[Buddha-l] Buddhism and psychoactive substances

[curt]

Barnaby Thieme wrote:
> Dear Buddha-L people,
>
>
> Does anyone have any knowledge of a Buddhist lineage that advocates 
> the use of psychoactive substances? Or can anyone refer me to a study 
> of this question? I wouldn't be too surprised to hear that some 
> Ngakpas somewhere had something that they liked to smoke.
>
>

(1) I've been told that Han Shan says something about "mushrooms" in his 
poetry.
(2) The book "Zig Zag Zen" is specifically devoted to this topic.
(3)  The book "DMT: The Spirit Molecule" was written by a Rick Strassman 
- who is both a research neuroscientist and a practitioner of Zen.
(4) I've been told that lots of westerners who practice Buddhism have 
experimented with hallucinogens - and that many, perhaps most, of them 
credit these experiments with being helpful, in some way, to their 
practice. I wouldn't know about anything like that myself personally, 
though.

- Curt