A Higher Authority

Check out how cannabis has been a common denominator with many religions

By Jasen T. Davis

Critics of cannabis forget that throughout history the plant has been an essential component of many religious practices around the world. From Japan to Jamaica to India, people from a broad selection of spiritual beliefs have used cannabis for prayers and ceremonies, long before a handful of politicians made something so natural so illegal.

TAOISM

This ancient religion, often symbolized by a yin-yang symbol, counsels going with the flow of the Tao, or universe (for lack of a more enlightened description) rather than improving upon something that is already perfect within nature. Taoist religious texts describe the use of cannabis in ritual incense burners to communicate with spirits and to understand one’s own soul.

HINDUISM

Hinduism’s most revered texts, dating back to 3,000 B.C., describe the use of cannabis for purposes of religious devotion and spiritual enlightenment. Whether it’s bhang, ganja (a term that came from India’s Ganges River) or hashish, it’s smoked, eaten or burned as an offering to the god Shiva, who supposedly created cannabis from his own body to help grant the other gods in the Hindu pantheon immortality.

SHINTO

A religion fromJapan, Shinto consists of many different rituals and spiritual beliefs, based on the idea that everything in nature has a spirit, or kami. Proper reverence of these spirits brings harmony to life and society. Since ancient times, Shinto priests have burned hemp to bless marriages, attract good fortune and drive away evil spirits.

BUDDHISM

Since 5 B.C., adherents of this faith throughout China, India and Tibet utilized cannabis for rituals, initiations and to aid in meditation. Many Buddhist priests consider it holy, and the Buddha himself supposedly consumed the plant for six years before attaining spiritual enlightenment so that others might discover similar truths, and become enlightened themselves.

RASTAFARIANISM

Founded in Jamaica during the ’30s, Rastafarians believe that cannabis is the Tree of Life mentioned in the Bible. Adherents to the faith use the plant as part of their Bible study, prayers, meditation and scriptural discussions. According to Rastafarians, cannabis is a gift from Jah (God) to aid humanity in understanding the deepest spiritual truths of existence.

JUDAISM

The Torah, one of Judaism’s most sacred texts, teaches that cannabis is the prime ingredient in a holy oil once used for blessings and rituals inside sacred temples, according to one theory. Tens of thousands of followers would gather inside the Temple of Solomon during ancient times to inhale smoke from incense burners full of kanobosom (cannabis) as part of their prayers of devotion to Jehovah.

SUFI ISLAM

Sufism is a mystical approach to Islam that has been defined by classical scholars as “a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God.” Haydar, the Persian founder of the Sufis, was said to have discovered hashish during 1155 AD and passed the secret on to his fellow believers, teaching that it was a blessing from Allah.

EUROPEAN PAGANISM

Ancient Germans revered cannabis as a gift from Freya, the Norse goddess of love and fertility. Worshippers smoked the plant during her holidays, believing that by ingesting cannabis they could become one with the divine while they were, ahem, propagating the species.

Holy Smoke

All you have to do is grab your nearest Bible to find one of the most oft-cited passages that marijuana enthusiasts cite as proof that God meant for us to enjoy cannabis. And it’s right up in front, in the Book of Genesis: “Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.” Over in the Book of Ezekiel, you can also find this passage: “I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.” What would Jesus do? Well, apparently, he’d medicate!