Drugs, Alcohol, and Enlightenment cont.

The following is a summary of a site about drugs, alcohol, and enlightenment and part of the body of my essay: Basically, the path to enlightenment requires a very sound mind, which may be hard to achieve under the influence of intoxicants. At least, the Buddha’s idea of enlightenment. Some people might argue that the idea of enlightenment is very vague and can very well be found using these things. Sanja Blackburn claims that most of the people who follow the religion of Buddhism are not serious followers. They may look for enlightenment, but drink alcohol at times. Now, is this really a big deal? Can alcohol really affect the mind to a point where a person will simply be unable to awaken spiritually? I believe both prohibit a person’s efforts to find enlightenment. Do I think it is a bad thing to drink once in a while? No. However, it could definitely effect a person of the Buddhist faith.

            Kharma was brought up in this discussion. Using alcohol and or drugs is looked at as irresponsible. The Buddha believed that one’s awakening might be more difficult to come by if they have bad kharma. Each person should be responsible for their own actions, and should solve them by their own means. Using alcohol or drugs to attempt to cure a problem will oftentimes not work, and could possibly end up hurting the user or people close to them.

            Enough about alcohol, what about drugs? Drugs can destroy brain cells, which the Buddha would certainly be against. However, some drugs are said to open up the brain, allowing it the user to make observations and think in ways they have never thought before.

Unfortunately, I haven’t experimented with drugs lately, so I am unsure of how it affects a person. For the final paper, I will research the effects of different drugs and look for specific accounts of what the users have experienced. I will then discuss whether or not I believe that drugs have the potential to assist enlightenment, or to make the antithesis with this information. Personally, I do not believe drugs will awaken a better person.