So this forum is comprised mostly of former New-Age hippies?

[Grigoris]

Jerry had a lovely little elf voice and Hunter wrote some of the most beautiful lyrics...

Bloody hippy!
"Let it be, let it be... ooops don't trip up over my flower patch!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzmIEiSr ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[padma norbu]

Since when were Buddhists ever against free love? Certainly, they were never against peace and love. As for swapping sex partners, that's a cultural thing; not as big a deal in, say, Tibet as it is here in the home of the original hippy. Also, various Asian Buddhist cultures over the years have experimented with drugs here and there for meditative and/or mind exploration despite what Siddhartha said about intoxicants. Not a ringing endorsement of drugs by any means, but it's not at all surprising that the first Americans to take up various types of Buddhism were open-minded, positive, forward-thinking, DIY hippies.

Stop trying to equate the term "hippy" with negativity. Save that for punk rockers, who stole the hippy DIY ethos and fused it with a negative, anti-society, self-destructive vibe. Neither of them showered much, but at least the hippies tried to cover it up with patchouli.

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

Geez Tilopa, if liking the Grateful Dead is a sign of hope for the world then really I don't know what sort of world we are going to be living in!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56u6g0POvo0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
But these guys, now we're talking!

Hell Greg we finally agree on something ...

[Malcolm]

What I did not like is that the hippies take up Buddhism due to their drug experiences, and also go on to preach about how drugs could be beneficial for Buddhists.

No one said this. What was said was that for many people in the west, beginning in the sixties, having some experiences with hallucingens expanded their consciousness so they became interested in Eastern religion.

Everyone here recognizes that Buddha taught that one should avoid intoxicants.

However, everything in the world is medicine when one knows how to use it. Everything in the world is poison when one does not know how to use it. This also applies to hallucinogens. For example, there is promising research that taking LSD,etc., reduces anxiety about death in terminally ill patients. There is research that shows that MMDA helps permenantly alleviates PTSD. Marijuana is proven to reduce nausea in people doing chemo-therapy, and those who have long term chronic pain, and its effects are much less destructive that opiates. Alcohol also has many medicinal effects. The Buddha permitted monks to use alcohol for medical conditions. So we must have a flexible view.

Perfectly respectible non-Buddhist people are better people because they have had spiritual experiences from taking Ayahuasca, and so on. We may not make that choice for ourselves, but we are in no position to judge them.

Some people destroy their lives with food. But no one suggests that we all stop eating.

N

[Mr. G]

However, everything in the world is medicine when one knows how to use it. Everything in the world is poison when one does not know how to use it. This also applies to hallucinogens. For example, there is promising research that taking LSD,etc., reduces anxiety about death in terminally ill patients. There is research that shows that MMDA helps permenantly alleviates PTSD. Marijuana is proven to reduce nausea in people doing chemo-therapy, and those who have long term chronic pain, and its effects are much less destructive that opiates. Alchohol also has many medicinal effects. The Buddha permitted monks to use alchohol for medical conditions. So we must have a flexible view.
N

I was also reading that the psilocybin from mushrooms may help with depression, and ibogaine helps with heroin withdrawal.

[Grigoris]

Stop trying to equate the term "hippy" with negativity. Save that for punk rockers, who stole the hippy DIY ethos and fused it with a negative, anti-society, self-destructive vibe. Neither of them showered much, but at least the hippies tried to cover it up with patchouli.

And the Punks tried to cover up the stench with petrol bombs.

Mikhail Bakunin, 1842 "The passion for destruction is a creative passion, too!"

[Sönam]

Punks are not my generation, but I do not follow yours "bad" opinion about what have been, at least at the beginning, a way to get rid of many habits and constructed propositions ...

Sönam

[edearl]

I was also reading that the psilocybin from mushrooms may help with depression, ....

That makes lots of sense to me, having eaten p-shrooms a few times, many years ago. They made me energetic and happy, and did not leave me with a hangover. I experimented with several drugs, but they are the only one IMO that might be beneficial and fairly safe. However, I am not recommending anyone take them. Often powerful drugs do have bad side-effects, and my experience is not a clinical study. Moreover, mushrooms are notoriously difficult to identify without lab tests, and it is possible to confuse a poisonous mushroom with another.

[Grigoris]

Punks are not my generation, but I do not follow yours "bad" opinion about what have been, at least at the beginning, a way to get rid of many habits and constructed propositions ...

Sönam

Dear Sonam (and other smelly hippies ) I am not saying that the hippies were wrong, or that the punks were right, or that the new romantics were fops, the disco boys, the hip hoppers, the ravers, the metal heads, etc... All of these counter cultural movements (which were assimilated into main stream culture) brought us to where we are now. They were/are all part of the historical continuim that has culminated in the situation that we are now living. None of them has a monopoly on the blame for the situation we are living, none have a monopoly on trying to avert the situation we are living.

[Sönam]

then, in fact, this forum is comprised mostly of former New-Age hippies

[Dechen Norbu]

I very much doubt that. I think we're quite an heterogeneous bunch. I believe a Buddhist forum sits at the same table people from all ages and backgrounds, being quite transversal regarding modern society. This doesn't mean that there aren't niches from western civilization more prone to fancy Buddha's teachings, but along the years I've met all sorts of people. The vastness of different literature, teachers, schools, interpretations, approaches, methods and so on that exist within what can be considered Buddhism probably contributes for such an heterogeneity among practitioners.
One could argue that we can find the same phenomena among most religions, but being born a Christian, for instance, is not the same as becoming a Christian during adulthood, by choice. By this I mean that in the West the great majority of Buddhist practitioners/ sympathizers are converts who decided, at some point, to deepen their knowledge and even shape their lives according to these teachings. Some, perhaps most, of the reasons that lead one to become a Buddhist or to participate in a Buddhist forum are also a tad specific to such event, I guess.

[kirtu]

Stop trying to equate the term "hippy" with negativity. Save that for punk rockers, who stole the hippy DIY ethos and fused it with a negative, anti-society, self-destructive vibe. Neither of them showered much, but at least the hippies tried to cover it up with patchouli.

Actually there was quite a bit of variation in punk rock. Punks overall came from a kind of anti-society viewpoint but that was because society was in fact destructive. The iniital impluse was to uncover and eliminate hypocrisy and usually hidden manipulation (all the things some mega-corporations, Enron being a good template, and most banks really have been doing coupled with governmental control and insanity at the time [Reagan, Thatcher, Brezhnev/Chernyenko]). All on top of teen and post-teen sexual awakening. Punk wasn'tt ipso facto self-destructive.

Kirt

[Thug4lyfe]

Da attitudes of homeboys on this forum is alot better than many I see! Your always gonna get homeboys who are still attached to the 60's.

Say no to LSD!!!

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

None of them has a monopoly on the blame for the situation we are living ...

Yes. Some do.

[Sönam]

Da attitudes of homeboys on this forum is alot better than many I see! Your always gonna get homeboys who are still attached to the 60's.

Say no to LSD!!!

be saved, there is very little chance to found LSD 25 to day ...

[Thug4lyfe]

Da attitudes of homeboys on this forum is alot better than many I see! Your always gonna get homeboys who are still attached to the 60's.

Say no to LSD!!!

LSD 25 to day

Whats that? Only ever tried mescaline, once is enough for me! Good thing It pushed me toward Buddhism rather than more experimentation!!!

[Thug4lyfe]

Since when were Buddhists ever against free love? Certainly, they were never against peace and love. As for swapping sex partners, that's a cultural thing

I think you need to check out the basic 5 precepts again...

[padma norbu]

Since when were Buddhists ever against free love? Certainly, they were never against peace and love. As for swapping sex partners, that's a cultural thing

I think you need to check out the basic 5 precepts again...

I don't think so. You've misinterpreted what "sexual misconduct" means. It is different for every culture.

[DGA]

Stop trying to equate the term "hippy" with negativity. Save that for punk rockers, who stole the hippy DIY ethos and fused it with a negative, anti-society, self-destructive vibe. Neither of them showered much, but at least the hippies tried to cover it up with patchouli.

Actually there was quite a bit of variation in punk rock. Punks overall came from a kind of anti-society viewpoint but that was because society was in fact destructive. The iniital impluse was to uncover and eliminate hypocrisy and usually hidden manipulation (all the things some mega-corporations, Enron being a good template, and most banks really have been doing coupled with governmental control and insanity at the time [Reagan, Thatcher, Brezhnev/Chernyenko]). All on top of teen and post-teen sexual awakening. Punk wasn'tt ipso facto self-destructive.

Kirt

from the album "Zen Arcade" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qCSAWnl8EI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

from the album "Zen Arcade" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qCSAWnl8EI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That was weird.