Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Buddhist ethical conduct including the Five Precepts (Pañcasikkhāpada), and Eightfold Ethical Conduct (Aṭṭhasīla).
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badscooter
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by badscooter »

Cittasanto wrote:
Billymac29 wrote:
as already pointed out, Marajuana was allowed by the Buddha for Rheumatoid pain.
and the Buddha advises us to look after this body & to keep healthy.
Where did the buddha talk about marijuana?

with metta
it is within the vinaya!
as already mentioned in the thread here http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 94#p200739" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This is the portion of that web link that you are referring to?
Like many people before and since, the Buddha recognized the medicinal value of cannabis and he recommended it as a cure for rheumatism (aṅgavāta). The patient should be placed, he said, in a small room filled with steam from a tub of boiling water and cannabis leaves (bhaṅgodaka), and inhale the steam and rub it on the limbs (Vin.I,205).
and it says this right before that line.
From the Buddhist perspective, taking cannabis would be breaking the fifth Precept.
???? that makes it a little confusing, unless he is saying the buddha was prescribing this to laymen, not monks.. ???
I dunno
with metta :smile:
"whatever one frequently thinks and ponders upon will be the inclination of one's mind"
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marc108
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by marc108 »

Billymac29 wrote: I've had pain before. I never said that certain medicines were off the list of the 5th precept. Sorry, that is the precept.. If your afraid to die or get sick, then thats suffering.. Show me the sutta where buddha told people to smoke pot and i will believe it.
The buddha laid down cause he was in pain.. He didn't smoke pot..lol

using a painkiller isn't being afraid to die or get sick. it's very easy to make judgement calls on things like this until you live every day feeling like someone stuck a butcher knife in your spine. the point i was trying to make about the Buddha is that he didn't just continue on completely immune to the pain, he laid down to relieve it. he allowed for the use of substances common in his day as medicine that would be intoxicating in higher doses. the purpose of the 5th precept is to avoid intoxication, and not a demonizing of the substance itself... again the example of the Buddha allowing alcohol in medicine. The Buddha didn't tell people to use opioid narcotics or NSAIDS either, but I seriously doubt he would recommend against their use... really that would be counter to his nature.

just to clear this up, marijuana contains chemicals called cannabinoids that interact with the endocannabinoid system in the brain & body... dulling pain perception in the brain & reducing inflammation. Tylanol (Acetaminophen) also works through this same pathway. its a very common misconception that the way marijuana relieves pain is through intoxication, but that is not the case. generally, marijuana used in lower doses is not intoxicating after one acclimates to it... the same way that opioid based pain killers do not intoxicate.

to completely bar a substance for medicinal use is not in line with the teachings of the Buddha.
"It's easy for us to connect with what's wrong with us... and not so easy to feel into, or to allow us, to connect with what's right and what's good in us."
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badscooter
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by badscooter »

he allowed for the use of substances common in his day as medicine that would be intoxicating in higher doses. the purpose of the 5th precept is to avoid intoxication, and not a demonizing of the substance itself...
i could see that :)
with metta
"whatever one frequently thinks and ponders upon will be the inclination of one's mind"
R.B.LANDGE
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by R.B.LANDGE »

Billymac29 wrote:
he allowed for the use of substances common in his day as medicine that would be intoxicating in higher doses. the purpose of the 5th precept is to avoid intoxication, and not a demonizing of the substance itself...
i could see that :)
with metta
Selling Marijuna for medicinal purposes only with proper selling license from government authority and maintaining the record as a guideline,i.e. by a person who is professional and registered medicine seller, can not be called a violation of fifth
precept. This is very correct according to the MIDDLE PATH or wise path (avoiding extremes of everything in life) as LORD BUDDHA followed in all walk of life. Otherwise selling of Knife, blade etc which can take anybodies life if used in greed or hatred would be called the violation of first precept. Selling the marijuana is not against Dhamma but intention behind counts, in relation to precepts, as I think.

May all follow DHAMMA and all be happy, blissfull.
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Cittasanto
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by Cittasanto »

Billymac29 wrote:thats a link to a dhammawiki site..... where in the actual parts of the vinaya is marijuana stated?
it uses the references from the PTS at the end of the Wiki article Vin.1,205 which is the Mahavagga chapter six.
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But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
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Cittasanto
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by Cittasanto »

Billymac29 wrote:This is the portion of that web link that you are referring to?
Like many people before and since, the Buddha recognized the medicinal value of cannabis and he recommended it as a cure for rheumatism (aṅgavāta). The patient should be placed, he said, in a small room filled with steam from a tub of boiling water and cannabis leaves (bhaṅgodaka), and inhale the steam and rub it on the limbs (Vin.I,205).
and it says this right before that line.
From the Buddhist perspective, taking cannabis would be breaking the fifth Precept.
???? that makes it a little confusing, unless he is saying the buddha was prescribing this to laymen, not monks.. ???
I dunno
with metta :smile:
they are different paragraphs dealing with different points, the clauses are not related other than subject matter (marijuana).
Taking marijuana for recreational (intoxicating) purposes is breaking the precept. wrote:For centuries, certain sects of Hindu ascetics have smoked cannabis believing that they are able to commune with Siva while under its influence, although taking cannabis for its hallucinogenic effect is mentioned nowhere in the Tipiṭaka. From the Buddhist perspective, taking cannabis would be breaking the fifth Precept.
Taking Marijuana for medicinal purposes is not breaking the precept. wrote:Like many people before and since, the Buddha recognized the medicinal value of cannabis and he recommended it as a cure for rheumatism (aṅgavāta). The patient should be placed, he said, in a small room filled with steam from a tub of boiling water and cannabis leaves (bhaṅgodaka), and inhale the steam and rub it on the limbs (Vin.I,205).
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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Annapurna
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by Annapurna »

R.B.LANDGE wrote:
Billymac29 wrote:
he allowed for the use of substances common in his day as medicine that would be intoxicating in higher doses. the purpose of the 5th precept is to avoid intoxication, and not a demonizing of the substance itself...
i could see that :)
with metta
Selling Marijuna for medicinal purposes only with proper selling license from government authority and maintaining the record as a guideline,i.e. by a person who is professional and registered medicine seller, can not be called a violation of fifth
precept. This is very correct according to the MIDDLE PATH or wise path (avoiding extremes of everything in life) as LORD BUDDHA followed in all walk of life. Otherwise selling of Knife, blade etc which can take anybodies life if used in greed or hatred would be called the violation of first precept. Selling the marijuana is not against Dhamma but intention behind counts, in relation to precepts, as I think.

May all follow DHAMMA and all be happy, blissfull.
Good (first ) post!

Welcome to Dhamma wheel!
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Hanzze
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by Hanzze »

From an ordinary aspect, everybody is selling medicin who is inolved in selling (gaining something better form something). Selling something that abstracted or cheates the mind and in that way blockes intentional the view to reality and the possibility to act wholesome, can not easily calles to be not violating the 5th precept, even it might be subtile.

Individual situations as well as the individuall counciousness (with it the capacity of kusala intention) might be different and I guess the essay Educating Compassion might be useful to understand the intention of the Buddha in regard of compassion. Dhukka is an importand part of the teaching pair to get free of it and not just suppressed for a while.
Just that! *smile*
...We Buddhists must find the courage to leave our temples and enter the temples of human experience, temples that are filled with suffering. If we listen to Buddha, Christ, or Gandhi, we can do nothing else. The refugee camps, the prisons, the ghettos, and the battlefields will become our temples. We have so much work to do. ... Peace is Possible! Step by Step. - Samtach Preah Maha Ghosananda "Step by Step" http://www.ghosananda.org/bio_book.html

BUT! it is important to become a real Buddhist first. Like Punna did: Punna Sutta Nate sante baram sokham _()_
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manas
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by manas »

Hi all,

I think there is apprehension around marijuana due to it's almost universal suppression by most governments around the world, basically for financial reasons (eg, they make so much off taxes on alcohol, which can't be grown in one's backyard free of charge, and more to the point of this discussion, marijuana has so many possible healing effects that it would severely impact upon the profits of the pharmaceutical drug industry, should it's use become widespread - hence the strong suppression with laws, etc.) In the backs of our minds we might still think that government has our best interests at heart when they make marijuana 'illegal', but it's not our interests they are promoting in this instance.

manas.
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
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LonesomeYogurt
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by LonesomeYogurt »

manas wrote:Hi all,

I think there is apprehension around marijuana due to it's almost universal suppression by most governments around the world, basically for financial reasons (eg, they make so much off taxes on alcohol, which can't be grown in one's backyard free of charge, and more to the point of this discussion, marijuana has so many possible healing effects that it would severely impact upon the profits of the pharmaceutical drug industry, should it's use become widespread - hence the strong suppression with laws, etc.) In the backs of our minds we might still think that government has our best interests at heart when they make marijuana 'illegal', but it's not our interests they are promoting in this instance.

manas.
I don't necessarily disagree with you, but that doesn't change the fact that it is still an intoxicant.
Gain and loss, status and disgrace,
censure and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions among human beings are inconstant,
impermanent, subject to change.

Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don’t charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.

His welcoming and rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
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danieLion
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by danieLion »

LonesomeYogurt wrote:...the fact that it is still an intoxicant.
This is not a fact. It's an opinion based upon some users reports. Not all users report it's effects as intoxicating. Some report exactly the opposite.

Plus, illegalization obstructs ability to research and develop innovative products like the balms that have recently come out. They can still get you "high", but some users report TOTAL pain relief and little or no "intoxicating" side effects.

Plus, when cannabis can make the difference between, e.g., getting your chores done v. having to lie down, "intoxication" becomes irrelevant because the medicine is doing its job.

The only substantial reason pot's illegal is because the paper industry doesn't want it to be and they have money to lobby it into illegality.
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Hanzze
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by Hanzze »

but some users report TOTAL pain relief and little or no "intoxicating" side effects
Most drunkwards would swear that they are not drunken, even asked by the police. Of course they also report total relief of pain. That is what cheating brings about and it seems to be unintentional. What might be the cause?
Just that! *smile*
...We Buddhists must find the courage to leave our temples and enter the temples of human experience, temples that are filled with suffering. If we listen to Buddha, Christ, or Gandhi, we can do nothing else. The refugee camps, the prisons, the ghettos, and the battlefields will become our temples. We have so much work to do. ... Peace is Possible! Step by Step. - Samtach Preah Maha Ghosananda "Step by Step" http://www.ghosananda.org/bio_book.html

BUT! it is important to become a real Buddhist first. Like Punna did: Punna Sutta Nate sante baram sokham _()_
danieLion
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by danieLion »

Hanzze wrote:
but some users report TOTAL pain relief and little or no "intoxicating" side effects
Most drunkwards would swear that they are not drunken, even asked by the police. Of course they also report total relief of pain. That is what cheating brings about and it seems to be unintentional. What might be the cause?
We must be talking to different "drunkards"--if by "drunkard" you mean alcoholics. Perhaps they're the same drunkards that hang out on "the corner smoking skunk" Aloka swears are real?

And when those intoxicated on alcohol get asked by the police if they're intoxicated and they deny it, it's not because they forgot. It's because they're lying.

The cops I've interacted with don't interview people about pain.

I don't know what you mean by "cheating".

The only substantial reason pot's illegal is because the paper industry doesn't want it to be and they have money to lobby it into illegality.
danieLion
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Re: Selling medicine marijuana, is it violate the 5th precept

Post by danieLion »

Hanzze,
I'm glad you brought up ethanol. Ethanol has medicinal properties but they are usually outweighed by side effects. The medicinal properties of cannabis, in contrast, are much more numerous and the side effects are negligible. The same can be said for most opiate based and "anti-depressant" pharmaceuticals.

The only substantial reason pot's illegal is because the paper industry doesn't want it to be and they have money to lobby it into illegality.
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