Meditation and marijuana?!

I don't want to get into too much detail, but after much research and experimentation, I've decided to regularly medidate (1 hour+ each day) using Osho's tremendously helpful techniques and guidance. I was simply wondering, how will smoking marijuana affect my new level of awareness? Is is good? bad? is it ultimately up to me to decide that? I have my own theories of course, but I'd like to get a second opinion from a more experienced guru. Any help will be gratefully accepted.

 

Yes meditation with grass is awesome. depending on your tolerance to grass, you can smoke just the right amount to put you in this great sense of awareness, but not the groggy stoned out feeling. Be sure to burn the appropriate kinds of incense to make it even better.

 

there was a book written by some monks in tibet or india about meditation and marijuana... i forget the name of the book though... prolly coz of the ganj.
google it.

 

I've always heard that marijuana and meditation are not too good because marijuana clouds the mind. LSD and meditation is what I've heard is key.. but I don't meditate myself so I can't say I know first-hand.

 

I really don't believe in involving drugs with meditation or ritual work... drugs altar your conciousness, and I need to stay a bit more focused when meditating...

 

I find that just the right amount of bud is really good for relaxing the body, quieting the noise and stimulating the mind during meditation. For me, the best combination is a special blend of herbal tea and just one good hit of some decent bud and I can meditate deeply for about an hour.

 

I would say it depends on what type of meditation you are doing. I quit smoking for a while because I'm using meditation to observe my mind and penetrate into deeper levels that I'm not usually aware of, and if I was stoned during my meditations I would be observing my mind on pot instead of my sober mind. However if your meditating simply to relax or reach altered states of consciousness I would say smoke up if you want to, it will put you into a meditative state anyway and can be an excellent tool for getting into deeper meditations.

 

Meditation while high may well be fun, but it's pointless. If you want to get high, then get high. If you want spiritual development, then meditate. Conflate the two at your peril! Also, an hour a day is way too much for a novice. I hate to sound rude (and I don't mean to be), but if you're at a stage where you're wondering if you should smoke weed and meditate, then trying to do an hour a day is probably counterproductive. On what basis did you choose that time?

 

I would kind of expect this sort of answer from a 17 yr old (no offense).... When your priority in life is drugs over authentic spirituality, then mixing the two somehow is rationalized in being ok... But someone who meditates can and will find true enlightment w/o the help of any sort of drug.

Right... LSD just makes everything better

Couldn't agree with you more...

 

I know.

 

I strongly disagree that smoking is pointless for meditation. I began meditating in highschool and before I ever smoked. I meditate both with and without smoking, and for me, yes, it provies a slightly different medium by wich to relax and focus my mind, but definately has its benefits.


I guess the bottom line here is that it is a personal preference and what is good for one person may be bad for another. I would say experiment and find out what works best for you.

I find that some of my friends use psychadelics and pot only in social settings to enhance their "good time". If I'm socializing in a large group I actually preffer to be sober and have loads of fun that way. I am more likely to use these drugs either alone or in a very small group/partner setting and often will emmerse myself deep within my head, and reflect with those around me and have deep conversations.

So different people react differently and have different preferences when it comes to the use of drugs.

 

I was once in this car with two of my friends who had just gotten blazed as shit. They spent 20 minutes trying to attempt to close a CD case, then another 20 minutes laughing about it. I am a mere novice, so I had no idea what levels of enlightenment and divine union they were reaching.

 

Fair enough - you're absolutely right about everyone finding what works for them. I think it's undeniable, though, that no-one's going to reach any spiritual heights (excuse the pun!) smoking weed. It may well result in all kinds of pleasant/relaxing sensations, but ultimately being high can only obscure your mind, not free it.

Clearly we have different views of meditation - I see the goal of meditation as the freeing of the mind from the fetters that we make for it, of which smoking weed is one.

 

Hmm. I think our views on meditation are, indeed, pretty similar. I'm actually very surprised that so many feel similar to: "I think it's undeniable, though, that no-one's going to reach any spiritual heights (excuse the pun!) smoking weed". I personally know of many people who would disagree.

To each their own I guess.

There are many different types of minds out there, that respond in many different ways to pot. I have seen the "goofy" results, but for me and my close friends pot doesn't cause this. It causes a deeper focus, phylosophy, and closeness between us. And, as I have said, I have had some of my deepest and clearest meditational experiences aided by a modest amount of pot. And, as I also have said that I do experience a different meditational state while completely sober. For me, each provides their own contribution to a well rounded and mentally satisfying experience.

 

You may well be right; at the very least, you know your path better than I do. I know exactly the feeling you talk about - very well! I definately agree that ganja can have profound effects on the mind, but that's exactly the reason I don't think it goes with meditation; the aim is to free the mind, not cloud it further. I definately have 'insight' when I'm stoned, but what's the point in having insight that comes from outside of you?

Anyway, that's just my view; I don't claim any level of learning or whatever, so feel free to disagree violently!

 

I think the "key" to my personal point is the "moderate amount" of pot. I agree that being fully stoned inhibits clear and natural meditation. I take no more than one hit if intended for meditation.

 

Can you share these tips?

anyways, weed can help, weed can hinder. Depends on the individual, and the situation. Sometimes I feel much freer to meditate, it comes easier, when I'm high, but more often, it just makes me think like crazy. The good thing is, when you're thinking, you sorta become one with the thought (like you're supposed to), you don't fight it, don't reject it. But the trouble is later remembering how to do that when youre not high.

 

Yes, I fully respect your point. But to me, the effect the weed has is irrelevant - whatever it's doing to my mind, I don't want it to. Well, I *do* of course, because I love to smoke weed.

But I shouldn't, and that's my point. It's undeniably true that smoking weed is great, in a range of different ways. But that liking for weed is a function of attachment; weed, like any other like/dislike, is ultimately a fetter. My meditation is about cutting fetters, not rejoicing in them!

Just my 2p.

 

^that's true. But then, if it's there to be smoked, I say, go for it. Even an enlightened being should have some fun now and then, hahaha.

 

Cannabis is a great intensifyer of experience, so it can just put you quite spontaneously into a meditative state. But it does depend on your mind set when you smoke. If you've got thoughts rushing about here and there, it can intensify that. But if you're relaxed, and esp. if your thoughts are of a spiritual or meditative kind, it can lead to some quite magical spaces.

Just listening to music on dope can become a form of what hidu yoga calls dhyana, absorbed concentration.
When it comes to trying out meditation techniques, it can be a help or a hinderance, depending on the technique involved, and the usual psychological background issues.
But - it isn't a shortcut to enlightenment. It may be a help on the way - a little light shining, but in and of itself it isn't the whole answer.
I see it as a gift from the Divine. But not a gift given to all - because for some people, it has no effect of making them more meditative or contemplative at all.