Quote Originally Posted by Etrain
Hello everyone, I'm still very young and I don't have a religion. Before now, I have never been a big fan of religion, although lately I have been contemplating buddhism. If anybody here has any thoughts/suggestions or knows a buddhist, I would appreciate it if they would enlighten me with knowledge. I've heard mixed reports on cannabis/drug use regarding the religion, but talked to a buddhist today and said cannabis has long been used as a meditation and enlightenment tool. If I wanted to take this seriously, would I have to quit smoking socially/for fun? Does all this sound stupid? I'm confused...
I got into buddhism not too long ago too. I always liked how they were potrayed and i thought 'hey, they MUST know something! righ?' ...I came across Alan Watts. i love his stuff. he talks about a lot of great stuff. if you know how to use bit torrent (if you dont i can show you) i can show you where you can download them at. its really great material (around 20 cds or so) that talk about buddhism. its entertaining too so dont worry about it being dull.

but anyway, i dont think buddhism is really strict on rules. i guess it depends how liberally you want to go about it. i dont tihnk they would have much of a problem with it, however if you went to a monistary, im sure they wouldnt allow you to smoke it there. maybe a master would have it in a tea and offer it to you one day...lol. I definately feel that it could be used as a tool for enlightenment. no doubt about it.

a famous old zen buddhist monk once said: 'to reach enlightenment quicker, one should take a few drink of saki before meditation.'

saki is ofcourse Japan's grain (i believe?) alcohol.