Kava and Buddhism

[Jacob Bula]

Hello everyone,

I have been regularly practicing Zen Buddhism this year and haven't had kava in a while. I remember earlier in the year having trouble with motivation after heavy kava sessions and slack off on daily meditation. Are there any other kava lovers here who also keep a regular meditation routine and/or practice Buddhism? How do you feel about the 5th precept in relation to kava use? Precepts aren't commandments, and are more of suggestions on ways of living to achieve enlightenment. In the lineage I follow at the NC Zen Center the fifth precept reads as follows:

"I resolve not to cause others to abuse alcohol or drugs/nor to do so myself but to keep the mind clear".

It seems like if I can find a healthy relationship with kava, it would be the perfect drink to relax with on occasion as its not prone to abuse and the mind can stay clear.

 

[JohnMichael]

Hello everyone,

I have been regularly practicing Zen Buddhism this year and haven't had kava in a while. I remember earlier in the year having trouble with motivation after heavy kava sessions and slack off on daily meditation. Are there any other kava lovers here who also keep a regular meditation routine and/or practice Buddhism? How do you feel about the 5th precept in relation to kava use? Precepts aren't commandments, and are more of suggestions on ways of living to achieve enlightenment. In the lineage I follow at the NC Zen Center the fifth precept reads as follows:

"I resolve not to cause others to abuse alcohol or drugs/nor to do so myself but to keep the mind clear".

It seems like if I can find a healthy relationship with kava, it would be the perfect drink to relax with on occasion as its not prone to abuse and the mind can stay clear.

I'm not a Buddhist, but I have used some of your techniques during our Friends (Quakers) Meetings. An hour in silence with others, listening, sensing the light, can feel like a long session. Thich Nhat Hanh has been helpful with ways to focus. And one isn't tempted to over indulge at all, just a couple shells, when meditating at home.

 

[Skinskava]

I sit for etleast an hour a day… zazen lineage. Have done intensive retreats. I find kava to be quite meditative but at times distracting (not in a bad way) just the euphoria makes it hard to sit and suffer

 

[Orz[EST]]

Can you elaborate "sit and suffer", especially the "suffer" part?

 

[Skinskava]

Can you elaborate "sit and suffer", especially the "suffer" part?

Part of going deep into a contemplative practice is sitting with your darkness or demons. Suffering is inevitable but many people tend to run from it. When your sitting for long sessions you are bound to have to face some of these things. The practice begins at acceptance.. theres the physical suffering as well with upright posture for long sittings. Its a discipline like anything worth doing

 

[KavaTasteGood]

I sit for etleast an hour a day… zazen lineage. Have done intensive retreats. I find kava to be quite meditative but at times distracting (not in a bad way) just the euphoria makes it hard to sit and suffer

I've been thinking about this a bit lately. I don't know if you're familiar with the terminology of jhana, those states of deep absorption where you have a positive reinforcement loop of your mind noticing good sensations and liking to seek out good sensations, thus noticing them even more, and so on. These jhanas seem to be extremely important for developing and strengthening the power of attention, and they're not bad, like increasing your brain's reward center, reducing mental chatter to almost zero (This has been scientifically studied in a quite fascinating article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3659471/ ).... If access to these altered states of consciousness is facilitated by kava, and that's a big "if", perhaps it can be used as a tool to reach these states until there's no need for external kava (I see this in conjunction with a "sober" practice). This is just my opinion and I don't have access to concentration yet