Various paths, one mountain-top

I'm playing catch-up again with various items I've been saving for the blog, so here goes.
J wrote:
> Hi Ramon!
> There are an infinite number of "techniques" out there that one may use.
> In my opinion, the ones I offer... really offer the swiftest methods
> recommended by those who have actually attained the "Rainbow Body of
> Light" in this and recent centuries.

Dearest J, I do believe you when you say 'swiftest,' although I would add
'for some,' and think we also should consider 'easiest' carefully. These two are not necessarily the same, and the job I seem to have been asked to accomplish in this lifetime does not allow me to choose just a traditional transmission but to remain in homegrown-groaning granny gear that at least can make some progress where no path exists without puncturing the oilpan.

I am pretty sure I'll complete in this lifetime, but only in the manner which I've been asked to, which is "enlightenment access to which is denied no one," and by 'denied' I really mean easily available no matter how fucked-up you are, whether you smoke dope or not, whether you've robbed banks or not, whether you're considered a peri-pathetic disaster or not. This precept more or less accords with the tradition of our open-door hippie ranches that accepted everyone whoever they were as long as they followed a very few basic rules:
Bury your shit
Don't built fires outdoors
Don't build in others' views or where the sheriff's helicopter will see it.

I mention these rules because I think one can extrapolate from them onto another level as:
Live in harmony with all beings - i.e. don't make others clean up after you
Don't cause harm to anything - ahimisa - non-injury
Live as invisibly as possible - a modest, non-demanding lifestyle
(For the whole Articles of Faith, please browse:
http://www.raysender.com/MStrfaith.html

> Basically, we are all "donkeys" as you say... none vary too much in
> capacity as we are all pretty much the same. However, some are more
> diligent than others... that's all. However, you may be very diligent
> in climbing a ladder that is leaning against a very high wall, to have
> arrived at the top of the ladder to discover your ladder is leaning up
> against the wrong wall.

Many 'ladders,' one 'wall' in my view. And I guess if I was a Zen master, I
would shout 'What steenking wall?" I discriminate only in terms of what
brings the greatest amounts of bliss the most easily without 'blowing the
bod,' and then try to move to subtler and more exquisite levels.

> So you have to be diligent also in making sure you are following a swift,
> effective and proven path or in other words, make sure you have selected
> the "right" wall for your ladder to be up against, BEFORE you start
> climbing. I recall reading on your site, a discussion you had in which
> you recommended the use of natural (peyote, etc.) psychedelics.

I don't know if I _recommended_ psychedelics there (I might have), but personally I certainly have found first peyote (1963), then LSD (1965-75) and last year (after a 22-year 'fast' from all substances) salvia divinorum very very helpful. For an overview that includes salvia, see my eight-wheeled (or legged) vehicle:
http://www.raysender.com/octopus.html

> I recommend that no one use psychedelics or even smoke "weed" if one
> is truly diligent in pursuing "authentic" clarity of Awareness. These are
> hindrances without question.

I respectfully disagree with your 'hindrances without question' remark
above. I think, all in all, probably more humans over the aeons have
discovered their innate buddha nature via psychotropics than via other
paths.

Quoting from Helen Tworkov's 'editor's view' "Just Say Maybe" in
Tricycle's Special 5th Anniversary "Buddhism and Psychedelics' (Fall 1996)
-- a popular back issue on their website:

"Dozens of controversies surround the subject of psychedelics... Beyond controversy, however, is the historical relationship between Buddhism and psychedelics (see Rick Fields' "A High History of Buddhism," p. 45). For the New Buddhists of the 1960s and 19870s, it was the rare bird indeed who came through the dharma gates totally independent of "mind-expanding drugs."
. . .
"And psychedelics are back. Some people claim that they never went away, but just went underground. In any event, many baby-boomer Buddhists have been experimenting with MDMA and ayahuasca, while twenty-somethings are experimenting with LSD and 'shrooms.' On the Lower East Side of Manhattan, marijuana is referred to as "Buddha,"" e.g. "Scoring some Buddha." Why? What is this persistent connection about?"

Members of my hippie tribe tend to trust me more if I share 'weed' with them socially -- it's an old hippie tradition -- although I personally do not like to use anything recreationally. And I lean towards methods that would only be available if I was cast up naked on a desert island, but at the same time I don't view any natural and harmless substance that Mother washes ashore as a hindrance.

One serious aspect to consider is of course our young people, and indeed I always warn them away from anything that would endanger their well-being, whether if be mind-expanders or downers like alcohol, or driving over the speed limit. Two reasons for my 22-year fast had to do with parenting my children, and also my partner's then-involvement as a high school teacher.

Browsing Tricycle further, we find Jack Kornfield agreeing that "I took LSD and other substances at Dartmouth after I started studying Eastern religion.

"In fact, the majority of Western Buddhist teachers used psychedelics at the start of their spiritual practices. A number still do on occasion. But of the many hundreds I know who took psychedelics, only a few had radically transformative experiences."

Further on in the interview he states:

"As many of us who have used psychedelics have discovered, it is not an easy practice. The most liberal point of view of the precepts would make their use nonhabitual (which probably means occasional) and sacred. If one uses any substances, whether it is wine, marijuana, LSD or mushrooms, this precept says to make that a conscious and careful part of your life."

AND even more further on,

"Any tool or practice that can open the heart and show that we are not separate, that touches the realms of universal loving-kindness and universal compassion, can be valuable. For some people, psychedelics can open the mind and reveal that consciousness creates the world, that physical reality is created out of consciousness and not the opposite. They can show that reality can be filled with light and humor. They can show that there are realms of tremendous transcendent
understanding..."

Tricycle then mentions that when The Dalai Lama was asked if you could use drugs to attain enlightenment, he said, "I sure hope so." And Lama Surya Das: "I feel quite certain that the psychedelic experience has been a great gate to the dharma for many of our generation."

However, I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir - and the choirmaster too (smile)!

The Tricycle poll of responses regarding psychedelics ran as follows:
Total responses: 1,454 89% were engaged in Buddhist practice, 83% said they had taken psychedelics, 40% said their interest in Buddhism was sparked by psychedelics, 24% said they currently were taking psychedelics. 41% said that psychedelics and Buddhism do not mix, 59% said that they did. 71% believe that psychedelics are not a path but provide a glimpse to the reality where Buddhist practice points. 58% said they would consider taking psychedelics in a sacred context. I will end this over-lengthy response with a quote from Gary Snyder:
"...certainly nobody has any qualification to talk about it who hasn't tried
it."
And for those who have, they can only speak for themselves, nicht wahr? What I especially love about the psychedelics is they're so 'democratic.' No holier or 'more skillful' than thou, no more 'more lineage'd' than thee, no way your ego can claim anything, because anyone else taking the same can be sitting at the same table. And finally, we live in desperate times thatrequire methods that can open a view, however brief, beyond the desperation. [end of this particular rant]

> The reason why there aren't thousands of "realized beings" running
> around is due to lack of diligence and knowing what one should be
> diligent about in "practice". My purpose here is to help remedy that.
> My solution for social improvement IS to have thousands of "realized"
> beings runnning around running things. That's why I do what I do here.

Humans are not long on diligence, as someone who practiced piano four hours a day for some years as a teenager can testify. My amazing surrogate father/piano teacher used to say, "Laziness is a sign of talent." I also think Mother intended lazy bums not to be left behind, and thus created 'non-diligent' methods to achieve enlightenment (sounds like that book "The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment," which I haven't read for many years but maybe should order again!)

> However, I guarantee you that if you follow the suggestions here
> diligently you probably will have your best opportunity to find
> what you are looking for. What I post here is for your benefit.
> I have spent most of my life pursuing the swiftest methods for
> attaining Enlightenment.

Moi aussi, but perhaps along less trodden-down parts of the meadow.

> and I believe strongly, that those techniques and methods, that
> have been used successfully for centuries are universally applicable for
> the greatest number of beings.

I have some questions about the success you allude to, because otherwise why aren't there, as I asked before, hundreds of thousands of enlightened beings running about everywhere? Or am I, as I suggested, just sailing in last without my spinnaker?

> All I did new is to strip away the cultural trappings that appeared
> to not be fundamental to one's success. I created or invented nothing
> new. The methods couldn't be more simple and direct.

J, I admire you tremendously for the work you have done, and efforts you have taken to do exactly what you've described. The only thing I would add is that I have been given the task to 'achieve' only in the most amazingly stupid ways available, because then THAT really will be 'universally applicable to the greatest number of normally lazy and otherwise nodding-out humans.' I mean, ANYONE can smile and purr their silly head off. Now all I have to do is convince a few homeless people sitting around their jug of Thunderbird to try it. Or finally get off my ischials and offer a free workshop in "How To Become A Cat."

> Try what I recommend for a year... then let's talk again, and of course, I
> and others here would be more than glad to help you with your practice!
> You are a truly wonderful being bringing a dimension of humor and joy
> that we enjoy!

Is that a hint to 'for heaven's sake stop posting your silly nonsense?' I must confess that although my methods are unusual, and I don't 'sit and meditate' very much any more in the prescribed manner, I do smile and purr/snarl myself into an amazing waterfall of bubbly chi most days, this one included.
Wishing all a successful tracheal resonance,
Your R