From “Quotables: The Fifth Precept”, Tricycle, Fall 2010, p. 75
‘In the ยด70s, when we wandered up the hill to Kopan Monastery in Nepal
in various states of drug- and alcohol-induced intoxication, we would
ask Lama Yeshe, “What do you think about drugs, alcohol, and meditation?
They make us more relaxed so it’s easier to watch our breath, and our
visualizations are so much more vivid when we’re stoned.”Lama, looking at us with an expression that was quizzically serious,
would say, “You don’t need drugs, dear. You’re already hallucinating.”Then, when we stopped laughing, he explained that intoxicants and
meditation don’t go together. “Intoxicants take you away from reality;
meditation takes you toward reality. Which do you want? You are already
intoxicated by ignorance, anger, and attachment and suffer as a result.
Why do you want to take more intoxicants?”‘–Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron author, Tibetan Buddhist nun, and founder of Sravasti Avvey
