Bernie Flynn, a longtime student of Chögyam Trungpa, recently told me about the time he and the Rinpoche tried to quit smoking cigarettes. A few days in, he was driving the Rinpoche to a meeting. Antsy and in withdrawal, Bernie couldn’t help but notice his teacher sitting calmly in the passenger seat. Finally, his nerves on edge, Bernie turned to Trungpa and asked how the whole quitting thing was going. “It’s easy,” said Trungpa. “Either you smoke, or you don’t smoke.”
Ah, so simple.
Later that evening, Bernie entered a room to find the Rinpoche gleefully chain smoking.
Oh, not so simple.
The psychoactive effects of drugs, alcohol included, don’t exactly jibe with the goals of Buddhist practice. Sure, some people stumble into the dharma after stumbling through an acid trip, but the fact that LSD can be a gateway to practice doesn’t mean it’s allowed beyond the gate of any respectable dharma institution. And though many Buddhists drink, it’s generally understood that this should occur in moderation and off the cushion. Hence, refraining from intoxicants is one of the five basic Buddhist precepts.
Cigarettes, however, seem to exist in a hazy gray area, both literally and figuratively. Caffeine, a substance that might otherwise find itself in similar ambiguous territory, has a sexy origin story: the Ch’an patriarch Bodhidharma, angry at himself for dozing off during zazen, rips off his eyelids and flings them to the ground, from which sprout the first tea leaves. Thus caffeine has long been accepted by Buddhists the world over as a mild performance enhancing drug, endorsed by legend. Tobacco, lacking such an auspicious beginning, has long been tolerated in Buddhist communities anyway, though the Buddhist stance on smoking is vague at best.
Thus, the question remains. Either you smoke, or you don’t smoke, yes, but should you smoke? I found the answer, like a good koan, to be both elusive and entirely dependent upon who is answering.
_____
Smoking is not technically prohibited in Buddhism, but then again, neither is juggling chainsaws or playing Russian roulette. It would be tedious if all prohibited actions had to be spelled out (which doesn’t mean people haven’t tried. See: the Vinaya). I pointed this out to Dr. Joel Smith, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Skidmore College. “Of course [smoking is not prohibited],” said Smith, “but if you look at the eightfold path and you have any kind of subtle interpretation about right action and right effort, it doesn’t take much to argue that [right action and right effort] should be applied in that kind of way.”
Smith traveled in Japan with John Daido Loori Roshi, longtime abbot of the Zen Mountain Monastery in upstate New York, when Daido was receiving his confirmation rituals at Eihei-ji many years ago. He remembered Daido stepping outside the Eihei-ji buildings to smoke in between ceremonies.
“I asked him about it once,” Smith said, “and he responded, ‘Zen is not a health trip.’”
While this may be true, it glosses over the fact that smoking is, at its most basic, a harmful action. Dr. Smith has been teaching Buddhism and Eastern philosophy for decades, and over the years he has brought many students to dharma institutions to hear teachings. A number of them, he said, are turned off by the fact that they see monks smoking. “This is really where the rubber hits the road,” said Smith. “You can talk generally about compassion, but if you can’t apply it to something so basic in one’s personal life, then what the heck is going on?”
Aside from the issue of alienating the dharma-curious, the fact that Buddhists smoke raises a deeper issue for Smith. “If you love life and affirm it and want to do good in the world and be compassionate to other people, then you want to make your body and your mind as much of a vehicle for that as possible for as long as possible.” Smoking cigarettes would seem to undercut that possibility, limiting the amount of time one has to be a vehicle for the dharma. So why do Buddhist teachers continue to allow their addiction to impinge on their responsibilities? Shouldn’t overcoming their addiction be of the utmost importance, both as exemplars of the teachings and as vehicles for them?
I put this question to Dr. Judson Brewer, the director of research at the Center for Mindfulness. Brewer and his team at Yale University have developed the Craving to Quit app, which uses mindfulness to help people kick their addiction. “It’s a great question and I would want to talk to these folks and get their story,” said Brewer. “Is it just a habit that’s so much in the background that you’re not paying attention or is the level of suffering that it causes so minimal that there’s no drive to change the behavior?”
I asked Brewer if Buddhist teachers have a moral imperative not to smoke.
“If I had a gun and I killed myself, that wouldn’t be that helpful if I were a good teacher. And smoking has obviously been linked to increased mortality and morbidity, as well as a number of illnesses, including cancer.”
Indeed, John Daido Loori Roshi died of lung cancer in 2009 (though he did give up smoking later in life). Like shooting yourself with a gun, smoking will ultimately aid in your demise. “It’s not exactly suicide,” said Brewer. “It’s just a slower burn.”
_____
In 2005 I was one of 33 college students who lived in a Burmese monastery in Bodhgaya, India, where we studied Buddhism and lived according to the five basic precepts. Though it may have gone against our youthful inclinations, we refrained from taking intoxicants, sex, stealing, lying, and killing.
Cigarettes, however, were not prohibited, and like many of my fellow students, I took up smoking. We spent countless afternoons on the roof of our dorm, watching our cigarette smoke drift away while ruminating over deep questions like, is killing a malaria-ridden mosquito bad karma or good karma? Since we were suddenly living a life of previously unimaginable austerity, smoking didn’t seem like such a big deal. It gave us something to do, and though we were learning about the emptiness of self, smoking seemed like the last way we could fill ourselves up, albeit with smoke. It gave us something to cling to, the last iceberg in a sea of melting vices.
Maybe the fact that Buddhists smoke is as simple as that. Maybe Buddhists the world over puff because it is one of the few remaining ways they can puff themselves up. For a spiritual tradition so devoted to compassion and helping others, cigarettes may be the final frontier of autonomy. In a spiritual tradition so devoted to the eradication of self, cigarettes might be the last shred of selfishness. Fumo ergo sum.
I smoke, therefore I am.
_____
Google Buddhism and smoking and the resulting hits are not what I would describe as particularly helpful (unless you want lurid details about the monks recently arrested for smoking Crystal Meth in Phnom Penh, Cambodia). However, I did come across an amusing anecdote from the blog of the Scottish-born Buddhist teacher Bodhipaksa:
A young monk strolled into the office of the head monk.
“Say, man. Would it like be okay if I smoke when I meditate?”
The head monk turned pale and began quivering. When he recovered, he gave the young man a stern lecture about the sanctity of meditation. The novice listened thoughtfully and went away.
A few weeks later, he returned with another question.
“I’m concerned about my spiritual development. I notice that I spend a lot of time smoking. I was wondering, do you think it would be okay if when I am smoking, I practice my meditation?”
The older man was overjoyed and of course said yes.
I’m not so sure about the credentials of this pale, quivering head monk (or, for that matter, the novice), but I found the anecdote surprisingly informative. Perhaps the point isn’t what we do, but how we do it. Perhaps, in taking a “thou shalt not” approach, we miss the moment for the creed.
When I emailed the Bodhgaya alumni to ask for help researching this topic, one person responded, “Wouldn’t a Buddhist smoking cigarettes be kind of hypocritical, irresponsible, and ironic?” It is attitudes like this that reveal the gap between what people believe about Buddhists and how Buddhists actually behave. And maybe this is the crux of this issue. Maybe this isn’t about smoking at all but about the ideals we place on our teachers.
In his book Sex, Sin, and Zen, author and Zen teacher Brad Warner writes, “When we project our expectations about what a divine being ought to be onto real people, what else can we hope for besides disappointment?” After all, addiction does not discriminate between enlightened and unenlightened, and perhaps, in smoking, teachers unwillingly demonstrate that addiction is not a roadblock to realization. This notion—that an enlightened person can be an addicted person—might shatter our preconceptions about realization, but to practice Buddhism and believe one’s preconceptions will remain neatly intact seems about as naïve as believing a teacher is a divine being.
Warner’s own teacher, Gudo Nishijima, was himself a heavy smoker. But, said Warner, it wasn’t a problem. “He told me once that he just happened to notice one day that smoking was a bad habit, so he stopped doing it.”
“I tend to think Buddhist teachers are like artisans who take on apprentices,” said Warner. “If we take that viewpoint, it’s not such a big deal whether the teacher smokes or not. But a teacher who smokes should know that their behavior is going to be imitated. If the teacher cares about that, then maybe they should not smoke.”
So should Buddhists be required to refrain from smoking?
“I don’t think Buddhism should be in the business of requiring people to do or not do things. That seems to go against everything Buddhism is about. If you demand people follow the Buddhist rules, that demanding itself is counter to the Buddhist philosophical approach. The precepts are not requirements.”
Randall Ryotan Eiger, sensei at the Village Zendo in Manhattan, who studied with Daido for eight years, was himself a smoker for 20 years, and as a freelance speechwriter in the 80s and 90s worked for a major tobacco company. His Buddhist smoking credentials run deep, so I asked him the same question. Should Buddhists refrain from smoking?
“To be a Buddhist means to take refuge in the three treasures of Buddha, dharma, and sangha,” said Ryotan. “I don’t believe one needs to be a non-smoker, or any particular kind of person, in order to take refuge.”
Indeed, such stringent requirements would create a culture of exclusion, leaving out those with addictions who might otherwise benefit immensely from the dharma. As Dr. Brewer pointed out, his app has exposed many people to the dharma “through their own doorway of suffering, which is smoking.”
As for Buddhist teachers, Ryotan disagreed with the idea that they have a “moral imperative” not to smoke.
“One sign of the moral confusion in our market-driven society is that people have the tendency to elevate consumer and lifestyle choices into matters of high moral drama, leading to overblown talk of ‘moral imperatives.’ Tortuous analysis of one’s thoughts and actions produces a facsimile of moral seriousness that is pleasing to the ego, but it is no substitute for the wisdom and compassion that arise from the awakened heart.”
He continued, “Is smoking inherently unhealthy, unwise, and maybe a little selfish? The answer is ‘yes.’ Are smokers inherently unable to realize their buddhanature and save all beings? The answer is ‘obviously not.’”
_____
Zen is not a health trip. Depending on your view of smoking, this response is either frustratingly reductive or refreshingly concise. For some, like Dr. Smith, smoking remains one of the largest thorns in Buddhism’s side. “Smoking involves in a personal, immediate way the core Buddhist issues of suffering, craving, death, compassion, and awakening,” said Smith. “What matters is how well one deals with those issues concretely, in smoking and other concrete immediate situations. Smoking isn’t the only place where we can engage these issues—they come up elsewhere, obviously—but it’s one of the ways, and we must engage them there.”
For others, the fact that some Buddhists smoke is as mundane as the fact that some Buddhists eat meat. But even Brad Warner understands the reservations one might have about teachers who smoke. “As a learner, I would steer clear of teachers who have such obvious bad habits on the grounds that if they can’t even get it together to stop smoking, how can I believe they can guide me to get past my own bad habits?” And yet, Warner’s own teacher smoked, and perhaps that is why he and other teachers are unwilling to take a stance against cigarettes.
Nirvana means “extinguishing the flame.” When faced with the issue of human suffering, the burning ember of a lit cigarette might not seem like the highest priority. There is a more pressing conflagration at hand. Either you smoke, or you don’t smoke, yes, but in the end, we are all part of the slow burn anyhow. And maybe in the end, to borrow a phrase from the smoker Charles Bukowski, what matters most is not whether or not you smoke, but how well you walk through the fire.
[This story was first published in 2015.]
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When I was a medical student , I entered the hospital room of a man admitted for a severe exacerbation of COPD, caused by smoking. He was coughing so violently he was blue, breathless, and could not hold a kidney basin. I held it for him. He spat a large oyster sized sputum, green to yellow, missing the basin landing squarely into my hand slowly oozing between my fingers, but I had to continue to hold the basin while I wretched deeply. He died 2 days later at 56. I knew at that moment that I would not become a Pulmonary specialist, but I could not avoid it. Over 40 years later we still can not extend the lives of those with COPD or emphysema 1 day longer. I’ve looked between smokers toes to find non-healing wounds to the bone, and despite multiple bypass grafts, feet, lower legs, and above knee amputations occur. I found a nurse covered in blood on the floor of a toilet holding pressure on a leaking bypass graft. Hearts stop. Less than 10% of those patients in the community survive and even in the hospital, not much better. I can not believe any Buddhist leader could wish these grizzly endings upon their followers, parents or grandparents upon children/grandchildren. My maternal grandmother, heavy smoker dead at 56. My dad 5 packs a day, my mom probably 1 pack a day from secondhand smoke, both barely made it to 70. Like all addictions this generation passes to the next. All of the soft abstract thought about smoking is not realistic. I ask any of you to hold that kidney basin and explain why Buddhists should smoke and encourage others to do so, and, worse, expose others to secondhand smoke. Let’s see the 8 precepts 1) Not killing. Cigarettes do that first and secondhand. 2)I will not steal especially the lives of others with secondhand smoke. 5) Cigarettes contain an addicting intoxicating drug, nicotine. We are not talking about a moral issue, but great harm, the cost of which could easily cover the costs of all earthquakes, but not the lost lives. As terrible as the video from Nepal and Tibet, if we could amass all the suffering and harm caused by cigarettes each day and show a video of that, it would be far worse. Or we could just go on pretending.
Well said jackelope65! But even without that graphic description of the consequences of smoking, I think, without being overly moralistic, that smoking and the Buddhist path do not seem to be congruent with each other. Any kind of addiction is a manifestation of a craving, and I cannot understand how a ‘master’ can be called one if she/he has not ‘mastered’ physical addictions. At the risk of offending many, I would have a hard time accepting a teacher like Trungpa, who smoked and drank and seemed to be at the mercy of his cravings. Sorry, despite the ‘postmodern’ interpretation of Buddhism in the West, I think it is time to get back to the basics.
Well said, see my post above.
Very well said, and I entirely agree.
But let us not forget one of the many Tibetan slogans (I quote from Norman Fisher’s book, Training in Compassion) “don’t figure others out”. We can never know all the causes and conditions contributing to the behavior of another, and therefore cannot judge. (Let’s not forget that many of the teachers mentioned in the article and in these comments grew up in an older generation, and a culture of smoking, making it not only difficult to quit, but perhaps, psychologically, a habit that seemed like a normal part of life to them – and therefore one especially resistant to the awareness of it’s harms.). This is a deeply ingrained form of denial, but that’s life as a human being. Humans have an infinite capacity for denial, including the so-called “enlightened” ones. Ok, so now I’m doing the very thing I quoted – trying to “figure others out”.
Would I choose a teacher who smoked? Probably not. But it is also part of my path to let go of judging (which, of course I still do), and have compassion for all, even smokers!
Did Bernie really say “CHAIN smoking”? I doubt it. It’s not in character for such a great master.
My mom’s death was due to secondhand smoke and a good friend has moderately from secondhand smoke from his wife smoking just 1 pack a day. British researchers found only small differences in actual nicotine levels between heavy and light smokers as the light smokers tended to inhale longer and deeper. The child or devoted follower doesn’t count the number of cigarettes their hero smokes, or if they didn’t actually inhale.
Your mum’s death was due to birth
Chogyam Trungpa once said somewhere that smoking was a way to prove that the smoker exists.
I feel the smoke I see it come out of My mouth.
I quit long ago because I could not respect myself as a patsy for Big Tobacco and coma culture.
I smoked for years, quit many times. My experience with smoking was totally emotional, a way of avoiding life. The cigarette was always there to comfort me; deaden fear, anxiety, anger, commitment, etc. Gratefully, I quit permanently long before I found Buddhism. For me, smoking was an emotional crutch that doesn’t fit Buddhist practice. That being said, I also don’t believe that it should be forbidden. Buddhist practice empowers me to make healthy decisions for myself. People will quit when they get to that point.
Buddhist practice is about waking up to (and overcoming) the causes of human suffering and unease.
Smoking tobacco causes MUCH human suffering and unease.
There is no place in a Buddhist practice for an addictive behavior that causes so much human suffering and unease.
Also guidance from Santideva’s Bodhicaryavatara, see chapter 5, verse 86.
I remember, back in the 1970s, standing outside the local Dharmadhatu after a long meditation. The then Vajra Regent came over to stand next to me and light up a cigarette. I was pretty new to Tibetan Buddhism and innocently asked him, “why do Tibetan Buddhists smoke so much?” . I had noticed that almost all of the guys at that center were chain smokers. Since I didn’t smoke, I was kind of fascinated. Was this some kind of “badge of belonging” or a cultural custom or what? Later on, it became pretty clear that there were all kinds of behaviors, many of them very destructive, modeled by both Trungpa Rinpoche and the Vajra Regent that were then taken up by their male students, in particular. The more “advanced” the student (within the framework of that group), the more extreme, destructive and exclusionary the behavior. It had that same “macho” edge that many zen groups exhibited at the time. With all of the brilliant teaching going on, there were also seeds of deeply destructive and extremely harmful behavior passed on to the students. Perhaps it’s a rare student who doesn’t take on the characteristics of the teacher they are asked to see as The Buddha. Discrimination comes slowly, for most people.
I worked for a man for many years… He was followed by so many, respected as an awakened being (still is to this day). And yes he was very sharp, brilliant about the cognitive side of awakening. However he was deeply addicted to smoking, wine, women, anger and money. Now, these issues are his business. EXCEPT when he is modeling behavior for others who are charged with “recreating source” and aim to be just like him. Nearly his whole organization (sangha) was indulging in anger, forceful impulsiveness and many smoked. Misogyny was rampant. Yet he himself often said, “the fish stinks from the head.” But this insight was never enough for him to look deeply into his shadow, embrace the desperate craving, and stop modeling behavior that was causing so much ill-will and dis-ease (I bet it still is). I imagine the contribution he could have made if he owned up to each of these addictions and demonstrated coming clean, being honest and showing everyone what it actually takes to deal with these demons. Such a missed opportunity.
Seems like his “followers” we’re not very bright.
Smoking is a problem, but maybe not a “Buddhist” problem. When I began learning about Buddhism the words that were used to describe the goals of practice (enlightened, awakened, realization, perfected, arhat, bodhisattva) all gave me the strong impression that there were two sorts of people: the few who had crossed The Buddhist Finish Line and the rest of us who had not. Naturally that kind of view made me wonder what I would find when I met someone who had crossed The Line? Would they be kind and open-hearted? Would they abuse their followers sexually and financially, or themselves with drink and drugs? Would they feed and clothe the poor?
The Finish Line vocabulary hasn’t changed any since I began my practice, but my view of it has: I take the goals of practice as more of a direction and less of a destination. A smoker may have passed a few more landmarks on the path than I have, but the smoker and I are both trying to move in the same direction.
Dharma gates are endless. If the failings of our companions on the path are of so much concern, perhaps we should erect warning signs like the ones posted on nature trails: “Beware of humans on the path.”
Nice.
I don’t think the question is a moral one. Basic Buddhist way is the development of skillful means by working with truth (what exists, how does it work, and how can it be improved). Is smoking working for you in relationship to what you are doing or would like to do? In what way or not? If not, maybe the development of skillfulness needs to be re examined. The same question is applied to anything. Is drinking alcohol working for you? For this writer the answer was no, in the context that it did not improve nor was beneficial to development of more refined perception, feeling states, clarity and mind strength -in fact quite the opposite.
The question of whether an Enlightened person would have addictions raises an eyebrow in the sense that the question itself indicates a lack of understanding of Enlightenment, and reduces it to the worldly realm. Enlightenment at a very base level is free of dichotomous viewpoint, all of the time, so there would be nothing to be addicted to, nor causative factors for addiction. The Enlightened Being would not be working with or withinin the Dharma roots or emotional bases where addictions arise. There would however be levels of realization leading to enlightenment where that could be the case (ie – having not overcome all hindrances nor being free of conditioned Being). Understanding of this would be important when discerning for oneself the presence of skillfulness in a teacher or teachings, but that is not to say that a skillful teacher need be Enlightened. However, discriminating examination is recommended if there are claims of such and actions do not seem to convey the wisdom and understanding inherent in Enlightenment.
A few things that occurred to me as I read this just now:
— Among native cultures where tobacco grows, it is a sacred substance, and it is still used in a ceremonial way among cultures whose memory of this sacredness is intact. This would suggest to me that it matters not so much whether or not one smokes, but how one smokes, how mindfully one smokes (as Alex Tzelnic suggests). We in the “developed” world live in an addictive culture that has forgotten what many ancient cultures remembered in their bones and in their practices.
— Remembering the sacredness of all beings, including plants, and including our own bodies (made from the plants we ingest, after all, and/or from animals who themselves ingested plants) places us all within Indra’s Net, the great web of life.
— It seems to me no accident that addiction in its many forms is so often linked to the desire for the sacred. Tobacco, alcohol, sex, food — all sacred if consumed mindfully or ceremonially, but addictive if used without mindfulness. Gary Snyder’s essay “Grace” from The Practice of the Wild, is a wonderful reminder for me of this truth — one I read again and again in order to remember.
— I sometimes see misogyny as related to mindlessness and addiction. A reverence for the sacredness of matter/mother/goddess helps me remember the Bodhissatva ideal of compassion for all beings as the ultimate goal of practice. And reverence for Tara, or Avalokiteshvara, helps me have compassion for my own addictive tendencies and my own forgetfulness of the sacred heart of all things (including tobacco).
As someone who has suffered from addiction for most of my life (but not any more thanks to my Buddhist practice), I would just like to say that awakening and addition are surely mutually exclusive. Awakening is about absolute freedom while addiction is a trap; how can you be an awakened addict?
Everybody here seems to speak about addiction and smoking. I smoke usually two o three cigarettes a day and when I go to a retreat I stop smoking without problem. Sometimes I decide not to smoke when I travel or when I go on holidays and I do it easily. When I say people I have been ten days or 15 days without smoking first they are surprised – if they do not know me weill – to hear that I smoke and then they usually expect I will quit, but I do not have such expectation. I spend all the time at work without smoking and I do not smoke when I go out with friends. I just like a cigarette with the breakfast and sometimes after meals and as it is not a big deal for me to stop doing it when I feel like doing it.
I have never stopped smoking as I have never stopped drinking beer but I do not feel it is a big problem in my life or my practice. When I cannot smoke, I do not do. When I cannot have a beer, I do not cry for it. I do not spend my time thinking in cigarettes or beers. In my case there are other addictions, not to any substance like tobacco or alcohol, that are much more difficult to avoid. Habits that might not appear to be harmful directly to my health but might be another way of avoiding unpleasant feelings.
I just wanted to share this. For those who hold 5 or 8 precepts everyday smoking probably it is something to avoid. For those who have an addiction it is probably better to quit, but I do not feel it is so a big deal for me.
Likewise.
The Buddha described an awakened human being as “unbound” and “released” as in unbound and released from clinging. He described the mind of an awakened human being as “calm.” He provided an Eightfold Path that develops virtuous behavior remaining harmless to oneself and others and a deep mindfulness of clinging in thought, word, and deed.
The “famous” (infamous?) modern Buddhist smokers, active alcoholics, active drug addicts, and active and predatory sex addicts all have diminished or dismissed entirely the Buddha’s original teachings for a more accommodating “dharma” that raises aberrant behavior to the level of “Buddhist” practice rather than recognizing the destructive clinging involved, and the personal responsibility in abandoning, not rationalizing, hurtful behavior.
Not smoking is not a “requirement” of an individual developing understanding within the framework and guidance of The Eightfold Path but a direct result of diminishing clinging and developing calm through an authentic Dhamma practice.
John Haspel
http://crossrivermeditation.com
http://shamatha-vipassana.com
Thank you for articulating your thoughts in a concise and firm manner. I completely agree with you – an authentic dharma (or dhamma) practice must be aligned with the Four Noble Truths, where the Buddha laid down the roots of suffering – and he was very clear – clinging is one of the roots that needs to be pulled out, if one has to have any chance of reducing one’s suffering. Even if it is not possible to do this immediately, one needs to make the Right Effort in order to slowly, gradually, reduce unwholesome thoughts, attitudes and actions.
Any variation of this essential, basic truth cannot be said to follow the Buddha’s path, however popular or cool or hip it might seem to be. I am not being dogmatic, just true to the path.
Too much preaching going on here.
Well said
Thank you, John.
Thank you, John. They might fall away, but the teaching of the Buddha gives an intellectual background to help that happen. And in the list, I forgot to add too much sex outside of a loving relationship…Geshe Rabten as source.
You won’t like what I will say, but this article is a perfect example of the perversion of the teaching of the Buddha by westerners who twist it to make it comfortable for their own purpose. Im not sure I want to practice like that, altho I know I have done some twisting myself! Here is what Geshe Dargey said:
Don’t smoke and don’t drink and don’t mess around or do drugs because those actions pervert the pure power of the mind, leave very very heavy karmic imprints for hell realm and animal rebirths in smoky dirty terrible places with flames and anguish, and in animal realms with dulled senses and dirty filty places. It creates the karma for war and flames. Smoking, drugs, and impure foods close the pure power of the body, force it downwards into the lower chakras and prevent it from rising upwards so Enlightenment can be attained. The level of your practice is the level of the reality you see, so for everyone’s sake, once you take Bodhisattva vows, you must give up those impure habits in order to benefit all beings. As far as Chogyam Trungpa goes: it was my impression at the time that Rimpoche wanted to establish a road in the wilderness and get out quick. So he did to his body what he had to do to make that happen. Please, if you seriously want to change, if you seriously want to practice and attain the insights available in the tradition, southern or northern, you must not smoke. I have seen the monks in Japan puffing away too. I used to puff away myself until I met Geshe Dargey and Geshe Rabten, but we learn, we change, and we clean up our acts. Don’t let bad habits withhold you from happiness and peace. Best to you all!
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death. As aspiring bodhisattvas, isn’t it our duty to try to prevent some of that suffering?
Almost any activity can become addictive if it is practised enough or yielded to enough – this is one of the most basic principles of neuropsychology. In this context the injunction to eliminate craving and fostering a sense of non-attachment is one of the touchstones of Buddhist principles (let alone the minimising of suffering).
I would not moralise by saying you may not smoke, even though my father died a long, protracted and gruesome death from lung cancer and a debilitating stroke all due to smoking. Though I have little or no time for moralising, it is for good medical reasons that some substances are labelled addictive – they have a particular grip on us which others do not. In these cases one needs extra motivation – if not medical intervention – to become indifferent to them. Generally these substances are classified as addictive especially if they have negative longer-term medical / psychological effects (read suffering). Smoking qualifies on all these medical criteria.
Having said that, meditative techniques and Buddhist precepts are mechanisms we engage in to free us from this attachment, so as to become enlightened. So we may use these Buddhist or Zen techniques to overcome a habit or addiction (and many of our other distractions) while on the way to reducing or minimising our dependence, before overcoming our vice. Incidentally this is similar to many Christians who say they may not be perfect but their Christianity helps them overcome their sins. However they rely on faith and they receive forgiveness, neither of which – thankfully – Buddhism provides.
Moreover we may be enlightened and actively smoke to make a point, or be with others, a bit like having a social drink. But actually we are indifferent to it, as in the oxherding pictures. The seventh is The Bull Transcended and (for now not even talking about the eighth or ninth) the tenth is the Return to Society – even our society has rejected smoking.
Moral injunctions should be few and there are none to abstain from most vices (aside from those we arrest and convict people for), but more convincing, there is in my reading nothing in the Four Noble Truths or the Noble Eightfold Path, supporting smoking as a regular pursuit to be fostered, even if it’s one Saturday night ciggy’ as a regular practise.
So finally, I agree with Jagmad 30th April (in response to Jackelope65) below, that “At the risk of offending many, I would have a hard time accepting a teacher like Trungpa, who smoked and drank and seemed to be at the mercy of his cravings. Sorry, despite the ‘postmodern’ interpretation of Buddhism in the West, I think it is time to get back to the basics.”
I remember hearing that Trungpa Rinpoche said you could do anything you wanted, as long as you did it mindfully. Ever tried to smoke a cigarette mindfully? Like really really mindfully?
I remember hearing that Trungpa Rinpoche said you could do anything you wanted, as long as you did it mindfully. Ever tried to smoke a cigarette mindfully? Like really really mindfully?
Smoking is used in many traditions as a grounding meditation, and I also wanted to point out that the tradition of smoking, particularly in Zen Buddhism is quite historic – predating Americas involvement with the path to be sure. Conversely, it is the Middle Path that has always helped me keep my smoking cravings under control… in a world where our very food, water and atmosphere are toxic, I think a puff now and then is not undermining to ones practice at all.
I would never criticise anyone working to get away from an addiction, so if a puff now and then helps maintain some sort of non-attachment, then that’s fine. Just remember that it is still a crutch, much like any other method such as visualisation, breath counting, etcetera – you cannot call yourself enlightened or even free of an attachment unless you can happily do without its stimulus i.e. that’s not by willing against it, rather it’s by not even thinking of it even if you see someone else doing it.
On the tradition aspect: Not all embedded traditions are worth maintaining, that’s why religions and other traditions like Buddhism have reformations and different lineages. As an example from Christianity, there was a strong tradition of pilgrimages and killing non-believers (as there is too in radical Islam). But no sincere Christian would now say that we need a ritual once in a while slaying of a non-believer – No honest practising Moslem would say that either. Now killing is an extreme example but I apply it to smoking and intoxicants, because of the particular addictiveness and negative long-term effects of smoking and other intoxicants – leading to suffering.
The middle path argument must not be perverted to sanction actions demonstrably harmful to the psyche or body, despite the fact that vices are not turned off and on willy-nilly, but may require gradual attenuation.
I shall not be part of any tradition or variant of Buddhism in general or Zen in particular if there is a ritual (however infrequent) entrenching addictive substances.
That’s all I have to say and shall now butt out of this debate.
I do not see myself as any sort of expert on Buddhist practise, but find it difficult to see how there is any question regarding smoking and Buddhism. Surely smoking is accepted as harmful, both to the smoker and anyone in the vicinity and therefore, if one is aiming to achieve compassion to others and oneself, then smoking should be avoided or at least the aim should be to stop smoking. I would find it difficult to accept someone who smoked, drank alcohol or ate animals or fish as fully enlightened or as a respected teacher.
Düd’jom Rinpoche wrote a text called ‘Tobacco: ‘the guide that leads the blind on a false path which ends in a precipice’’ which was very firmly against smoking.
“Indeed, John Daido Loori Roshi died of lung cancer in 2009 (though he did give up smoking later in life).”
…and his successor was just forced to resign for cheating on his wife. Sounds like they need a little work on impulse control up there in the Catskills.
Necessary?
In the Pali Canon, Buddha’s miracle is described as “emitting fire and smoke from the upper part of his body, while at the same time emitting water from the lower part of his body”.
Obviously, he was smoking a pipe while pissing at the same time.
So relax, followers of the honorable first wheel of teachings: you are giving it a bad name with your narrow-mindedness: no wonder they call you “Hinayana” !!!!
Not at all. It is certainly un smart though.