Soma siddhas and alchemical enlightenment: psychedelic mushrooms in Buddhist tradition

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3.5. The story of Mahasiddha Karnaripa

Of the four ways of birth, his was miraculous. He went away to glorious Nalanda college. He became principal of all monks. There were one hundred-thousand scholars. though he requested instruction from many masters, realization did not arise. He heard report that Master Nagarjuna resided around the southern regions. Special faith and adherence arose in him. He entered on the road and went.

At the shore of a great ocean, Sublime Manjusri had transformed himself into a fisherman living there. Kar- naripa saw him, bowed and offered him a mandalaand said, 'Because it is reported that Master Nagarjuna lived around the southern regions, Oh Honored One, please show me the road'.

The fisherman said, 'He resides inside that thick forest over there practising alchemy'. Having been in- structed thus, Karnaripa went there. He saw the master dwelling there, collecting alchemical materials and prepar- ing them. Karnaripa bowed, made a prayer, respectfully asked to be accepted as a student; his request was granted. He was given initiation and instruction in the mandalaof Guhyasamaja and sat in meditation before the master.

Not very far from that forest was a city. Both master and pupil went there for alms. Karnaripa received very delicious alms,whilethemasterreceivedalmsthatwerenotdelicious. The master said, 'Because this food of yours was givenby lustful women, it is not delicious. This obtaining of delicious food by you is not good, so do not collect it on a tree leaf, but receiveit on the point of a needle'. Doing so, Karnaripa took a single piece of rice pulp and ate it.

In the morning, women made wheat cakes, put various kinds of delicious food on a cake, put it on the point of a needle, and brought it to Karnaripa, who brought it to his lama. Nagarjuna ate it and said, 'What did you do to receive this?'

Karnaripa said, 'Doing just as my lama said, your wor- ship, I received this'.

'Well then do not go to the city; stay at home'. Nagarjuna said.

Karnaripa did so, but when he stayed, a tree goddess brought much delicious food into the house and actually showed him her form. She bowed and conversed with him. He received her alms and brought them to his lama who said, 'Where did you obtain things like this?'

Karnaripa said, 'It was brought by a tree goddess'.

In order to test if this were true, the sublime master went to the tree possessed of the goddess, looked at it but did not actually see the form of the goddess. He saw her arm up to the shoulder.

The master said to her, 'You actually showed your form to my student, why do you not show it to me?'

From the tree arose a voice like this, 'Obviously you have not abandoned a portion of your defilement; your stu- dent has entirely abandoned his defilement, so he saw me'. Thus she spoke.

At that, the master and student conferred. They said, 'We need to eat the alchemical medicine'. The master gave it to Arydeva who was called Karnaripa. He himself also ate it.

Then Karnaripa smeared the elixir on a dead tree, caus- ing leaves to grow. The master saw that, laughed a little, and said, 'Since you smear my elixir on the tree, bring my elixir, come!' So Karnaripa said, 'If you wish, I will give it'.

He put his own water [i.e., he urinated] into the full water pot and stirred it with a stick so that it became a pot of elixir. He went straight to his master and offered it. The master said nothing to this. He sprinkled it on a dead tree which grew leaves. Thereupon the master examined whether or not realization had arisen in his student.

Having understood that realization had arisen in his stu- dent he said, 'Do not stay in samsara'. At the instant of hearing that, Karnaripa prepared to depart to the sky. There was a woman from among those mentioned before who paid her respects to the master and followed as attendant.

The master said, 'What do you desire that makes you one who pays her respects to me?'

The woman said, 'Because I do not need anything else at all, because I am a follower from attachment to your eye, 1 need your eye'.

The master plucked out his right eye, gave it to her and thereby became known in all directions as Aryadeva, the One-eyed.

Aryadeva Karnaripa practised the instructions of Lama Nagarjuna so the stains of his mind were cleansed and his mental continuum was liberated.

At the instant of merely hearing the words of his lama, he levitated to the height of seven palm trees into the sky. He taught the Dharma to many beings so their mental continuums were made com- pletely mature.

While the lama sat below him, he pointed his feet into the sky. By facing down, he folded his hands and bowed down to his lama. He levitated up into the sky and the gods above caused a rain of flowers. He disappeared into suchness.

The End

http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/bdasher/Chem361/Review_Articles_files/Mushrooms%20and%20Buddhist.pdf

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over an hour and not one mention of the nilakantha dharani, the homeage to the blue necked one, Avalokiteshvara the enlightned being, the great being, the great compassioned being.

Adoration of the triple Gem

(Bow to the noble Lord who looks down, the enlightened sentient being, the great being, the merciful one!)

(Om! Having paid adoration to One who dispels all fears, the noble Avalokiteśvarā, adoration to the blue-necked one!)

(I shall enunciate the heart dharani which ensures all purpose, is pure and invincible for all beings, and which purifies the path of existence.)

(Like this: Om! Lord of Effulgence, the World-Transcending One.)

(Come, great bodhisattva, descend, descend. Please remember (smara) my heart dharani.)

(Do, do the work. Hold fast, hold fast, Victor, the great Victor)

(Hold on, hold on, King of the Dharani. Move, move onto my spotless image.)

(Come, come, the vow, the vow of the admantine king, destroy, destroy every poison.)

(Quick-quick, please remember, quick-quick. Descend-descend, descend-descend, descend-descend)

(Being enlightened, being enlightened; enlighten me, enlighten me. Merciful Blue-necked One appear [unto me].)

(To you who sees us, hail! To the Successful one hail! To the Great Successful one hail! To the Successful Lord of the yogis, hail!)

(To the Blue-necked one (Nīlakantha) hail! To the Boar-faced One hail! To Man-Lion faced One hail!)

(To one who bears the mace (gadā) in his hand, hail! To the holder of discus in his hand, hail! To One who sports a lotus (padma) in his hand, hail!)

(To Blue-necked One smeared (with holy ashes), hail! To the mighty auspicious one, hail!)

(Adoration to the Triple Gem, adoration to the noble Āvalokiteśvarā (Lord who looks down), the enlightened being, hail!)

[DiscoStu]

but i don't know why avalokiteshvara is referred to as the blue necked one,

the only thing i can find is that he is the buddhist equivalent of shiva, who drank the poison and etc. but i genuinely don't know otherwise

not that i necessarily believe mike crowley's interpretation, he is the only person i know who introduces psilocybes into buddhism

at least in the zen tradition intoxicants are expressly cautioned against