Kyoto, Japan.
The antipodal point of Porto Alegre.
Kyoto is an old capital in Japan, from 8th to 19th century. The city was built in a basin surrounded by mountains to prevent from evil forces.
Honestly speaking, it is not comfortable to live there. It is hot in summer. It is cold in winter.
8th June 2020 in Christian Era, or 2563 in Buddhist Era, which means when Buddha was liberated to Nirvana. The ending is the beginning.
Kyoto District Court is built facing the south gate of the Kyoto Imperial Palace.
Although it was June, the temperature was over 30℃.
I entered the court.
It is prohibited to record in the court.
The judge declared the sitting of the court.
He was an older gentleman.
The prosecutor made the opening statement.
She was a young, up-and-coming prosecutor.
"The defendant had a tea ceremony in Kyoto. The tea that the defendant made was not the tea of Camellia sinensis, but the tea of Acacia confusa and Mimosa tenuiflora, so-called ayahuasca analog. This tea is an aqueous solution of 3, 2, dimethylamino, ethyl, indol, or DMT. Violation of Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act, Article 66, Paragraphs 1, 2, Article 67, Paragraph 2, and Article 27, Paragraph 1."
The lawyer made a statement of opinion.
He was a young, up-and-coming lawyer.
"The prosecutor claimed that The tea made from Acacia confusa and Mimosa tenuiflora is an aqueous solution of the DMT. However, The tea is plants or the parts of the plants, which is excluded from the definition of narcotics in Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act, Appendix 1., No. 76, b.
If an aqueous solution containing DMT is controlled narcotics, aqueous solutions of plant containing DMT, such as hagi tea, orange juice, or even human body fluid are also controlled narcotics. It must be exceedingly irrational interpretation of the law. It is against the principle of clarity and against nulla poena sine lege of Article 31 of the Constitution when only The Tea made by the defendant is a controlled substance. Therefore, it is unconstitutional to punish the defendant.
DMT is internationally controlled under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971[*1]. And Japanese government has ratified this international Convention. Also, when Santo Daime filed a lawsuit in the Netherlands in 2001, the International Narcotics Control Board expressed the view that no plants or other natural materials containing DMT were controlled under the 1971 Convention, consequently, preparations, for example decoctions made of these plants, including ayahuasca were not under international control[*2]. If the prosecutor thinks that this view of INCB has to be changed, she has to provide a basis.
The tea made by the defendant has the same properties as ayahuasca tea, which is used for religious ceremonies by the indigenous people of the Amazon, and ayahuasca tea is a national heritage of the Republic of Peru. Even if The tea made by the defendant is an illegal substance, The Tea ceremony is a serious "one-time-one-meet" religious ritual. This is a legitimate act stipulated in Article 35 of the Penal Code, and illegality is blocked."
Next, the judge asked the defendant to dismiss the charge.
"You have the right to remain silent. You have the right not to say what you do not want. However, everything you say here will be kept as the record of the trial. Do you understand it?"
"Yes, I do understand it."
And then, the defendant smiled and stood up. He seemed like an otaku geek from a manga comic world, rather than a boss of yakuza mafia dealing drugs.
I do admit that I made The Tea. I do admit that I had The Tea ceremony. However, I disaffirm that The Tea is controlled substances in the Act.
Ayahuasca Tea has been traditionally used among indigenous shamans in South America. Drinking The Tea is an art of actively controlling altered states of consciousness, calling spirits, re-recognizing the worldview, and healing mental disorder.
In Buddhism, to live itself is an illusion, and all sufferings of our life are caused from this illusion. However, I was liberated from the illusion by drinking The Tea.
The one who are liberated wants to liberate others. This is the reason why I had The Tea ceremony.
One seed grows into one plant, and produces ten flowers in spring, and drops ten seeds in fall. Ten seeds grow into ten plants. Ten plants produce a hundred flowers in the next spring and drop a hundred of seeds in the next fall.
This is the "jihi"[*3] of bodhisattva...
"Stop." The judge said.
The clerk stopped writing the record.
The judge asked "What is bodhi... ? Is it Buddhist term? You must speak in Japanese here. Everything you said in the court must be recorded in Japanese"
jihi of bosatsu.
Um...I just had a tea ceremony.
No one can judge The Tea.
My Buddha! Do not judge The Tea? I asked myself - so that The Tea will not judge us?[*4] [Please translate to: Meu Buda! Não julgue O Chá? Eu me perguntei - para que O Chá não o julgue.]
Bodhisattva in Sanskrit, or bosatsu in Japanese, as far as I understand, is a person who already knows how to attain enlightenment by himself, and shares how to attain enlightenment.
It was a month ago that I heard about this incident from a graduate student. For the court-assigned lawyer, this is a completely unprecedented case. In the first place, he seems to be confused about what "ayahuasca" tea is.
I have never expected such an incident happened in Japan.
I knew that some branches of União do Vegital and Santo Daime were under trials in Western countries. They believed that their work [trabalho] is serious sacrament. In some countries and states, the courts judged their activities are legal from the viewpoint of freedom of religion.
However, this is Japan. A bodhisattva descended in Kyoto in the 21st century? The self-proclaimed "bodhisattva" insisted that The Tea ceremony of ayahuasca is a practice of compassion of bodhisattva, right in front of me.
The tea ceremony culminated by Sen-no-Rikyū is the representation of the idea of Zen, Mahayana Buddhism. As new reformations of Christianity were born from the Ayahuasca Tea ceremony in Brazil, it is not surprising that a new reformations of Buddhism is born from Ayahuasca Tea ceremony in Japan.
The judge declared the rising of the court.
The defendant was handcuffed and taken out of court.
Evaṃ mayā śrutaṃ - Thus have I heard.
30-09-2020/2563 (C) Tatsu Hirukawa
04-10-2020/2563 Revised.
*1:INCB Psychotropics - 1971 Convention
*2:See http://www.moishv.com/works/helpcenter-iceers-org/docs/legalSupport/INCB_Fax_Ayahuasca_Dutch_Health_Ministry.pdf
*3:「Jihi (慈悲) is a Buddhist term. Jihi is usually translated to "compassion" in English. Con+passion literally means to share displeasure with others. But, in Buddhism, ji+hi (maitrī + karunā in Sankkrit) means to share both pleasure + unpleasure.
*4:This is a metaphorical use of well-known phrase of Matthew (7: 1). This is not an intentional misunderstanding of the words of the Bible. The quotation is based on the original Greek text by "Novum Testamentum Graece: Nestle Aland 28th Revised Ed. Of the Greek New Testament, Standard Edition".
