What was your first bufo experience like after using NN DMT?

[jayd2887]

Id like to know what other people's thoughts were on experiencing bufo after knowing what the effects of NN DMT were like. When I first tried NN DMT and had my mind busted open for the first time and realizing there's other senses of reality and that this wasn't the only plain of existence, when I first tried bufo, I thought that I fucked up and did something wrong and wasn't going to come back and thought that might have just done it and this was it and might as well just accept it and then was just over come with oneness and nothingness and was just filled with love. And then just whiteness and my whole sense of existence was gone. Just loss of myself. Then I finally came too and Tried to make my way to my bathroom and had to throw up. And all I can describe is that my room was in a room and there was two layers to my tile floor and I was walking through a transparent layer of the floor and it was making it hard to walk through it. I got to my toilet and there was a gnomish looking toad or frog on the back of my toilet and it croaked and sounded like it said "purge" and at the same time I threw up and it was or looked like it was all black and went everywhere. But I flushed the toilet and called for my wife who was trip sitting to come help me because I was losing sense of reality and didn't know if all of this was happening or not. I told her I made a mess and to turn the lights on and when she did there was no mess besides a little bit on the back of the toilet. It was definitely an intense trip and a molecule I highly respect and have not done since then but definitely do want to try it again.

 

[Here&Now]

Your experience with bufo sounds pretty typical. It differs from DMT in that the trip is mostly identical every time, and it's a lot less narrative-driven. There's more of an emphasis on experiencing the universal Self that remains when your individual self is dissolved. Way more focus on diving into the unconscious as opposed to the subconscious. It's just different from basically any other psychedelic, so I can see why you're confused and trying to sort out what happened.

Also worth mentioning is that the nausea completely goes away when you use it something like once per week. I guess some kind of adaptation occurs.

 

[Panpsychic]

When I first tried NN DMT and had my mind busted open for the first time and realizing there's other senses of reality and that this wasn't the only plain of existence

One of the most beneficial experiences with psychedelics is recognizing the multidimensional nature of reality and the possibilities this presents, in this life and lives to come.

when I first tried bufo, I thought that I fucked up and did something wrong and wasn't going to come back and thought that might have just done it and this was it and might as well just accept it and then was just over come with oneness and nothingness and was just filled with love. And then just whiteness and my whole sense of existence was gone. Just loss of myself.

It is often described as not really a psychedelic, but more of a near-death experience

Your experience with bufo sounds pretty typical. It differs from DMT in that the trip is mostly identical every time, and it's a lot less narrative-driven.

I think you mentioned before though that although its basically the same each time in terms of the loss of sense of self into the infinite light, there can be nonetheless a deepening of the experience over time reflecting the work you do on yourself. A deepening and purifying into the Infinite Light so to speak.

Also worth mentioning is that the nausea completely goes away when you use it something like once per week. I guess some kind of adaptation occurs.

Once a week sounds quite often to be working with a substance that powerful, but I suppose each person finds their own frequency for the work. If one was using it as a meditation adjunct as I understand you do then the frequency makes sense.

 

[Here&Now]

I think you mentioned before though that although its basically the same each time in terms of the loss of sense of self into the infinite light, there can be nonetheless a deepening of the experience over time reflecting the work you do on yourself. A deepening and purifying into the Infinite Light so to speak.

Oh yeah, that's definitely the case. When used often and with intention, the changes it makes can affect you in your day-to-day life, even during the periods when you're completely sober. Your small sense of self becomes thinned out and diminished, and you can experience intermittent flashes of a felt sense of oneness with all things. This part is really hard to describe, because it seems to entirely transcend the mind and occur like a self-authenticating, hyper-intuitive realization. I'm guessing many of the people on this forum have experience with the sensation while in the depths of tripping. It seems likely to me that it's related to the "no self"/"true self" described in eastern religions.

This is just what I've gotten out of it so far. I imagine 5-MeO-DMT opens a lot more doors to those who are better at using it than I am. For one, I'm guessing those intermittent flashes probably expand to encompass a person's entire everyday existence.

But to answer your question more directly, the trip itself does seem to change over time as your own ability to navigate it increases, but it's sort of subtle. Like you mentioned, it's really just a deepening of the full expression; a kind of greasing of the skids so it's easier to get into proper alignment with it. But the main themes are very consistent, which, for me, puts it in contrast to most other psychedelics.

Once a week sounds quite often to be working with a substance that powerful, but I suppose each person finds their own frequency for the work. If one was using it as a meditation adjunct as I understand you do then the frequency makes sense.

I should clarify that I use it in sub-breakthrough doses quite a bit more often than breakthrough doses. I think you're probably right that using it in high doses on a weekly basis could potentially be too much. But frequent dosing (even at mere sub-breakthrough amounts) can produce the changes I described above. It's a mysterious psychedelic that really does seem to eat away at the barrier that normally obscures our innate human capacity for some very special kinds of perception.

 

[jayd2887]

Oh yeah, that's definitely the case. When used often and with intention, the changes it makes can affect you in your day-to-day life, even during the periods when you're completely sober. Your small sense of self becomes thinned out and diminished, and you can experience intermittent flashes of a felt sense of oneness with all things. This part is really hard to describe, because it seems to entirely transcend the mind and occur like a self-authenticating, hyper-intuitive realization. I'm guessing many of the people on this forum have experience with the sensation while in the depths of tripping. It seems likely to me that it's related to the "no self"/"true self" described in eastern religions.

This is just what I've gotten out of it so far. I imagine 5-MeO-DMT opens a lot more doors to those who are better at using it than I am. For one, I'm guessing those intermittent flashes probably expand to encompass a person's entire everyday existence.

But to answer your question more directly, the trip itself does seem to change over time as your own ability to navigate it increases, but it's sort of subtle. Like you mentioned, it's really just a deepening of the full expression; a kind of greasing of the skids so it's easier to get into proper alignment with it. But the main themes are very consistent, which, for me, puts it in contrast to most other psychedelics.


I should clarify that I use it in sub-breakthrough doses quite a bit more often than breakthrough doses. I think you're probably right that using it in high doses on a weekly basis could potentially be too much. But frequent dosing (even at mere sub-breakthrough amounts) can produce the changes I described above. It's a mysterious psychedelic that really does seem to eat away at the barrier that normally obscures our innate human capacity for some very special kinds of perception.

I was kinda thinking that you are talking in micro or macro doses because I was thinking on how intense the trip is could mess someone's mind up too much if done too much too often. Because for me it was hard to figure out if I was still tripping or in reality for a bit. It took probably a day to completely comprehend reality.

 

[Panpsychic]

When used often and with intention, the changes it makes can affect you in your day-to-day life, even during the periods when you're completely sober. Your small sense of self becomes thinned out and diminished, and you can experience intermittent flashes of a felt sense of oneness with all things. This part is really hard to describe, because it seems to entirely transcend the mind and occur like a self-authenticating, hyper-intuitive realization. I'm guessing many of the people on this forum have experience with the sensation while in the depths of tripping. It seems likely to me that it's related to the "no self"/"true self" described in eastern religions.

This is just what I've gotten out of it so far. I imagine 5-MeO-DMT opens a lot more doors to those who are better at using it than I am. For one, I'm guessing those intermittent flashes probably expand to encompass a person's entire everyday existence.

I wonder, if we go with the view that 5-MeO-DMT is essentially a direct access to the crowning experience as discussed in various mystic and meditative traditions and that it is attempting to then permeate this awareness into daily life, what effect that would have on ones day to to day functioning and living an ordinary identity?

Don't forget that in pretty much all of these traditions, there are specific frameworks for allowing the full flowering of this. While its possible to still get pretty far for example meditating regularly while having a family and holding a job, one often feels the pull to go on more frequent silent meditation retreats as one gets more advanced and there are of course various ascetic, monastic, wilderness and nomadic traditions out there for those who want to dedicate their full being to this and dont want to manage the contraints of ordinary living among people not engaging in this.

5-MeO-DMT seems to be on a totally differnt level than someone attending a psilocybin circle or even an Ayahuasca retreat once every few months. Especially with the frequency of use you describe, if what consciousness accessed by the molecule is trying to do is dissolve self boundaries and also reactivating even whilst not tripping, I wonder how sustainable it would be before you either have to tone it down or else radically change your lifestyle to accommodate it if it were indeed to become an almost permanent feature of how you perceived and engaged with reallty.

 

[Here&Now]

I was kinda thinking that you are talking in micro or macro doses because I was thinking on how intense the trip is could mess someone's mind up too much if done too much too often. Because for me it was hard to figure out if I was still tripping or in reality for a bit. It took probably a day to completely comprehend reality.

You kind of get used to the shift in perspective that 5-MeO-DMT brings. To use terms from meditative traditions, it sends you into a very powerful state of presence/being. It could even be considered a different mode of human functioning altogether, where the present moment is experienced with such intensity and clarity that on an intuitive level, you cease to exist as a person who ever even had a past or future. All that exists is an eternal present, and it's as if the moment is being constantly birthed into existence anew. Every step you take is as if it's the first time it's ever been done. Your lens of perception becomes liberated and no longer is filtered by your conceptual mind, which I believe is the current default for the vast majority of humanity.

Interestingly, the experience matches closely with this story told by a stroke survivor. Her stroke must have affected her conceptual mind and shut it down, leaving her with the typically neglected state of presence/being that I'm talking about. How nice it would be to experience that state without having to go through a medical emergency and becoming incapacitated.

 

[Here&Now]

I wonder, if we go with the view that 5-MeO-DMT is essentially a direct access to the crowning experience as discussed in various mystic and meditative traditions and that it is attempting to then permeate this awareness into daily life, what effect that would have on ones day to to day functioning and living an ordinary identity?

Don't forget that in pretty much all of these traditions, there are specific frameworks for allowing the full flowering of this. While its possible to still get pretty far for example meditating regularly while having a family and holding a job, one often feels the pull to go on more frequent silent meditation retreats as one gets more advanced and there are of course various ascetic, monastic, wilderness and nomadic traditions out there for those who want to dedicate their full being to this and dont want to manage the contraints of ordinary living among people not engaging in this.

5-MeO-DMT seems to be on a totally differnt level than someone attending a psilocybin circle or even an Ayahuasca retreat once every few months. Especially with the frequency of use you describe, if what consciousness accessed by the molecule is trying to do is dissolve self boundaries and also reactivating even whilst not tripping, I wonder how sustainable it would be before you either have to tone it down or else radically change your lifestyle to accommodate it if it were indeed to become an almost permanent feature of how you perceived and engaged with reallty.

Yeah, it definitely is a kind of maverick way to go about it. Whether someone has success would probably depend on their propensity for independence in whatever they work towards. I like that 5-MeO-DMT can be a kind of teacher itself in that it shows you exactly what you need to strive (or learn to let go) towards.

At least for me, it hasn't been too disruptive. I have a job in cybersecurity, and I don't really find that the 5-MeO-DMT prevents me from intellectually functioning like I did before its use. I'd even go so far as to say I'm a bit more attentive, and I'm able to think more abstractly and see solutions where I couldn't before. It's subtle, but I believe it's a change that has occurred. I'd still consider myself somewhere around the beginner stage of meditative practices, though. If things were taken to the next level and seeped even more into my daily life, perhaps it would become too much.

One thing to watch out for is reactivations that have become out of control. When this happens, you experience a blasting of electric-like energy throughout your body, and your biological functions go haywire. Sleep becomes impossible, and you're in a constant state of fight or flight. For me, my heart rate was pegged at a resting 140 bpm for around six days straight. This exact thing can happen to sober meditators who become skilled too quickly and dive into deep states. In those circles, it's often referred to as kundalini syndrome. The theory is that the meditator's nervous system hasn't yet adapted for the large influx of energy that comes from tapping the unconscious mind so strongly. Based on my personal experience, that's exactly what it feels like. But once enough adaptation occurs, it doesn't remain as an issue you need to worry about.

 

[Lopsided Nobody]

Don't forget that in pretty much all of these traditions, there are specific frameworks for allowing the full flowering of this. While its possible to still get pretty far for example meditating regularly while having a family and holding a job, one often feels the pull to go on more frequent silent meditation retreats as one gets more advanced and there are of course various ascetic, monastic, wilderness and nomadic traditions out there for those who want to dedicate their full being to this and dont want to manage the contraints of ordinary living among people not engaging in this.

Could you speak more on these frameworks? I have done some psychedelics and did 5-MeO-DMT several months ago and while it feels integrated, I would definitely be interested in exercises or different things I can do to take what I have learned and continue the "full flowering" from it, so to speak.

 

[Panpsychic]

There's more of an emphasis on experiencing the universal Self that remains when your individual self is dissolved. Way more focus on diving into the unconscious as opposed to the subconscious. It's just different from basically any other psychedelic, so I can see why you're confused and trying to sort out what happened.

I am sure you are aware, but theres a kind of ongoing disagreement spanning centuries between traditions namely Advaita and Buddhist about "True Self vs No Self" as the crowing attainment.
My perspective was always that it was probably more of a semantic thing or of differences in conceptual layering over the experience. However from some points of view it has significance in that its the mind holding into residual egoic consciousnes or "I am" rather than "It is thus" or "Suchness". Has there been any sense with 5-MeO-DMT that both these terms refer to the same experience, or is there a leaning towards one more than the other as it felt?

 

[Here&Now]

I am sure you are aware, but theres a kind of ongoing disagreement spanning centuries between traditions namely Advaita and Buddhist about "True Self vs No Self" as the crowing attainment.
My perspective was always that it was probably more of a semantic thing or of differences in conceptual layering over the experience. However from some points of view it has significance in that its the mind holding into residual egoic consciousnes or "I am" rather than "It is thus" or "Suchness". Has there been any sense with 5-MeO-DMT that both these terms refer to the same experience, or is there a leaning towards one more than the other as it felt?

Right, the Advaita and Buddhist traditions do like to debate over that aspect. From my own experience, especially when using 5-MeO-DMT, I always interpreted it to be a semantic difference, perhaps leaning a bit towards No Self being a more accurate description of the raw reality. The further you slide into it, the more your sense of individuality is diminished. But I can also see how that all-encompassing empty perception could itself be called the True Self.

If there is a meaningful distinction between the two in practice, I'm not advanced enough to perceive it. When you go deep, it feels as if both are an acceptable description.

 

[Lopsided Nobody]

From my own experience, especially when using 5-MeO-DMT, I always interpreted it to be a semantic difference, perhaps leaning a bit towards No Self being a more accurate description of the raw reality. The further you slide into it, the more your sense of individuality is diminished. But I can also see how that all-encompassing empty perception could itself be called the True Self.

If there is a meaningful distinction between the two in practice, I'm not advanced enough to perceive it. When you go deep, it feels as if both are an acceptable description.

I've had precisely one 5-MeO-DMT experience, so I may not deserve a seat at the table, but I have had a couple experiences that pertain to this.

Most relevantly, I had a breakthrough on the 5-MeO-DMT where it felt like dissolving into the ocean of everything. So my initial thought would have been that it felt like "No Self" as the part of me that held onto my identity was offline and the division between myself and everything else faded. That was especially true during the initial part of the journey were "self" seemed to uncouple (my understanding is there is a decoupling or effectively the temporary shutting off of the default mode network that handles what makes you, you). That experience of raw reality is so overwhelming without those filters that it feels like you are everything and thus nothing to identify as "self." And yet, as I recollect I also had thoughts about things that were unique to me or that related to "me." Perhaps the "No Self" is due to the overwhelm of the complete rush of experiencing so much. However, after "I" dissolved into nothingness, at some point my thinking got very quiet and clear and I was one with everything in a very clear and beautiful way. That felt like the True Self to me, or at least resonates with that phrase. It was me without the filters and quirks my DMN layers onto experience. Arguably the main difference was that past the chaos of being violently ripped out of our everyday consensual reality I was able to just BE. With the added resonance and lack of chaos, I was able to be...whatever you want to call it.

Perhaps less-relevant, I had a psilocybin session which I think would have been enough for a breakthrough but my guide had me moving around eyes open for a bit, asking me questions, which is not my preference. However, it seemed to keep me online and engaged even as I became aware of the connectivity of things. I felt a sense of being a part of everything and a dissolution of boundaries between myself and everything even as I still had those. It was a different substance and very different experience, but there were some similarities. The everythingness was not so overwhelming and my identity did not dissolve into nothingness even if thinking back it quieted down a bit. That felt like me sans the things that usually make up me or define me as separate from everything else, while also being a new perspective.

My point is, arguably, in both cases I achieved a version of myself shed of certain lenses and distortions. With 5-MeO-DMT, it was just so much all at once that it felt like No Self until I accepted, dissolved into nothingness, and then hit the peak where it felt like what feels to me more like what I would define as my "True Self" or how you might define your soul, for lack of a better word. The psilocybin felt like loosening of things and a more gentle-yet-intense awakening to that spiritual connection. 5-MeO-DMT felt like a destruction and a storm that then left you somewhere else in the aftermath. But there was a clear thought that, again, felt like True Self or a pure expression. It's a slight distinction, maybe to the point of not being anything at all. But even if no meaningful distinction between the two exists, if felt like hypothetically you and I could talk from that form of conscious as "Selves" that were taking in everything to the best of our abilities as biological humans. I may feel different with further experiences, but that's the best I can come up with to describe it at the moment.

 

[Here&Now]

I've had precisely one 5-MeO-DMT experience, so I may not deserve a seat at the table, but I have had a couple experiences that pertain to this.

Most relevantly, I had a breakthrough on the 5-MeO-DMT where it felt like dissolving into the ocean of everything. So my initial thought would have been that it felt like "No Self" as the part of me that held onto my identity was offline and the division between myself and everything else faded. That was especially true during the initial part of the journey were "self" seemed to uncouple (my understanding is there is a decoupling or effectively the temporary shutting off of the default mode network that handles what makes you, you). That experience of raw reality is so overwhelming without those filters that it feels like you are everything and thus nothing to identify as "self." And yet, as I recollect I also had thoughts about things that were unique to me or that related to "me." Perhaps the "No Self" is due to the overwhelm of the complete rush of experiencing so much. However, after "I" dissolved into nothingness, at some point my thinking got very quiet and clear and I was one with everything in a very clear and beautiful way. That felt like the True Self to me, or at least resonates with that phrase. It was me without the filters and quirks my DMN layers onto experience. Arguably the main difference was that past the chaos of being violently ripped out of our everyday consensual reality I was able to just BE. With the added resonance and lack of chaos, I was able to be...whatever you want to call it.

Perhaps less-relevant, I had a psilocybin session which I think would have been enough for a breakthrough but my guide had me moving around eyes open for a bit, asking me questions, which is not my preference. However, it seemed to keep me online and engaged even as I became aware of the connectivity of things. I felt a sense of being a part of everything and a dissolution of boundaries between myself and everything even as I still had those. It was a different substance and very different experience, but there were some similarities. The everythingness was not so overwhelming and my identity did not dissolve into nothingness even if thinking back it quieted down a bit. That felt like me sans the things that usually make up me or define me as separate from everything else, while also being a new perspective.

My point is, arguably, in both cases I achieved a version of myself shed of certain lenses and distortions. With 5-MeO-DMT, it was just so much all at once that it felt like No Self until I accepted, dissolved into nothingness, and then hit the peak where it felt like what feels to me more like what I would define as my "True Self" or how you might define your soul, for lack of a better word. The psilocybin felt like loosening of things and a more gentle-yet-intense awakening to that spiritual connection. 5-MeO-DMT felt like a destruction and a storm that then left you somewhere else in the aftermath. But there was a clear thought that, again, felt like True Self or a pure expression. It's a slight distinction, maybe to the point of not being anything at all. But even if no meaningful distinction between the two exists, if felt like hypothetically you and I could talk from that form of conscious as "Selves" that were taking in everything to the best of our abilities as biological humans. I may feel different with further experiences, but that's the best I can come up with to describe it at the moment.

That was great; your experience with 5-MeO-DMT sounds very similar to mine. And if I'm understanding your post, I think our interpretation of True Self and No Self also match. The way in which 5-MeO-DMT is so consistent from trip to trip (even among different people) is one of my favorite aspects.

 

[blig-blug]

I am sure you are aware, but theres a kind of ongoing disagreement spanning centuries between traditions namely Advaita and Buddhist about "True Self vs No Self" as the crowing attainment.
My perspective was always that it was probably more of a semantic thing or of differences in conceptual layering over the experience. However from some points of view it has significance in that its the mind holding into residual egoic consciousnes or "I am" rather than "It is thus" or "Suchness". Has there been any sense with 5-MeO-DMT that both these terms refer to the same experience, or is there a leaning towards one more than the other as it felt?

Just a note about Anatta: despite the literal meaning, the (at least Theravada) Buddhist view is not that there is not a self, but that there is not such a thing as a permanent, constant self. Also, from that point of view the "crowning achievement" would be the end of dhukka, not realizing "no self" (in fact Buddha himself says in the suttas that he only teaches "dhukka and the end of dhukka"). I'm aware some traditions (particularly later ones) take both as equivalent, but just wanted to point out that it's a matter of contention.

 

[Panpsychic]

Just a note about Anatta: despite the literal meaning, the (at least Theravada) Buddhist view is not that there is not a self, but that there is not such a thing as a permanent, constant self. Also, from that point of view the "crowning achievement" would be the end of dhukka, not realizing "no self" (in fact Buddha himself says in the suttas that he only teaches "dhukka and the end of dhukka"). I'm aware some traditions (particularly later ones) take both as equivalent, but just wanted to point out that it's a matter of contention.

Yes, I am aware of this distinction. The 'no permanent self' view does equate with shedding our multiple and multifaceted temporal identities on the way total cessation of self identity....
Its the peak psychedelic, and particularly 5-MeO-DMT experience thats most interesting here. What remains when all these temporal identities, roles we play and the body are shed - and that can be experienced as the True Self. The Buddhists as I understand it, would equate the labelling of it as the 'True Self' as a final act of I-making which would act as an obstacle to full immersion and liberation into it.
For the Advaita, I think they are speaking of the same thing, but they do take the stance that that is what it is ultimately.

Regards the cessation of suffering and how it equates to psychedelic peak experiences, you are right to draw a distinction but the Buddhist view also discussed the 'pure descent into emptiness' and as I understand it, part of the cessation of suffering means ending I-making and propensity to identify with any temporary thing which suffers when it changes and ends, so reaching the Absolute, the Eternal that is beyond death is very much part of this. Its how is this experienced that perhaps tools like 5-MeO or other psyches can draw light on.

 

[blig-blug]

Yes, I am aware of this distinction. The 'no permanent self' view does equate with shedding our multiple and multifaceted temporal identities on the way total cessation of self identity....
Its the peak psychedelic, and particularly 5-MeO-DMT experience thats most interesting here. What remains when all these temporal identities, roles we play and the body are shed - and that can be experienced as the True Self. The Buddhists as I understand it, would equate the labelling of it as the 'True Self' as a final act of I-making which would act as an obstacle to full immersion and liberation into it.
For the Advaita, I think they are speaking of the same thing, but they do take the stance that that is what it is ultimately.

Regards the cessation of suffering and how it equates to psychedelic peak experiences, you are right to draw a distinction but the Buddhist view also discussed the 'pure descent into emptiness' and as I understand it, part of the cessation of suffering means ending I-making and propensity to identify with any temporary thing which suffers when it changes and ends, so reaching the Absolute, the Eternal that is beyond death is very much part of this. Its how is this experienced that perhaps tools like 5-MeO or other psyches can draw light on.

About the true self: yes, that is right. Although the more Sutta-based branches wouldn't necessarily consider I-making a problem. The problem is if the full process of dependent origination is allowed to continue all the way to dhukka, but they wouldn't seek to put a permanent end to the process itself, or even consider it necessary for Arhatship.

About the descent into emptiness, you're not wrong in the sense that many schools of Buddhism would indeed see it that way. But I wanted to point out that not all of them would: some in the Thai forest tradition consider that only first jhana is really required to obtain the end of dhukka, and put more emphasis in attaining permanent first jhana than higher jhanas.

It's not a criticism to anything you said, as it's not wrong. It's to point out that even in those topics there's no consensus. I think there are more schools with differences on this (e.g. Pure Land), but I'm not familiar enough with them to be sure.

 

[Panpsychic]

About the true self: yes, that is right. Although the more Sutta-based branches wouldn't necessarily consider I-making a problem. The problem is if the full process of dependent origination is allowed to continue all the way to dhukka, but they wouldn't seek to put a permanent end to the process itself, or even consider it necessary for Arhatship.

You are right that Dependent Origination tends to get missed in these types of discussion about the end goal attained with psyches, and indeed without applying this one cannot attain permanent liberation according to Buddhism. Using psychedelics as applied to comprehending the process of Dependent Origination would be very beneficial.

About the descent into emptiness, you're not wrong in the sense that many schools of Buddhism would indeed see it that way. But I wanted to point out that not all of them would: some in the Thai forest tradition consider that only first jhana is really required to obtain the end of dhukka, and put more emphasis in attaining permanent first jhana than higher jhanas.

There is definitely an interesting question about how psychedelics relate to altered states produced through meditation in particular the jhanas, and ongoing research in this but still at a very early stage.

It's not a criticism to anything you said, as it's not wrong. It's to point out that even in those topics there's no consensus. I think there are more schools with differences on this (e.g. Pure Land), but I'm not familiar enough with them to be sure.

I think it is fair to stick with the early schools as a reference, since their views are the most universally accepted and likewise their texts considered as authentic by all.

 

[Here&Now]

Responding to the above, in relation to the removal of suffering, I've found that to be a direct consequence of the diminishment of the individual sense of self that occurs both when you're in the full samadhi state, and also when those effects work their way backwards into your everyday consciousness. I don't know if that's what's being described by Buddhism, but in my experience, it can clearly be labeled as an annihilation of suffering, even if it's only in temporary flashes. It's absolutely sublime, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that it's precisely what the traditions are trying to convey.

I've referenced this video before regarding the neuroscientist who became a stroke victim on her left hemisphere. There are many aspects of her description that line up to what it's like, minus the horror of being disabled by a stroke.