Some people do have acid flashbacks etc. ... others have described the situation as an “attention pull-up bar,” you try to hold yourself “up” (ie focused), eventually “your arms give” (ie your attention wanders), you “rest” a second (ie acknowledge it), then “pull yourself up” again (ie return to the object of meditation).
I was a lay Tibetan Buddhist for several years, sometimes you do focus on one point, or a statue of a Buddha, or on your breathing... the sort of static/repetitive things where you might trigger the psychedelic effects. You can fast-chant Avalokiteshwara’s mantra[1] and Green Tara’s mantra[2] and Vajrasattva’s short mantra[3], but you would also have more dynamic meditations and longer mantras: Vajrasattva’s full mantra[4] is a whole song; so are the Praises of Tara; a full visualization of Green Tara has multiple colors and seed syllables and signs and stages until you visualize her blossoming out of a Lotus and shining green light through you, blasting all your your darknesses away.
That last one is not so typical, but like tonglen practice, where you breathe in the darkness of the world and breathe out pureness and goodness, is more active and very common.
[1] the familiar Om mani padme hum, which fast-chanted sounds like “hummo-mani-pemde” over and over
[2] there are different skin colors of Tara, Green Tara is invoked with Om Tare tuttare ture svaha and fast chanted it sounds like “zohm-tare-t'tare-ture” repeated.
[3] his short mantra is just his name, Om Vajrasattva hum. There's also a Japanese tradition of some monk dancing down the street sing-chanting an Amitabha mantra like that, Namu Amita butsu, Namu Amita Butsu.
[4] It's known as the 100-syllable mantra, I think? I occasionally look back on my time and say “well was I really a Tibetan Buddhist if I wasn't a monk and didn't keep with it?” and then the Vajrasattva mantra will come back to mind and it's like “Yeah if that's one of the things I have memorized then I definitely count.”
I was a lay Tibetan Buddhist for several years, sometimes you do focus on one point, or a statue of a Buddha, or on your breathing... the sort of static/repetitive things where you might trigger the psychedelic effects. You can fast-chant Avalokiteshwara’s mantra[1] and Green Tara’s mantra[2] and Vajrasattva’s short mantra[3], but you would also have more dynamic meditations and longer mantras: Vajrasattva’s full mantra[4] is a whole song; so are the Praises of Tara; a full visualization of Green Tara has multiple colors and seed syllables and signs and stages until you visualize her blossoming out of a Lotus and shining green light through you, blasting all your your darknesses away.
That last one is not so typical, but like tonglen practice, where you breathe in the darkness of the world and breathe out pureness and goodness, is more active and very common.
[1] the familiar Om mani padme hum, which fast-chanted sounds like “hummo-mani-pemde” over and over
[2] there are different skin colors of Tara, Green Tara is invoked with Om Tare tuttare ture svaha and fast chanted it sounds like “zohm-tare-t'tare-ture” repeated.
[3] his short mantra is just his name, Om Vajrasattva hum. There's also a Japanese tradition of some monk dancing down the street sing-chanting an Amitabha mantra like that, Namu Amita butsu, Namu Amita Butsu.
[4] It's known as the 100-syllable mantra, I think? I occasionally look back on my time and say “well was I really a Tibetan Buddhist if I wasn't a monk and didn't keep with it?” and then the Vajrasattva mantra will come back to mind and it's like “Yeah if that's one of the things I have memorized then I definitely count.”