On the Borderlands of Religion and Science: Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Contemplative Traditions and Psychedelic Medicine
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The current 'Second Wave Psychedelic Movement' or 'Psychedelic Renaissance' promises to transform contemporary medicine, particularly psychological and psychiatric therapies, in profound ways.As psychedelic therapies have become increasingly mainstream, issues have emerged regarding the salience of religious and philosophical issues to these interventions.Roland Griffiths, a leading researcher on psychedelics, argued that the therapeutic potential of psilocybin-based therapy can be correlated with participants' reporting profound spiritual or even 'mystical' experiences.Religious communities have increasingly been compelled to address the spiritual implications of psychedelic therapy, with responses that range from explicit prohibition to the establishment of practices of 'psychedelic chaplaincy' and certification programs in psychedelic-assisted therapy.In this paper, I examine the response of contemporary Indo-Tibetan Buddhist traditions to psychedelic medicine among both 'ethnic' and 'convert' Buddhist communities in light of Pāli and Sanskrit canonical discussions of prohibitions against alcohol (P.majja/Skt.madya) and discussions regarding the use of herbs (osadhī/oṣadhi) as a means to achieve extraordinary accomplishments (ṛddhi).On this basis, I argue three things: (1) that many 'traditionalists' connect the notion of 'heedlessness' (pamāda/pramāda) to all intoxicants, widening the scope of the fifth precept to a range of substances that induce cognitive and behavioral distortions and thus include psychedelics within the prohibited sphere; (2) if psy-ON THE BORDERLANDS OF RELIGION AND SCIENCE 1 Gyatso, 'The Nature of the Mind'.chedelics are argued to be medicine (bhesajja/bhaiṣajya) as opposed to being akin to alcohol or an 'intoxicant' (majja/madya), they fall into a 'therapeutic' as opposed to an 'enhancement' sphere and are defensible as a medical intervention via Buddhist ethics; and (3) Indic sources convey an understanding that herbs (osadhī/oṣadhi) are a known, if not legitimate, source of extraordinary experiences and capacities (ṛddhi) and thus provide conceptual grounds supporting the contemporary linkage among Buddhist communities between psychedelic and meditative experiences.
Topic: Indian and Buddhist Studies
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7105695200