Buddhism in James Ure's Opinion, Essay

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.

25. Ram Dass continues to use marijuana with the purpose of controlling his pain and in order to put across his convictions in a simpler way.

Works cited:

1. Badiner, Alan Hunt & Grey, Alex, "Zig zag zen: Buddhism and psychedelics," Chronicle Books, 2002.

2. Dass, Ram & Metzner, Ralph, "Birth of a Psychedelic Culture:

Conversations about Leary, the Harvard Experiments, Millbrook and the Sixties."

3. Kent, James L. "Psychedelic Information Theory: Shamanism in the Age of Reason." PIT Press, Seattle, 2010.

4. Kounen, Jan & Narby, Jeremy & Ravalec, Vincent, "The Psychotropic Mind: The World according to Ayahuasca, Iboga, and Shamanism," Park Street Press, 2009.

5. Palmers, Vanja, "Meditation and Psychedelics," Retrieved August 18, 2010 from the maps Web site: http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v11n2/11243pal.html

6. Robsville, Sean,"Buddhism, Shamanism and the use of enthogens," Retrieved August 18, 2010, from the Sean Robsville blog: http://seanrobsville.blogspot.com/2009/10/buddhism-shamanism-and-use-of.html

7. Saunders, Nicholas, "The Agony and Ecstasy of God's path," The Guardian, 29/7/95.

8. Smith, Huston, "Psychedelic Theophanies and the Religious Life," Journal of Psychedelic Drugs (Vol 3. No. 1).

9. Tierney, John, "Hallucinogens Have Doctors Tuning In.....