Buddhism Blog Assignment #1

            This video clip I found at YouTube.com is a spoof of a Buddhist practitioner talking about meditation. In this clip, the lady talks about a pill called Narcophrenokenosisallogos, which will provide one with instant meditation. It will empty all of the thoughts from one’s mind so they can achieve instant enlightenment. This exemplifies the stereotype that people of Western civilization think a pill can cure or fix anything.

            This stereotype is definitely a negative and has lead to many problems in our society. Many people think that they can do whatever they want now and use pills to fix whatever issues accompany these choices as a result of their decisions. For example, if you decide to eat fast food every day, there is a pill that will help you lose weight. Or, if you need to stay up all night and study for an exam, you can just take a pill that will make you not be tired anymore. Not only do most of these pills not do what they claim to, like the pill in the video, but some do more harm to our bodies than good.

            In the video, Narcophrenokenosisallogos has side effects that include internal bleeding, cancer, AIDS, and/or explosive diarrhea; and that’s just to name a few of them. Yes, this is a fictional pill, but the real pills that people are taking to treat one disease or ailment sometimes come with multiple side effects. Sometimes these side effects can be worse than what they are actually taking the pill to treat. As for how this relates to Brad Warner and “Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped In Chocolate”, when he found Buddhism, he was actually looking for answers in his life related to the fact that he could die a horrible early death due to Huntington’s disease (page 4).

            Early on in the book Warner makes reference to many other forms of Buddhism and he says, “Ain’t no such thing as instant enlightenment” (page 13). Yet this pill Narcophrenokenosisallogos claims that by taking it one can achieve instant enlightenment. All you have to do is take one of their pills every 15 minutes to clear your mind. Warner also says, “No miracle drug. No miracle process. Nothing. Imagining you could get enlightenment quickly would be like imagining you could do 15 minutes of sit-ups and get a bod like one of the chicks from America’s Top Model” (page 28). We have learned that one cannot reach liberation in this manner; it’s a process that that can take life times to achieve.

            Warner also makes reference to a Buddhism movement in America that brought back an idea of taking psychedelic drugs. They claimed that taking a dose of the drug could achieve what Buddhists spent years trying to achieve (page 26). This is once again another example of how Western Culture believes that drugs (i.e. a pill) can help a person cure or achieve anything. Warner disagrees with these movements and even says, “Buddhism in America sounded like a complete catastrophe” (pg. 26). Warner is by no means your stereotypical Zen Buddhist and he is a firm believer that all of those instant or rapid approaches to enlightenment are nothing more than a rip off.