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STEPPING ON HOLY TOKS + 297 professionals at the Nyingma Institute, which had been established by a Tibetan Buddhist lama in the hills of Berkeley, California. During this course we learned the basic principles and practices of Buddhist psy- chology. It was here that I first learned about the Abhidharma, the Bud- dhist system of psychology. Abhidharma roughly translates into "catalog of mental states." There are hundreds oi Abhidharma texts, but the Nyingma lama was interested in sharing with us only the most basic principles. One fundamental tenet was that the normal flow of personal experi- ence actually was a smooth synthesis of several component parts. These facets are called the skandhas, or "heaps," the five "things" that make up our conscious state: form, feeling, perception, consciousness, and habitual tendencies. We spent days discussing each of these until we developed a consensus definition with which we felt comfortable and could express in familiar Western terms. Another important point was the possibility of, and methods for, dis- solving the glue that held these skandhas together. By deconstructing, as it were, the facade of our sense of self, Buddhists believe we can access deeper layers of reality, compassion, love, and wisdom. There was a se- quence of stages in that process, and a knowledgeable teacher could help the meditator recognize and progress through those steps. Buddhism had refined these techniques over millennia, and millions of practitioners had verified and validated these methods and their results. While these meditations were more elaborate and complicated than "just sitting," they were fascinating, and they produced the promised re- sults. I needed to write a scientific article on my summer experience, and lused that opportunity to publish a description of the Abhidharma system and some of my own meditative experiences. Learning about Abhidharma also got me thinking about its usefulness in measuring psychedelic states.’ Upon graduating from medical school, I returned to California for psychi- atric training. There, in Sacramento, I helped establish and administer a monastery-affiliated meditation group that met weekly and sponsored re- treats led by monks. For years the group met in my house, and I had many