Mushrooms may cause big, flashy feelings, but they only change your body for a while; real enlightenment comes from quietly watching within, not from taking something.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Even though I did not understand what was happening, I have had enlightening experiences through the use of hallucinogenic drugs. I know that lsd is false, but what is, if any, the truth about mushrooms?
Lao Tzu says, "The journey of ten thousand miles starts in the first step." The first step is a great moment. Just thing: the larva becomes the caterpillar... a great moment, because the larva was static, and the caterpillar moves, crawls. The caterpillar is not yet a butterfly. It knows nothing of flying, it knows nothing of flowers, it is not yet a winged thing, but the journey has started. The journey of ten thousand miles -- the first step has been taken. it has started crawling. If crawling is possible, then one day flying will also be possible. The larva cannot become the butterfly, only the caterpillar can become the butterfly. The worldly man cannot arrive in his being, only a sannyasin can arrive. The sannyasin is between the larva and the butterfly, the link. So a sannyasin is both the beginning of a journey and a process; it…
Osho: Well, when you say it is a mystery, then it cannot be solved and if it can be solved then it will not be a mystery. It is a mystery. And there is no mission because in a mystery there can be no mission. There can be no purpose in a mystery. There can just be a playfulness, leela. So, this whole existence is just a 'playfulness' of the energy that which is of the existential energy. It is just a play of it--this whole creation. And play means something which is purposeless, every act is the achievement. So, life has no mission because living itself is the achievement. You live in many ways--that too is the outflow of energy--this purposeless Cosmic Play. It is purposeless, that is why it is a mystery.
In experimenting with lsd I have experienced states which seem to be similar to descriptions I have read of samadhi. I could feel my kundalini rising and my chakras opening up. I felt a oneness with the whole cosmos. Were these genuine experiences of samadhi? Is permanent self-realization possible through the use of lsd? Is there any harm in using lsd as an aid to meditation?
I am not saying that there is no such thing as kundalini or chakras. I am not saying that no experiences happen; there are experiences but you must not know about them beforehand, otherwise you will project them. You must be completely unknowing, you must be ignorant: that is the basic condition to proceed further. Each thing must be known and experienced directly; it must not be taken for granted. Information should not be confused with knowledge. So throw away all information. Cease to know things and proceed as if in a vacuum, proceed in ignorance. You don't know, so everything will be a surprise. Everything must be a surprise. If it is not a surprise, if you say, "Yes, I have known this before, it has happened before," then you have not moved into the unknown, you have not moved into meditation. There is a great possibility of self-delusion.…
Beloved Osho, many people are experimenting with the drug ecstasy. I heard you say once that a lie is sweet in the beginning and bitter in the end. And truth is bitter in the beginning and sweet in the end. I have been meditating, but I don't have the experiences people report from the drug ecstasy. Is the drug like the lie and meditation, the truth? -- or am I missing something that could really help me?
Ecstasy can create a chemical change for the time being. It can make you feel a great well-being, more intensity in life, more color in the world. But this is only going to last for few hours and then you will again be back with a thump on the ground, and now life will look even more miserable, because now you have something to compare it with. Drugs like Ecstasy cannot reach your consciousness. They can only reach your mind. They have nothing parallel to meditation. Meditation reaches your consciousness. It is a state of no-mind. And drugs like Ecstasy reach only to the mind, and give you a euphoria, beautiful dreams, fantasies which appear to be real. So when people tell you that they have experienced so many beautiful things, you feel sad. You have been meditating and you have not felt anything and these people are feeling things…
Question: OUR BELOVED MASTER, HAKUIN SAID: THE STUDY OF ZEN IS LIKE DRILLING WOOD TO GET FIRE. THE WISEST COURSE IS TO FORGE STRAIGHT AHEAD WITHOUT STOPPING. IF YOU REST AT THE FIRST SIGN OF HEAT, AND THEN AGAIN AS SOON AS THE FIRST WISP OF SMOKE ARISES, EVEN THOUGH YOU DRILL FOR THREE ASAMKHYEYE KALPAS, YOU WILL NEVER SEE A SPARK OF FIRE. MY NATIVE PLACE IS CLOSE TO THE SEASHORE, BARELY A FEW HUNDRED PACES FROM THE BEACH. SUPPOSE A MAN OF MY VILLAGE IS CONCERNED BECAUSE HE DOES NOT KNOW THE FLAVOR OF SEA WATER, AND WANTS TO GO AND TASTE IT FOR HIMSELF. IF HE TURNS BACK AFTER HAVING TAKEN ONLY A FEW STEPS, OR EVEN IF HE RETURNS AFTER HAVING TAKEN A HUNDRED STEPS, IN EITHER CASE WHEN WILL HE EVER KNOW THE OCEAN'S BITTER, SALTY TASTE?