I didn't answer your questions seriously because, like you seriously comparing caffeine and crystal, they're absurd and don't merit a serious answer.samseva wrote:Your strawman meme is itself a strawman argument. These weren't strawman arguments that I posted, they were questions, which you seem to have tactfully avoided.Mkoll wrote:[Image]samseva wrote:Good. So drugs are okay? Drugs don't go against the precept not a single bit? Substances that affect one's mind are completely fine?
Gee, tell me more!samseva wrote:It turns out human beings have psychological mechanisms and we aren’t just molecules and atoms reacting with each other.Mkoll wrote:I'm using the pharmacological definition of drug dependence, not the psychological one. One is drug-dependent when there is the appearance of withdrawal symptoms upon cessation of regular use. It has nothing to do with clinging or heedlessness—it's just a physical phenomenon. If you had to take opioids for extreme pain, you could become dependent on them—whether you liked them, disliked them, or didn't care, you could still become dependent on them.
OK.samseva wrote:I didn't mean 'mindful', I meant 'wakeful', as in the very common word and the opposite of 'drowsy'.Mkoll wrote:Finally, the "wakeful" or "knowing" state of mind that Buddhist teachers talk about is a way of directing the mind and approaching one's experience. So in that sense, one can be "wakeful" even if drowsy. Ajahn Chah apparently once stayed up 8 days straight without eating. I'm sure his body was more tired than the tiredness of any caffeine withdrawal, but he was "wakeful."
How vague. And again, how can you know if even a medium to large dose, however much that is, will cause the hindrance of restlessness to arise in someone? What if they're an adept practitioner? What if they're an arahant?samseva wrote:No, it doesn’t. That is why I have mentioned 'medium to large doses' a significant number of times. Like with most posts from the recent pages, the knee-jerk reactions seems to blur out key parts of opposing posts.Mkoll wrote:Does it, for everybody, 100% of the time?
I actually think carefully about the words I post and go back over them, editing them if needs be. That could hardly be considered a knee-jerk reaction. Again, you presume too much—seems to be a pattern in this anti-caffeine crusade of yours.samseva wrote:Like with most posts from the recent pages, the knee-jerk reactions seems to blur out key parts of opposing posts.
You also didn't address all the points in my previous post...