality can be attained through normal meditation-as it is not necessary to use psychedelic substances in order to become spiritual.