I heard that in the 60s some Tibetan monks were given LSD, but it didn't affect them because they were somehow beyond that sort of thing. Does anyone have any info on this, as to whether it's true and some information about the tests and results?
some, even without the assistance of psychedelics, have master'd the operation of their own minds.. they are already capable of navigating their consciousness and can function under a 'psychedelic' state efficiently and without stuggle.. that which they learned through meditation and guidance, the tibetan book of the dead.. (check out the 'psychedelic experience' by leary, alpert, metzner, thats the book of the dead converted over to psychedelic english) theres also other stories, for example: Timothy Leary supposidly gave an LSD session to a guru or mystic or something of that sort.. and they said something like - Almost as good as the natural thing.. or natural meditation.. or something else like that.. and I've also seen stories of where the same type of people said the experiences were practically identical.. I have a video (dont know which dvd its off of tho..) of, if I remember right, Ram Dass talking about meeting up with leary later on in life or something and giving him a dosage of I think he said somewhere around 1200ug... and leary wasnt affected by it at all...I dont remember what he said that Tim said about it, I'll have to watch it later or something..
the harvard psychedelic scene was happening before tim arrived from kaiser (& mexico's mushroom trip)... aldous huxley, humphrey osmond, & others were discretely investigating some of the possibilities... & then tim & dick & ralph & some of the others got into the sandoz synthetic psilocyin, & then that first gram of lsd... (& more to follow)... anyways, the various research projects often involved giving a nice dose to well-informed subjects (from various walks of life) & recording their responses to "the experience"... & even after they were seperated from harvard, tim & dick continued (sometimes with all too much publicity) their data-gathering... rabbis, catholic priests, yogis, zen masters, poets, psychologists, artists, divinity students... by the late 60s, dick was on the road from iran, travelling towards japan overland, hoping to find somebidy who could tell him what this stuff (psychedelics like lsd) was for... a german-born tibetan buddhist (lama angarika govinda) was one of the dosed ones, and he said that the acid experience showed him first-hand the "thusness" of what he had been studying for decades... in india, dick alpert met some folks into the local spiritual scene , & this one california-born hippie turned alpert on to his guru, & dr richard alpert became baba ram dass... the guru, kareem noli baba, ingested 3 x 305ug tabs of some owsley acid that alpert had in his little travel kit... & "nothing happened" --- this is recounted in the "intro" part of the book BE HERE NOW --- check it out...
I know that after ingesting large quantities of LSD, etc. even after waiting significant periods of time in between the experience becomes more manageable. In a way, I wonder if the monks, after spending so much time in expanded states, already knew where they were and it wasn't anything that they hadn't already experienced. On the other hand, I also wonder, forgive me for suggesting it, that the monks may have had a residual ego that did not allow them to admit that this was a significant tool on the path of enlightenment. I mean, these monks had given over their entire lives to meditation and prayer, and along comes a chemical produced in a lab that can unlock great mysteries by the microgram to the uninitiated.
I dont think any ego would have the strength to avoid the power of an extremely large dose... but then I do know people who seem to be able to take the same dosage that blows me away and yet they dont really experience much.. but their knowledge is the opposite of gurus and such.. they dont know anything about it and arent interested and learning lsd's history or anything other then it being a 'pretty color & pretty swirly textures & a club drug...but then again i can just see myself on a ego-shattering dose at a club.. especially since i dont go to clubs anyways...lol that would be a bad trip i know it... but they do it somehow...
I remember reading in one of those accounts, "Be Here Now", etc. Im not sure, that the monk sat in total silence for 3 days before saying, "and..." What I am saying is their ego may not have been personal, they may, in fact, have already lost that to a significant degree. What I am saying is that after 3 days reflection, puting the experience back into perspective, etc. that the monk, guru, whatever, would have time to regain a certain sectarian ego, just like how I have an ego by even pretending to be able to reason on this subject, even though I too have lost it at certain points, esp. under the influence of psycedelics. I just can't see how anyone working in that realm could discount the theraputic aspects of psycedelic for the masses. not just for the ascetics who forsake the world for their own bliss.
they always look like theyre on drugs normally, those funny little monks mango monk what a funny phrase anyway, i personally dont see how they trully could be immune to it, i mean, acid trips are not meant to be 100% controllable, but people who meditate are meant to go into states of controlled and directed mind-alteration. so its not like meditating can mimic the effects of lsd, and if the efffects are different, then lsd would indeed be a new experience, and so its not like he could be conditioned to all the hallucinations
well i would think that during their trip they would imprint the same thing that they use to meditate also someone who has such a high level of control over their consciousness, masters of the silent mind, and of concentration.. could skip through all the unneccesary ego hallucinations (of which most likely they've already loss deeply and is probably already weakened greatly..) and get right to illumination in the void, enlightenment, complete liberation from the ego.. becuase most likely tibetan monks would be participaiting in the use of the knowledge of the tibetan book of the dead.. and thats the way they experience meditation (to an extent) and if you imprint that onto a psychedelic experience it will be for the most part identical, and yes there is still alot of randomness included in the book of the dead...they are already masters of their consciousness.. they can shift it and move it around how they want with ease.. they know what to expect and they understand what certain things mean LSD might be the key to the door, but these fellas already took it off the hinges a long time ago..
