Ancient Psychedelia: Alien Gods & Mushroom Goddesses
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| The word “amrita” occurs over and over in the Vajrayana texts. Some of the deities have this as part of their name and often they are depicted holding skull-cups filled with the amrita juice. The drink is consumed at the rituals and is a central part of Vajrayana Buddhism. Amrita is a Sanskrit word which means “immortality” and is often referred to in texts as “nectar.” In the story of the “ocean-churning” Samudra manthan legend, the Devas lose their immortality because of a curse from the sage Durvasa, and they need to churn the ocean and create more amrita. Another word for amrita is “ambrosia.” When the ocean is churned it releases all sorts of wild animals, gold and silver, goddess of wine, moon, rambha the nymph, white horse, kaustubha a jewel, parijata the celestial tree, Surabhi the cow of plenty, airavata a white elephant, dhanus a mighty bow, sankha a conch shell, and halahala a poison which is making everyone die which it comes into contact with. An appeal is then made to Shiva who drinks the poison and his throat turns blue and he becomes known as Neelkanth or “the Blue-throated One.” Having a blue throat is akin to the bluing of the stem when pinched, which happened to all species of psilocybin mushrooms. Crowley, in his Secret Drugs of Buddhism, brings to light the Buddhist retelling of this story, a text called Dri.Med. Zhal.Ph'reng (The Immaculate Crystal Garland), where it describes the monster Rahu stealing the amrita and Vajrapani's thunderbolt striking him down. The Immaculate Crystal Garland was one of the very first Buddhists texts to be translated into English. (19) At one time, evil demons unleashed the hālāhala poison, causing illness and death to mankind. The Buddhas were concerned and met on Mount Meru and agreed that Amrita, the elixir of immortality would be the only antidote for the poison. The problem was that it was at the bottom of the ocean and had to be churned using Mount Meru as a churning stick, which would cause the water of life to rise to the surface. When the Amrita surfaced, it was given to the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi for safekeeping, until the time they could deliver it to all living beings. (It’s good to keep this Mount Meru in mind because it becomes a part of the focus of the next few paragraphs and ties into Mt Kailash, where Hanuman journeyed for the magic healing herb.) However, the evil Rāhu, an asura, overheard of the discovery of amrita, and snatched the elixir, then as soon as Vajrapāṇi’s back was turned, Rāhu drank the entire world’s supply of the elixir of immortality. Afterwards, he replaced the stolen amṛita with his own urine and fled away. When Vajrapāṇi discovered the amrita was missing, he set out to find him and upon finding Rāhu, attacked him with his thunderbolt [i.e. vajra). Since Rahu had drunken Amrita he could not die. The blood which then dripped from his wounds landed on the earth, causing numerous medicinal herbs to spring up wherever it touched the soil. |
The Buddhas then had to decide upon how to dispose of Rāhu’s urine. The amrita he drank somehow was also mixed with hālāhala poison so it could not just be poured out or it would endanger all the living creatures, so they decided that Vajrapāṇi should drink it, in punishment for allowing the amrita to be stolen in the first place. As he drank Rāhu’s urine, Vajrapāṇi’s golden complexion was transformed by the effects of the poison to dark blue and his jeweled ornaments – necklaces, bangles, ankle-bracelets and so on, all turned into snakes and he was surrounded in an aura of blazing fire. (20) This mythology concerning the blood dripping on the ground and causing medicinal herbs to grow has led to several spinoffs including the story of Medusa’s blood dripping on the ground creating the winged horse Pegasus and the golden giant Chrysaor (he who holds a golden sword) after she was beheaded by Perseus. (21) In Northern Eurasia, the trees associated with amanita muscaria, birch and conifers, grow at sea level, but in India they only grow at the 8,000-16,000 ft. level. The required height elevation places the growth of amanitas in India around the area of the Himalayas, bringing us to two very special mountains. (22) Tirthankara, in Jainism, is a savior and spiritual teacher of the dharma (righteous path). The tirtha refers to a passage through the place between death and rebirth, the saṃsāra. The Digambara sect of Jainism has a slightly patriarchal leaning, in that they believe a woman can only attain the 16th heaven and reach liberation by being reborn as a man. They may not take taken notice though of the fact that Tirthankara is a hermaphrodite in all her/his depictions such as the statute from Madhya Pradesh c. 600-700 AD (28k), or the Jain sandstone carving from 1150 AD (28i), or others as well (28h), all of which have mushrooms atop their heads.    M: (28i) Jain Sandstone Carving of Tirthankara c.. 1150 AD; R: (28h) Tirthankara (19)http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com /en/index.php/Amrita (20) Secret Drugs of Buddhism, p. 103-105 (21) ibid, p. XVI (22) Soma, Wasson, p. 23 |
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