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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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 Drug addicts vomit out their ills in Thai monastery 
#6955881 - 05/23/07 08:22 AM (5 years, 6 days ago) |
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Drug addicts vomit out their ills in Thai monastery
May 23, 2007 - Scientific American
 THAM KRABOK, Thailand (Reuters) - An obscure Buddhist monastery in central Thailand that advocates a secret herbal potion and ritual vomiting for drug addicts has become a final source of hope for thousands of Thais and Westerners. Since its foundation in 1959, Wat Tham Krabok, 140 km (85 miles) north of Bangkok, has put nearly 100,000 addicts through its "cold turkey" detox program and given them a grounding in meditation to help them keep on the straight and narrow. The treatment -- a far cry from the picture postcard beaches, jungle trekking and wild nightlife that draw millions of visitors to Thailand each year -- is not for the faint-hearted.
Dressed in red hospital-style overalls, patients have to stay for a minimum of 10 days, during which they are subject to a strict regimen of leaf-sweeping, steam baths, herbal medication and group vomiting.
"Invariably, the people who end up here come as a last resort," said Phra Hans, a Swiss psychologist who became a Buddhist monk -- with the title "Phra" -- after visiting Tham Krabok seven years ago.
"Everybody who comes here must come as a warrior, ready to fight for their life."
MAGIC POTION
Sitting in the shadow of an imposing limestone crag, the monastery was founded in the late 1950s by a group of monks who decided to renounce all earthly pleasures and live out the rest of their days in a cave.
However, the military rulers of the day, keen to rid the capital of its opium dens, encouraged them to accept a large plot of land in return for taking care of the drug addicts the army was booting out of Bangkok.
Using a complex herbal medicine whose ingredients were revealed to the aunt of one of the monks in a dream, the monastery started treating its first opium addicts in 1959.
To this day, the 100-odd ingredients of the thick, dark potion that lies at the centre of the detox program remain a secret known only to Tham Krabok's abbot and medicine monk.
"I've no idea what's in it. There must be some sort of active ingredient, but the only thing I know for sure is it's disgusting," said Patrick, a British health worker who has spent three months at the wat overcoming alcohol and cocaine addiction.
According to Phra Hans, the potion draws toxins out of the patient's body and into the stomach. The quickest way to get the toxins out of the stomach is for the patient to drink large quantities of water and then vomit.
In what is now a well-choreographed ceremony, patients sit cross legged and side-by-side in front of a long open drain. Accompanied by drums and chanting they then try to drink a bucket of water before sticking their fingers down their throats.
SACRED VOWS
Along with the myths surrounding its foundation and herbal cocktail are varying accounts of the long-term success rates of the treatment.
However, Prah Hans said reports of relapse rates as lows as 30 percent -- levels unheard of in Western drug addiction therapy -- are unverifiable.
"We really can't say. Full recovery takes five years or more, and we just don't have the resources to keep track of patients. We can't follow them," he said. "Cleaning out the body is only five percent; the other 95 percent is in the mind."
Regardless of their religious or ethnic backgrounds -- 80 percent of patients are Thai Buddhists, the rest foreigners of all denominations from across the globe -- are given a Buddhist "sacca," or vow, in which they swear never to touch drugs or alcohol again.
For some former addicts, the six-word Thai phrase does work in warding off temptation.
"Every time I get that little voice in my head and think I'm getting into trouble, I just close my eyes and say the words in Thai, and I'm OK," said Adam, a Londoner who turned to Tham Krabok after 17 years of trying and failing to beat heroin and crack addiction in Western rehab clinics.
"My mind used to race at 1,000 mph and I couldn't slow down. I couldn't work, couldn't read books. But then I tried the meditation and felt really calm," he said. "It's very different to Western rehab."
The wat has its detractors, not least British rock star and celebrity junkie Pete Doherty, whose departure after only three days led to tabloid newspapers depicting the wat as a prison camp in which patients were beaten with bamboo poles.
Phra Hans denied any such claims.
"Pete Doherty ran away because he wasn't ready. It was a dreadful episode. We can't lock people away or hold them against their will because that is a violation of human rights," he said.
"We only want people who are ready and who are serious about getting clean."
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Flop Johnson
chillin out maxin', relaxin'
Registered: 09/22/05
Posts: 12,893
Loc: TX
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Re: Drug addicts vomit out their ills in Thai monastery [Re: veggie]
#6956011 - 05/23/07 08:52 AM (5 years, 6 days ago) |
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Thats the reason I can't fully accept Buddhism, or really most religions, no drugs wtf?
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Phish_Dude
steppin' into yesterday
Registered: 10/16/06
Posts: 5,745
Loc: secret tweeker pad
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Re: Drug addicts vomit out their ills in Thai monastery [Re: Flop Johnson]
#6956908 - 05/23/07 12:47 PM (5 years, 6 days ago) |
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i think i saw this on an episode of wildboyz once.
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Ego Death
Justadropofwaterinanendlesssea
Registered: 04/27/03
Posts: 10,447
Loc: The War Machine
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Re: Drug addicts vomit out their ills in Thai monastery [Re: Flop Johnson]
#6960143 - 05/24/07 03:43 AM (5 years, 5 days ago) |
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Because anything you can do with drugs you can do by learning to control your mind.
A buddhist doesn't need drugs. They can produce a more intense experiences with meditation etc
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 ExplosiveMango
HallucinogenusDigitallus
Registered: 07/12/05
Posts: 3,222
Last seen: 2 years, 6 months
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Re: Drug addicts vomit out their ills in Thai monastery [Re: Flop Johnson]
#6960708 - 05/24/07 08:18 AM (5 years, 5 days ago) |
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Quote:
MoeRon said:
Thats the reason I can't fully accept Buddhism, or really most religions, no drugs wtf?
Buddhism is nothing like most religions... they don't restrict drugs because they are evil, they aim to free you from the imprisonment of your animal impulses... It's not about punishment like most monotheism's
The stance of Buddhists on psychedelics is quite variable (psychedelics are not just an indulgence)... but the psychic goals of Buddhists are often quite similar to the goals of shamanistic psychedelic experience.
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Know your self.
Know your substance.
Know your source.
The most distorted perspective possible is the perspective that yours is not distorted.
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Kodos
I come in thespirit ofhostility
Registered: 12/24/04
Posts: 154
Loc: Rigel VII
Last seen: 11 months, 7 days
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Re: Drug addicts vomit out their ills in Thai monastery [Re: ExplosiveMango]
#6960843 - 05/24/07 08:46 AM (5 years, 5 days ago) |
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Quote:
Ego Death said:
Because anything you can do with drugs you can do by learning to control your mind.
A buddhist doesn't need drugs. They can produce a more intense experiences with meditation etc
In the Alex Grey book Transfiguration, in the interview with Ken Wilber, Ken explains this. one way he explained it was that a buddhist once described taking a psychedelic as 'double samsara'. in this context samsara refers to the illusion of the material world when compared to the true reality of transitoriness and nothingness. that makes it pretty easy to understand I think, they want to meditatively get in touch with the true nature of reality on their own, with nothing impeding the mind. I think psychedelics are really good for commoners (especially westerners) to try to experience and understand the confusing language buddhists use, but for intense practice like being a monk one needs to become un attached to everything, including chemicals like these.
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