Kyoto, Japan - the antipodal point of Porto Alegre.
20th July 2020 in the Christian Era, 2563 in Buddhist Era.
Kyoto District Court.
Japan is midsummer. Kyoto is so hot.
It is prohibited to record there.
The judge declared the sitting of the court.
The prosecutor read the charges.
"The defendant had a tea ceremony in Kyoto. The Police Research Institute analyzed the defendant's urine collected on 3rd. March, six days after the tea ceremony. As a result of chromatography, and 3-(2- { dimethylamino } ethyl ) indole alias DMT, which is a controlled substance in the Act, was detected. I bring criminal charges against the defendant for violating Narcotic and Psychotropics Control Act."
"Six days after?" I asked myself. "It is incredibly ridiculous!"
Next, the judge offered the defendant a plea.
"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 stood up and smiled.
In the midst of all this confusion, he remained as cool as a cucumber.
I agree that I had The Tea [O Chá] ceremony. However, as I insisted at the first trial, I disaffirm that The Tea [O Chá] is substance controlled by the Act.
I do not know whether detected DMTs in my urine, were from The Tea [O Chá] or from my brain.
One day, I was suddenly aware that DMTs were synthesizing in my brain when I was sitting[*1].I do not have any devices like chromatography to detect molecules. But I can taste DMTs in my brain by myself.
Tea and Zen are of one taste[*2]. How can I discriminate them?
The prosecutor looked irritated. I supposed she did not understand what endogenous DMT is, or she may have been afraid to be dismissed if she as the government employee possessed an illegal drug in her brain.
If any of you [vocês] have never synthesized DMT in your own brain, then go ahead and throw the first stone at the defendant[*3] - If I were the judge, I would say this.
The judge declared the rising of the court.
Evaṃ mayā śrūtaṃ - Thus have I heard.
This essay is based on an actual case.
Copyright 29-09 2020/2563 (C) Tatsu Hirukawa
*1:See Barker (2019). N, N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), an Endogenous Hallucinogen: Past, Present, and Future Research to Determine Its Role and Function.
*2:「茶禅一味 (Cha Zen Ichi Mi)」村田珠光 (Jukō Murata), 1423–1502 (Japan).
*3:John 8:7. This is a metaphorical use of well-known phrase in the Bible. 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". The same applies below.
