tea as soma (elixir)

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Bodhidharma with tea plant.

Visionary Herbalism and Immortality

Miraculous and holy plants can be traced to the heart of many ancient religionsand cultures. The earliest written saga, the Epic of Gilgamesh, climaxes with afrantic, thwarted attempt to secure a plant that will conquer death. The mysteriousbrews of the ancients Greeks such as the kykeonof Eleusis, or the molyofHomeric myths wove visionary narratives of mans often precarious role in naturearound supernatural plants. The ritual haomaof the Indo-Iranians or Somaof theVedas participates in the same quests that motivated Chinese emperors todispatch envoys to Japan in search for the plant of immortality. Daoist and Vedicalchemists sought powerful herbs and fungi from remote regions for their elixirs.The use of magic, entheogenic, or otherwise psychoactive plants can thus be saidto be at the core of many mystery traditions from Greece to India.

Beyond the psycho-sexual-drug-yoga that was so common in the various Tantricsects and shamans of Asia was the slightly anomalous idea, (perhaps imported vianomadic Indo-European tribes) of a plant that was what Joseph Needhamdescribed as a passport to heaven. To fully understand the context someconcepts must be introduced that bring the discussion far afield. Alchemy, a blendof science and art, poses difficult questions in even in the simplest matters and nosingle definition can properly suffice as to what the goals, methods and
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cosmological impact consisted. For example, when cupellation was well known, inwhat way was alchemical gold actually understood in its own specific context, orin different specific contexts? (see the works of Joseph Needham particularlyvolume 5 as cited below). The question is "relatable" here because alchemicalelixirs and powders themselves where thought to possibly produce immortality. But

can the various terms scholars loosely translate as immortality really be definedwith any certainty in any given environment? Is it a state of enlightenment,achievement of the Dao a state of mind or was it understood, by adepts, as literaleverlasting life? Then again, is that everlasting life understood in a corporeal senseor more in line with the modern Christian notions of a heaven after death? Thehopelessly muddled semantics of imported ideas and linguistic expressions is byno means constant moving through the ancient world and underneath the variouscultural veneers there is little consensus. It may be these subtleties that are theroot of many sectarian and doctrinal discords.

Prior to Persian influences in later passages, the Old Testament is startling in its

lack of conception of an afterlife beyond vague notions of Sheol. There is neitherpromise of heaven nor threat of hell. Covenants are contracted with the promise ofdescendants and material goods. The Christian notion of immortality is non-corporeal and decidedly deferred until after death, except for such Old Testamentexceptions of Elijah and Enoch. The notions of Greek immortality is bound up withhero cults and mystery traditions that return to magical plants, elixirs or nectars ofthe earth such as the ambrosia which is synonymous with the Sanskrit Amrita,literally without death. But it is still unclear how the adepts understood theseconcepts in any real sense. Would without death imply the same to a priest inGreece as it would to an alchemist in India or nomadic shaman in Asia? Amritafollows an ancient heritage of alchemical arts and magical herbs back to the Soma

plant itself, but as the adepts passed away in physical form the deathlessnessmust have be seen as spiritual.Beyond this, particularly in the Indian and Asiancontexts, immortality may have been achieved by cognizing the mind-only basisof existence which neither begins nor ends. Immortality, enlightenment and nirvanareconcile in the ineffable profundity of such a doctrine. Bodhidharmas fewsurviving works while profound in pointing to the ultimate emptiness doesnt denysuch things as demons nor the punishments of many hells, which may have creptinto Buddhism through Persian influences as well.Some of have suggested,including Chinese contemorary with him, that Bodhidharma himself may have beenPersian.

Defining immortality for anyone sect or school would be daunting so there is littlehope for a broad consensus on the idea as it evolved. There would be a profaneunderstanding of the myths and alchemical lore despite adepts cautioningprofusely to avoid literal interpretations. This would tend to an understanding of theterm immortality in terms of eternal youth or simply never dying. Such notionswould be complicated by intense ascetic practices that are still practiced to thisday. These include burying oneself alive in extreme sensory deprivation situationsfor prolonged periods of time that would seem as if a person was suddenly born


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again or raised from the dead. Then there is a quasi -physical immortality that isnon-corporeal or trans-corporeal. Examples blend with legends in cases of suddendeath from an elixir or tonic, or even the gradual wasting away such as frommercury-laced potions, which were often seen by some as confirmation of progressor eminent success. Immortality can be seen, even briefly, to be rather more

complicated than the term first appears.

The adepts of all alchemical traditions fairly plead with their readers that theingredients and techniques listed are not to be understood literally or in a mundanesense. This suggests a more spiritual nature to the understanding of the concept,with a nod towards "convenient designations," that are fraught with the theologicaland cultural taints. What was the goal of the wise, and better yet, what how is thisgoal of immortality to be understood as it became a relatively cohesive system thatarose from indigenous shamanism, metallurgical (proto-alchemical) guilds andproto-Tantra to various schools of esoteric Buddhism and Daoism? Core themesare retained through the contact with Islamic and eventually European Christian

mystics, all of whom cloak alchemical metaphors in the garments of their ownfaiths. The sorting out of the primary influence is difficult and will hopefully befleshed out in another paper.

One hypothesis that is slowly gaining academic acceptance is that visionary plantsare at the root of much of these myths. The research of enthnobotanists andethnomycologists such as Carl Ruck and Gordon Wasson systematically exploredthe ritual plant use of various mystery traditions. There most persuasive argumentsunlock long disputed historical puzzles as the identification of various magicalplants found in the myths and scriptures of Greece, Persia and India. Theidentification of the active ingredient in the kykeonthat was so profoundly praised

by all initiates and enshrined in the myths reveals the poetic life-giving grain with itssecret psychedelic infection of ergot. The Vedic Soma, fought for by gods andexclusively used by the Brahmin caste, was suggested to be the Amanita muscariamushroom that invokes a visionary state.

The implications are profound in terms of philosophy and cosmology if the secretsof the ancients were the result of ingesting psychoactive plants. Theirexperiences of entities and other worlds, of ecstasy and terror, would literally makethese plants or mushrooms, magic. The concept of tasting of the fruit ofimmortality, understood in the sense of having traveled like the shaman into theotherworld, is one of participating in the realm of the gods and by doing so the

adept is transformed. Reality is split apart to reveal an occult world just below thesurface populated by shape-shifting beings from magical landscapes. Theseconcepts simply become more subtle in the profound grasp ofdhyana/chan/son/zen(or the Daoist sitting in oblivion zuowang) of adepts fromIndia, China, Korea and Japan respectively. Tea is not hallucinogenic, but it iscertainly psychoactive with numerous medicinal and physiological propertiesproducing energies and sensations far beyond what a reductionist study of thechemicals and alkaloids could reveal. We lack the vocabulary for substances that


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instantly give peace, inspire poetry or transport to a dreamy landscape with asingle sip.

The candidates for the Somaplant are many, from the mentioned species ofmushroom to other more overtly hallucinogenic varieties containing psilocybin.

Other candidates include species of Lotus, Cannabis sativa, ergot, Lagochilusinebrians, as well as morning glory seeds (for their LSA alkaloids that are similar toLSD). Perhaps the three prominent candidates for Soma/Haomawould be thementioned toadstool mushroom Amanita muscaria, the Syrian Rue or Peganumharmala, and Ephedra sp. because the latter is still used by some Iranians ashaoma. Other persuasive cases have been made that Soma was electrum, golditself, a supernatural plant of mythology, or a plant that has gone extinct. Otherfrontrunners include water, honey, mead or alcohol of some kind as well asinnumerable species of herbs and plants.

Having been under the influences of rapid infusions of some 1950s Red Mark Yin-

Ji PuerhI feel justified in suggesting tea or Camellia sinensisas a possiblecandidate or substitute for Soma. With tiny orbs of qicoursing through my systemafter each sip I see a vision of the lineage of patriarchs of Esoteric Buddhism andthangkasofblue Bodhisattvas holding cups of amrita in their palm. Tea may not bethe original soma, but the reverence, ritual and perhaps the shape into which it ispressed (especially in Tibet), make it a serious candidate as a soma-substitute oramrita.


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Here the medicine Buddha sits upon what looks like an Amanita muscaria shaped
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throne. Not the gills of a mushroom behind him as well. Perhaps he is holding acup of tea there.

Tibetan Puerh Tea compressed into a mushroom shape

Tea Myths, or The Grand Plant of the Southern Regions

The discovery of the tea plant is the subject of many telling myths describing amagical origin associated with a legendary mystical figure. There are manyvariants, but the most popular center upon the divine emperor Shennong around2700 BC, one of the Three August Ones, (note first Empress Nu wa, createdhuman beings, second Fu Xi the bringer of Trigrams, third civilization). Knownsometimes as the Divine Husbandman, the Red Emperor, Yan Di or the DivineFarmer he brought a balanced civilization. One of his most beneficent feats was to

systematically classify the plants into categories as to their medicinal, edible ortoxic qualities when he observed the people eating poisonous herbs. He was saidto tea leaves, or as the book of medicine, the Shen Nong Ben Chaostates "ShenNong tasted hundreds of herbs, he encountered seventy two poisons daily, heused tea as antidote." (note In Chinese legend, Shen Nong died in Tea Hill (ChaLin) county of Hunan province.) As a God of Medicine his skill in herbalpharmacology were divinely inspired and he is said to have put tea leaves in hotwater inside an urn which brought him pleasure and a sense of purification. (other
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legends have wind blowing water on tea leaves and thus the infusion wasaccidental, perhaps it was his sanitary concerns which led him to boil water tomake it safe for consumption, the addition of herbs, etc. are a logical progression,legend One day, on a trip to a distant region, he and his army stopped to rest. Aservant began boiling water for him to drink, and a dead leaf from the wild tea bush

fell into the water. It turned a brownish color, but it was unnoticed and presented tothe emperor anyway. The emperor drank it and found it very refreshing, and cha(tea) was born.).

Some traditions have the Buddha or the Buddhist Patriarch Bodhidharma involvedin the origin of tea. Their cultivation of the awakened mind was perpetual, thoughtheir bodies would become weary from constant, sleepless mediation sessions.Bodhidharma, and less frequently Buddha, is said to have removed the eyelids toremain awake and the discarded tea lids on the earth grew into tea plants.Bodhidharma is something of an immortal as well, and he was witnessed after hisdeath traveling back to India with one sandal tied to his staff. An exhumation of his

grave proved empty expect for the other sandal. Bodhidharma is also linked withthe origins martial arts of Gong-Fu, which is also linked with the qibuilding Chinesetea art (gong-fu cha) that manifests in palpable energy sensations. Bodhidharmasmartial arts, though legendary, may actually have legitimate basis inKalarippayattu, the Indian martial arts which deals in pressure points. The southernschool, the Siddha Vaidya, recognize 108 of these points or marmas. (note ondates to Rig veda and other 108 notes securing Indian origin.) The number 108seems strongly Indian in flavor, as the footnotes demonstrate further examples,and the veneration in China for this number likely arrived with Buddhism. MostChinese tea literature will explain away the reverence for the number as indicatingthe perfect lifespan of 108 years. A crucial scripture to Chinese, Tibetan and

Japanese mind-only Mahayana Buddhism is the Lankavatara Sutra whichemphasizes the 108 steps linking to the 108 prayer beads zen priests wear aroundtheir wastes or to 108 beads of the Buddhist rosaries in all traditions. Therefore108 can be seen to be a very significantly Indian number from their astronomy toyogic/martial postures to metaphysical steps and beyond. In this context, notethat the Chinese character for tea adds up to 108:

The two strokes on top add to 20, the bottom stroke adds to 88=108.

These myths are significant as Bodhidharma is the 28th Patriarch in an
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esoteric form of Buddhism that was steeped in Indian forms of meditation, dhyanaand is said to have brought this type of Buddhism to China. Chan, or zeninJapanese, must be seen to be a particular sect, perhaps as some suggest a reformmovement, in a complex of Esoteric Mahayana Buddhism. It is outside scriptures,texts or verbal artifice and yet there is a clear esoteric lineage of transmission,

mind to mind. Chan might be seen to be the highest form or fiercest doctrinalexpression of Mahayana Buddhism that transcends all other ritual embellisments,or what are deemed in a mundane sense as tantric, as something of frivolouspreliminaries at best or otherwise as dangerous distractions.

The Tibetan Vajrayanaholds the Dzogchen (Dzog-pa Chen-po) teachings of"intrinsic or primordial awareness" as the highest of its Inner Tantras. Because ofits affinity with Chinese chan, Dzogchen, the teacher, was considered a heretic,with a result of some practicing his teachings in secret, such as the 5th Dalai Lama.The language and spirit of Dzogchen, chan and zenhave led to some to labelDzogchenTibetan zen, which despite some objections is quite justified. Tibetan

theologians point to the spontaneous nature of the enlightenment compared tothe gradual path of the monastery in defending the uniqueness of this doctrine.There are subtleties, and it serves no purpose to paint them as identical, and yetthey both express the penultimate expression of intuited truths in stark accord.But there was such a doctrinal split within chan Buddhism based on this samecontroversy of sudden verses gradual enlightenment, with the former being theearliest form traced back to Bodhidharma and back through the Patriarchs to theBuddha.

A doctrine of sudden enlightenment and context of pure mind, again usingexpedient terms, are expressed in various doctrines that in some sense can be

traced to Bodhidharma whose eyebrows legendarily produced tea bushes. Indeed,this is why most representations have him portrayed with huge, bulging eyes. Thestimulating and yet calming effects of tea became an essential part of meditationthat participated in the ancient myths of magical plants perhaps replacing morehallucinogenic or toxic alchemical somaoramritasubstitutes. Tea was evenpressed or rolled as somais linguistically linked with to press. The psychoactiveeffects of tea combined with an ascetic diet and rigorous meditation would certainlyaffect the mind, possibly producing a state of transcendentawareness/bliss/enlightenment, something like the Japanese satorithat culminatedinto a profound insight that synchronized the mundane thought process with theBuddha-mind.


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A tea roller from Shaanxi Province used to grind leaves to a powder. A persistenttrait of ceremonial Buddhist tea into Japan where powdered tea is known asmatchaand is at the center of chanoyu.

In discussing the philosophical differences of these various schools of Buddhism, ifthere are really are any below the surface, one is tempted to draw an analogy fromthe tea itself. The expression of this truth in a Buddhist context is like thepreparations of tea favored by the groups in question. The Japanese and Chinese,like the zenand chan doctrines, for the most part like their tea quite simple andunadulterated. Contrast this to the Tibetan obsession of adding rancid butter, milk,and salt to a tea that is churned with rigorous energy, not unlike the prostrations ofthe devotees and lavish embellishment/ritual of their Buddhism. (note on Tibetandangers in tea). The American tea sage David Lee Hoffman, who penetrated theChinese wilderness in search of the best teas, made it into Tibet and personally

sipped the high-grade teas with the Dalai Lama. He is one of the subjects of thesuperb documentary All in This Tea, where he informs us that the Lamas in themonasteries have the finest, aged puerhteas for their own spiritual use.

The botanical side of the equation is equally interesting in this jungle of teacreation myths and doctrinal schism within the broader Mahayana tradition. LikeTantra, the precise geographical origins of tea are unknown. Scholars have longdebated the geographical location of the mythical Oddiyanathat produced some ofthe most influential Tantric adepts. Giuseppe Tuccis speculation with the SwatValley was accepted for a time but Oddiyana is now thought to encompass a widerrange. The Tantric Goddess worship of these regions of north-western/eastern

India were associated with specific locations or pithas(literally seats of thegoddess)which range from 4 to 110 (there are other variations) depending on thesystem, are particularly linked to the north western region, thought to be Odiyyanaand the north-eastern region of Kamarupa or Assam. It is also precisely this regionthat the first wild tea plants originated.

As Mondal writes in the journal article Tea, "Camellia sinensisoriginated insoutheast Asia, specifically around the intersection of latitude 29N and longitude
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98E, the point of confluence of the lands of northeast India, north Burma,southwest China and Tibet. The plant was introduced to more than 52 countries,from this centre of origin." The long asserted theory of a dual origin of the teaplant is proven false by statistical cluster analysis studies and all appear todemonstrate a single place of origin for Camellia sinensis the area including the

northern part of Burma and Yunnan and Sichuan provinces of China. Perhaps itwas such wandering mystics, much earlier than Bodhidharma or the even morecolorful Tantric adepts, who deserve praise for the early diffusion of tea throughoutancient China. Whoever that nourished, cultivated and propagated tea and teaculture was utterly successful and by the time of the first real tea monograph, in760 AD, tea was widespread. This was written by the patron saint of tea, Lu-yuwho was born in a Chan Buddhist temple and eventually retired from the world asa scholar/recluse. There is a large void in much of the history of tea from thelegends attributed to the Emperor Shennong in 2737 BC (some versions say it wasan adviser, Tun Jan, to the legendary emperor Huangdi who recommended tea forstaying alert) despite some references to its medicinal use in the Han dynasty (206

BC220 AD) and for pleasure or social occasions in the Tang (618907 AD).

One early document is the Manual of Zhou Dynasty Rituals(Zhou li) thought to bewritten around the second century BC, which attest to religious rituals involvingtea, of the preceding eastern Zhou dynasty. Again from the utterly elegant andsatisfying book Tea of the Sages, These three uses for tea in early Chinaas anherb that promotes health, as a means to achieve heightened states of alertness,and as a beverage that, when ritually prepared, allowed communion withdivinitiessuggest the reason for continued appeal in later ages in both Chinaand Japan [emphasis added]. Teas constant domain within a sacred, often ritualcontext must be always remembered and it is retained even in the more secular

literati circles that treated it as a near sacrament in their microcosmic waysandarts.

If later examples in tea culture can serve us in deciphering the past diffusion, andby what groups, then there are telling references from which to draw. A primaryexample of such a later example is found in the dissemination of Buddhism, andtea, to Japan. As Dennis Hirota writes in the monumental work, Wind in the Pines,it was not until the Kamakura period when Zen master Eisai (1141 -1215) activelypromoted the use of powdered tea (matcha) for medicinal purposes and as astimulant during periods of meditation, that tea drinking began to spread. Eisaiwas not just a Zen master, but also the founder of the Rinzai sect, and he is said to

brought tea seeds and plants from China in 1187 and cultivating them in his templein northen Kyushu. He is said to have shared them with his friend of the Kegonsect, priest Myoe who planted them at his temple in Kyoto and both no doubtcreated the atmosphere and tea the produced chanoyu. Note, though previously abrick tea or dancha in jap, was introduced in Heian period (9 th century). Whencontacts and influence with China diminished tea culture in Japan declined as wellthough, as Tea of the Sagesnotes, it did not completely die out, but waspreserved in Buddhist templesand by the 12th century Buddhist monastic rituals


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routinely included elaborate tea rituals of whipped tea. Eisai wrote of drinking tea,not as a stimulant during meditation, but as an esoteric ritual conducive toharmonious functioning of the bodily organs. These practices, which can bedescribed almost as refined pujas, ritually offered tea to the Buddha (kucha) and,in Japan, offerings to Shinto deities as well (kencha).

Prior to this was the Tantric adept Kukai, who brought a particular esotericBuddhism (Mikkyo) to Japan and founded the Shingon sect. One of the earliest, ifnot the earliest, references to tea in Japan is found in the Kukai Hoken Hyo(Shoryoshu, volume 4) dated to 814 in the Heian period of Japan who traveled toTang China in 804. He returned with texts, mandalas, statues and, tea seeds. Buteven before this was Saicho (767822), who brought esoteric Buddhist teachingsfrom China with tea seeds and formed the Tendai sect. Some suggest that, due toclose relationships between Korean and Japanese Zen monks and the closerelationship between Korean and Chinese masters, that technical information ontea came via Korea. Whatever the specific routes of transmission, the knowledge

of tea and tea itself was always in the province of Buddhists who retained a ritualdevotion to it even in sects that disdained ritual. Sen Soshitsu, present leader ofthe Urasenke tea school of chanoyu in Japan, writes concludes and earlieroccurrence of tea in Japan Chakyo Shosetsu In 729 Emperor Shomu called onehundred priests for a reading of the Hannya Sutra; on the second day, tea wasserved which again connects tea with Buddhist liturgical ritual. More discussion onsoma/amrita in Buddhism

Korean tea addicts I have corresponded with tell of a wild Korean tea that growsbetween famous Buddhist temples and one can read of a prehistoric Whitemountain tea, Baeksan Cha, made from the leaves of a tree in the azalea family in

the highlands of Mount Baekdu in TheKorean Way of Tea. This book also recordsan interesting legend brought to Korea in the 2nd century of the Common Era thattea was introduced to Korea, not from China as might be expected, but way ofIndia in a gold and silver boat and a tea plant brought Princess Ayodhya. In Koreashe is known as Heo Hwang-ok, consort of King Suro, the first king of the littlekingdom of Garak-guk, located in south-eastern Korean peninsula. Beforemarrying the king, she took off her silk trousers and prayed to the mountain spirit.This King was mythically produced from strange eggs or balls in a golden boxwrapped in red cloth descended from heaven to the mountain peak."

Another legend, found in The Korean Way of Tea, links tea in Korea to the

foundations of its earliest Buddhist temples, Bulgap-saor Bulhui-sa, in 384 or toHwaeom-sain 544. The curious and remarkably early legend of tea from India istelling in the context of Buddhism as are the early dates for tea in Korean Buddhisttemples. Korean tea culture waxed and waned in popularity but, like Japan, it wasalways maintained in the Buddhist temples and it is Buddhist monks, such as Cho-i, who are credited with the resurgence of popularity of tea and tea cultivation inKorea in 19thcentury. The first tea ceremony in Korea is said to date from 661 AD


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which was conducted in praise of the spirit of King Suro.

The vajra, held in the hands of Korean Buddhist master Cho ui and Japanesemaster Kukai, resembles stylized mushrooms conjoined by a ball. I have seenexamples that seem to have "gills" as well as having the vulva on the stem.

Teas special relationship with Buddhist and Daoistritual, or combinationsthereof, and persistent associations with Indian mystics and religious experiencewere instrumental in the spread of tea throughout ancient China, Korea and Japan.I humbly submit the suggestion that Bodhidharma, having been born of a culturethat enshrined an ancient plant as its highest mystery, came to China looking forsuch an herb and, essentially, for a cup of tea. The continued, and perhapsunsatisfactory substitutions for somaor amritaas it was called in esoteric Buddhist
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circles, might have compelled many mystics to reevaluate old legends and to setoff for the most magical plants. If Bodhidharma indeed rediscovered teas mysticalassociations, than we can agree he succeeded in his quest.
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Shennong brewing tea.

The myths of China and India contain many examples of magical fruits and fungi.The "golden melon" or wu-lu gourd are potent symbols of longevity and magic aswell as containing the elixir of life. Tea is often pressed into such shapes.
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Further Reading

Akahori, Akira. 1989. "Drug Taking and Immortality," in Taoist Meditation andLongevity Techniques, ed. Livia Kohn. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.

Blank, Les. 2007. http://www.lesblank.com/more/TeaFilm.html

Broughton, Jeffrey L. 1999. The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records ofZen, Berkeley: University of California Press.

Dannaway, Frederick R. 2009. Thunder Among the Pines: Defining A Pan-AsianSoma. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. Volume 41, Number 1 March.

Hirota, Dennis. 2002. Wind in the Pines: Classic Writings of the Way of Tea as aBuddhist Path. Asian Humanities Press.

Kyeong-hee,Hong and Brother Anthony of Taize. 2007 The Korean Way of Tea.

Seoul: Seoul Selection.

Mondal, T.K. 2007. "Tea", in Pua, E.C.; Davey, M.R., Biotechnology in Agricultureand Forestry, 60: Transgenic Crops V, Berlin: Springer, pp. 519535

Morris, Dixon V. and Sen Soshitsu. 1998. The Japanese Way of Tea. Honolulu:University of Hawaii Press.
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Needham, J. 1983. Science and Civilization in China, Vol. 5, pt. 5. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.



Needham, J.1974. Science and Civilization in China, Vol. 5, pt. 2. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

Okakura, Kakuzo. 1964. The Book of Tea. Dover Books.

Ruck, C.A.P. 2007. The Hidden World: Survival of Pagan Shamanic Themes inEuropean Fairytales. Durham: Carolina Academic Press.

Ruck, C.A.P.; Staples, B.D. & Heinrich, C. 2001. The Apples of Apollo, Pagan andChristian Mysteries of the Eucharist. Durham: Carolina Academic Press.

Strickmann, M. 2002. Chinese Magical Medicine. Stanford: Stanford UniversityPress.

Strickmann, M. 1966. Notes on mushroom cults in ancient China. Unpublishedmanuscript, Rijksuniversiteit Gent.

Valery, Paul H. 1995. Tea in JapanL essays on the History of Chanoyu. University

of Hawaii Press.

Ware, J. 1984. Alchemy, Medicine and Religion in the China of A.D. 30. London:Dover Books.

Wasson, G. 1968. Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality. New York: HarcourtBrace Jovanovich.

Wasson, G.; Kramrisch, S.; Ruck, C. & Ott, J. 1986. Persephones Quest. NewHaven: Yale University Press.

Wasson, G; Hoffman, A.; Ruck, C. & P. Webster, P. 1978. The Road to Eleusis.New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

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Sundara veerraju

tea as soma (elixir)

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